Welcome
Wiss-Nama Newsletter April 2024
News from Indo-German cooperation
Innovation & Global Cooperation for Sustainability
The DAAD conference ‘Innovation and Global Cooperation for Sustainability’ from March 12-14 brought together more than 200 participants from Indian and German higher education institutions. The main aim of the conference was to initiate dialogues on deepening and strengthening future academic cooperation between both countries in the context of SDGs. Moreover, it also celebrated 15 years of A New Passage to India, a programme by BMBF and run by DAAD and highlighted its achievements. The three days were packed with panel discussions, pitch competitions, workshops and Fireside chats. The conference connected awardees and project teams that received funding through DAAD. The participants shared knowledge, networked and discussed Indo-German academic exchange and its importance in the times of changing geopolitics.
Upcoming events and conferences
Indo-German Research Day
DWIH New Delhi is organising the 3rd edition of the Indo-German Research Day on May 28 to explore the Indian and German research landscape further and dive into discourse of international research cooperation and policy. Participants will also discover opportunities for research stays and projects across disciplines. More than 20 research institutions, universities, funding bodies and international agencies are a part of the event. The event will have panel discussions with experts on the impact of AI in academia and institutional funding strategies for research mobility. Interactive sessions with representatives of international agencies and universities to discover funding opportunities will also be a part of this day long event.
DAAD Events
Web Session: Bachelors in Germany
Join this web session and find out all you need to know about doing a Bachelor degree in Germany. Get your questions answered too.
April 12, 3:00 PM, Online
Research & Funding Opportunities in Germany (Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam)
Students will be guided about eligibility criteria, types of universities, application procedure, visa procedures etc. Following the session, there will be a Q & A time for students to clarify their doubts with DAAD.
Open for Master students of Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam (Women’s University)
April 16, 2:30 PM, Online
Web Session: Masters in Germany
Join this web session and get to know all that you need to know about doing a Master’s degree in Germany. Get your questions answered too!
April 16, 3:00 PM, Online
Web Session: My Student Journey - Akash & Swaroop tell their Story
Listen to and connect with Akash, pursuing Masters at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Swaroop, a working professional at Volvo Group. Know all that you need to know about studying in Germany and get answers to your questions.
April 18, 3:00 PM, Online
Online Session with German Universities
Learn more about study opportunities in Germany and interact with representatives of University of Hildesheim, HS Mainz and HS München.
April 24, 3:00 PM, Online
Research and Career Opportunities in the Fields of Materials Science & Engineering
The panel discussion is open to all, but will focus on those interested in pursuing a PhD in Germany.
April 25, 3:00 PM, Online
Web Session: PhD in Germany
Join this web session and find out all that you need to know about doing a PhD in Germany. Get your questions answered too!
April 29, 3:00 PM, Online
Calls for proposal
Erasmus+ Programme
Erasmus+ is the EU Programme in the fields of education, training, youth and sport for the 2021-2027 period. Applicants should be from the fields of higher education, vocational education and training, school education, youth and relevant to field of sports. Apart from individual cooperation, there will be cooperation among organisations and institutions. Erasmus+ also focuses on small scale and large-scale partnerships and partnerships for innovation. There are many calls under this programme with different deadlines in February.
Call for proposal for an interdisciplinary symposium on Precarious Water Futures and the End(s) of World(s) – an Integrative Dialogue Across Disciplines and Societies
Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies (CAPAS), Heidelberg University, together with ICAS:MP, the School of Environmental Sciences (SES), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, the Rachel Carson Centre (RCC), Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, and the South Asia Institute (SAI), Heidelberg University, is organising an interdisciplinary symposium on Precarious Water Futures and the End(s) of World(s) – an Integrative Dialogue Across Disciplines and Societies from November 13-16, 2024. Individual paper, panel proposals or posters from scholars from all disciplines in the humanities, social and natural sciences and engineering are invited. The theme of the presentation will be water and different perspectives on water.
Application deadline: April 15, 2024
Visiting Researchers by The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG)
The Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies (MPIfG) invites applications from researchers from the fields of economic sociology and comparative and international political economy. The institution conducts basic research on the governance of modern societies. The applicants intended research project should relate to the MPIfG’s research program and ongoing projects at the Institute. Other criteria for selection include scholarly excellence and research proposal. Applications are welcome from professors, postdoctoral researchers, and doctoral students.
Application deadline: April 30, 2024
Refugees in Global Transit: Encounters, Knowledge, and Coping Strategies in a Disrupted World, 1930s–50s
German Historical Institute Washington, Max Weber Forum for South Asian Studies and Queen's University, Kingston in collaboration with OI Istanbul, Erfurt University, OI Beirut are organising a workshop on the topic of refugees in global transit in Mumbai. This workshop builds on the emerging scholarship on cultural, social, and political encounters – connections and disconnects – among diverse groups of European and non-European refugees and with highly stratified host populations, including existing Jewish communities, colonial officials and settlers, and other migrants. Paper proposals for an international workshop that brings together scholars with an interdisciplinary and cross-epochal approach and are especially interested in exchange with and among scholars in and/or from the Global South are invited. This workshop aims to focus specifically on hospitality, friendship, and enmity, peaceful and violent encounters, connections, disconnects, and separations, processes of and obstacles to knowledge transfer and cultural translation, the formation and perception of diasporas and memories in and of transit.
Application deadline: April 30, 2024
Max Planck-India Mobility Grant (MPIMG)
Max Planck India Mobility Grants are a distinction awarded to highly qualified Indian scientists who should be in their final year of doctorate or have obtained their doctorate no longer than ten years ago. MPIMG are awarded for three years enabling the candidates to initiate and pursue research links to a Max Planck Institute of their choice. Candidates have the right to visit a Max Planck Institute (MPI) for a minimum of one month per year. Former Max Planck Partner Group Heads and former Max Planck India Mobility Grant Holders are not eligible to apply for this grant.
Applications are on a rolling basis throughout the year.
IGSTC launches WISER programme 2024
The Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) launched Women Involvement in Science and Engineering Research – WISER programme for the year 2024. This scheme allows women researchers in India and Germany to participate and collaborate in an ongoing research project in the other country without applying for fresh project grant in partnering countries. With this low-threshold offer for female scientists, WISER intends to build scientific capacity, retain and promote women researchers in India and Germany. Women researchers holding a regular position in academic/research institutions/industrial research organisations in India or Germany are eligible to apply.
Applications are considered on a rolling basis.
Institute of the month
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Founded in the year 1985, the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies is one of the largest social science research institutes in Germany. It conducts basic research on the governance of modern societies. It aims to develop an empirically based theory of the social and political foundations of modern economies by investigating the interrelation between economic, social, and political action. The Institute seeks to build a bridge between theory and policy and to contribute to political debate on major challenges facing modern societies. Cooperation agreements with top research institutions in different parts of the globe play a key role for the Institute's international standing. The Max Plank Society (MPG) is one of the largest non-university research organizations in Germany and currently has eighty-six institutes conducting basic research in the natural, human, and social sciences. As an independent, non-profit association of research institutes, it is largely publicly funded by the federal and state governments, with additional funds coming from membership, donations, project grants, and its own revenues.
Great women in science
Annette Peters
Annette Peters is a leading figure in environmental health and epidemiology, renowned for her work linking ambient particulate matter to cardiovascular disease. Her interdisciplinary expertise spans epidemiology, biology, and mathematics. Throughout her career, Peters has conducted pioneering studies on the combined influence of genetic, environmental, and behavioral factors on health outcomes. She has led panel and case-crossover studies examining the effects of environmental exposures on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, with a particular focus on ultrafine particles. Peters oversees the KORA longitudinal cohort study, which tracks 18,000 individuals recruited between 1984 and 2001, expanding its research scope to include age-related diseases through the KORA-Age project. She also plays a key role in the German National Cohort NAKO, a large-scale epidemiological study involving 205,000 participants. Peters chaired the board of directors until 2022 and is now a principal investigator responsible for the NAKO study center in Augsburg and the central biorepository at Helmholtz Munich. She has initiated additional data collection to study the health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Did You Know?
Universities in Germany welcome international students from all over the world which account for approximately 12% of the total number of students in Germany.