Press release: Argentina Week of the Göttingen Research Campus

Nr. 112/2013 - 07.06.2013

Workshops, concerts and informative events for students from June 10 to 15, 2013

(pug) The science and culture of Argentina are the focus of the Argentina Week taking place on the Göttingen Research Campus from June 10 to 15, 2013. For many years, the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry have been maintaining close contact with the University of Rosario and other scientific and academic institutions in Argentina. Among those attending the Argentina Week will be high-ranking delegations from Argentina and Chile. The open-to-the-public programme includes concerts, dance shows, film evenings and a student information day everything with an Argentine flair. Admission to all events is free. Beyond this, the German-Argentine Centre of Higher Education will hold a scientific workshop, during which the Minister for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony will officially inaugurate the international doctoral degree programme in Molecular Biosciences and Biomedicine.

"There are many aspects that put this academic collaboration with Argentina at the centre of our internationalisation strategy," remarks Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Vice President for International Affairs at Göttingen University. "We aim to strengthen our partnership with South America in the future and further expand the mutual international collaboration with the Göttingen Research Campus; in doing so, we would like to concentrate more on young scientists and scholars."

The Argentina Week opening ceremony takes place on Monday, 10th June, at 19:00 CET in the Aula at Wilhelmsplatz. Following the welcome ceremony, the agenda includes brief presentations about German-Argentine cooperation projects on the Göttingen Research Campus. Afterwards, members of the University of Rosario Music School will play Argentine music from the 19th and 20th centuries. On Friday, June 14, members of a high-ranking political delegation from Argentina and Chile will be meeting for talks with representatives of the Göttingen Research Campus, the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, the City of Göttingen, as well as with science and cultural delegates from Southern Lower Saxony. These talks are aimed at discussing the greater perspectives enabled by scientific cooperation between Germany and Argentina.

In addition to the doctoral candidates and Masters' students from the German-Argentine Centre of Higher Education, around 100 scientists and scholars will meet for a workshop in the Central Lecture Hall (ZHG) open to the university public from June 13 to 15. Against this backdrop, on Friday, June 14, the second day of the workshop, the international doctoral degree programme in Molecular Biosciences and Biomedicine will be officially inaugurated. The reception with Dr. Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić, Minister for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony, and members of the Argentine-Chilean Delegation starts at 10 CET in the auditorium ZHG 006. Commencing July 2013, the new doctoral degree programme will allow four doctoral candidates from both Göttingen and Rosario to spend a part of their doctoral studies at the other location. Besides the Universities of Göttingen and Rosario, the other cooperation partners include the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and the Max Planck Laboratory of Structural Biology, Chemistry and Molecular Biophysics in Rosario. "I'm happy that this new international doctorate degree will let us expand our education of doctoral candidates in Göttingen even further," adds the programme's German spokesperson, Professor Christian Griesinger of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. "This will give doctoral candidates the opportunity to gather important experience abroad early on in their studies."

The academic programme during the Argentina Week also features numerous public cultural events. On Tuesday, June 11, in the Nordmensa, students can get informed about studies abroad and exchange options with and in Argentina. Argentine film evenings (Spanish, Argentina Week with English subtitles) will take place on June 11 and 13, starting at 19 CET in the Central Lecture Hall (ZHG), concerts and dance events with Argentine musicians supported by the dance academy "Tanzschule Krebs" on June 12, starting at 19:45 CET and on June 14, starting at 19:30 CET in the Aula at Wilhelmsplatz. Throughout the entire week, the Göttingen Student Association will be serving Argentine cuisine in the Main and North Cafeterias.

For more about the informative events offered during Argentina Week, visit www.uni-goettingen.de/argentinien

Notice to the Press:
Journalists are cordially invited to a press conference following the talks with the Argentine-Chilean delegation about future perspectives for academic partnerships between Germany and Argentina. The press conference will be held on Friday, June 14, at 11:15 CET in the large conference room of the Göttingen State and University Library, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 1. Partnering the conference are representatives of the Göttingen Research Campus and the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony along with the members of the Argentine-Chilean delegation. If you would like to attend the press conference, please send us an email by Wednesday, June 12, to: pressestelle@uni-goettingen.de.

Contact addresses:
Professor Hiltraud Casper-Hehne
Vice President of Research and International Affairs
Wilhelmsplatz 1, 37073 Göttingen
Phone +49 (551) 39-4320
E-mail: hiltraud.casper-hehne@zvw.uni-goettingen.de
Internet: www.uni-goettingen.de/de/110984.html

Professor Christian Griesinger
German Spokesperson, Deutsch-Argentine Doctoral Degree Programme
Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry
Am Fassberg 11, 37077 Göttingen
Phone +49 (551) 201-2201
E-mail: cigr@nmr.mpibc.mpg.de
Internet: www.mpibpc.mpg.de/de/griesinger