The Universities of Nottingham and Tübingen have announced their intention to expand their cross-border partnership to cooperate more closely on cutting-edge research to solve some of the world's greatest challenges.
A delegation from Nottingham led by Vice-Chancellor Professor Shearer West has been in Germany this week for the signing of a strategic partnership agreement with the University of Tübingen, which builds on several years of mutual investment into research, teaching, learning and innovation over several years.
The signing ceremony was led by Professor West and Tübingen's recently appointed Rector Professor Karla Pollmann, and was attended by senior leaders from both institutions. During the visit, Professor West announced a significant investment by Nottingham into the partnership.
Our research projects, dual masters, joint staff, postdoctoral schemes and studentships are building the foundations of a partnership that will only deepen over time.
She added: "The great complementarity in our respective institutional and research expertise will lead to even greater outcomes. That is why I am also pleased to announce today that the University of Nottingham is investing a further £320,000 into this relationship."
This investment includes a seed fund of £125k which will be matched by Tübingen to further engage in research collaboration between both institutions.
The investment in this partnership does not begin here. In May 2020 the first investment initiative of this partnership was undertaken in the form of a joint research workshop.
Working together for progress
The workshop challenged academics to explore how they might work collaboratively, bringing their respective and complementary areas of research together to create real-world impact. This ultimately led to identifying several priority themes based on existing connections:
- Quantum Physics, Gravitation/Gravitational Waves and Mathematics
- Molecular Biology
- Precision Imagingeg MRI
- Food security & Agriculture
- Plant science & Nutrition
- Humanities & Social sciences
The two universities agreed to a joint funding round of seed funding and co-supervised studentships, with Tübingen generously matching Nottingham's £30k with a €70k investment.
Benefits for society
Professor West added: "Since investment in the partnership through dedicated resource, our joint researcher outputs have increased by 220 per cent from 2019 to 2021, something that will only continue to grow as a result of our joint seed fund investment in new and innovative projects."
Though new to her position at the University of Tübingen, Professor Karla Pollmann is equally committed to the success of this strategic partnership and said: "British universities are currently, and will remain, an indispensable pillar of European research. Therefore, it is of great importance for the University of Tübingen to maintain and strengthen our traditionally excellent relations with British academic institutions. This will not only benefit students and researchers at Nottingham and at Tübingen, but also society and economy in Germany and the UK as a whole."
The partnership will open their second seed fund call early this year and both institutions look forward to supporting the development of this partnership in the years ahead.
