Researchers from Latin America participate in Research Explorer Ruhr program
Chosen out of 412 applications, the UA Ruhr Research Academy welcomes 37 bright minds from 18 countries, to the Ruhr Area this year from 21 june till 4 July. During the Research Explorer Ruhr, international early career researchers work closely for two weeks with host professors and their research groups at TU Dortmund University, Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), and the University of Duisburg-Essen (UDE).
According to Dr Verena Peters, responsible for Postdocs and Junior Faculty at the Graduate Center TU Dortmund, the number of participants only at TU Dortmund has doubled compared to the year before. The rising number of applications, especially from outside of Europe, is a promising development for all three UA Ruhr universities.
Seven early-career researchers from Latin America are also participating in this year’s program, including Peruvian researcher Andina Alay Lerma, who conducts research in applied mathematics and modeling. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Pernambuco (UPE) in Brazil and is a visiting researcher with Prof. Dr. Jonathan Bedford at the Institute of Geology, Mineralogy, and Geophysics at RUB as host. Another participant from the region is Dr Josivan Leite Alves, a lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) in Brazil, who is spending his stay with Prof. Dr.-Ing. Magdalena Zabek at the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering at TU Dortmund University. Lerma and Bedford learned about the UA Ruhr program last October while attending the “Postdoc in Germany” workshop in Recife. The other participants from Latin America come from Argentina (2) and Brazil (3, one of whom is from Mozambique).
Early-career researchers from all parts of the world are encouraged to participate in the Research Explorer Ruhr program to get the opportunity to spend two weeks immersing themselves in the German academic system, exploring funding opportunities and career paths. Networking with the faculties and research centers creates ideal conditions for long-term collaborations.
“We at RUB are looking forward to welcoming 15 international guests from all research disciplines this year, who were selected from a total of 161 applications. Our return rate of around 25 percent over the past ten years demonstrates the program’s lasting impact and how well-established it has become at the UA Ruhr level,” says Dr. Jörn Benzinger, Global Talent Acquisition, RUB Research School.
At the University of Duisburg-Essen, interest in the Research Explorer Ruhr is continuously growing. Simon Kresmann, Head of Graduate Center Plus at the University of Duisburg-Essen, states: “At the UDE alone, more than 20 professors applied to be hosts in order to collaborate with international talents. With nine selected guests, the program once again offers excellent opportunities this year to initiate new scientific collaborations and to sustainably advance the internationalization goals of the UA Ruhr in the area of early career researchers. The Research Explorer Ruhr is therefore an important instrument for global scientific networking and cooperation.”
More information about this year’s program and the participants is available here.
The Research Explorer Ruhr will take place next year from June 13 to 27, 2027. The application period is expected to begin in early January. The UA Ruhr Latin America Liaison Office in São Paulo also offers individual counseling and information for interested researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean.