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16. December 2022

NeurotechEU: Second application phase for the European University, with two new members NeurotechEU: Second application phase for the European University, with two new members

The Rector of the University of Bonn travels to Spain for two days

NeurotechEU—the European University of Brain and Technology—held its fourth Board of Rectors meeting in Spain. The partners of this university alliance take turns organizing this semi-annual meeting, attended by the university rectors and several other staff members involved in the project. This time the organizer was the Universitas Miguel Hernández in Alicante, Spain.

The meeting attendees in Alicante outside a building on campus at Universitas Miguel Hernández.
The meeting attendees in Alicante outside a building on campus at Universitas Miguel Hernández. - The main agenda item for the meeting was the alliance’s extension application, which, if approved, secures another four years of EU funding. © Sárvári Géza Zsolt
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The main agenda item for the meeting was the alliance’s extension application, which, if approved, secures another four years of EU funding. There are 44 European universities currently, under which a total of 340 higher education institutions throughout Europe are organized. The focus of this year’s call for proposals, with total budget of 384 million euros, is on expanding and intensifying existing institutional partnerships and expanding alliance and making these stronger and more effective. It is also possible for other universities to join as full partners. The alliance members determined the thematic alignment for phase II of NeurotechEU in strategy workshops and work meetings for the various work packages, thereby officially commencing the application filing process.

“NeurotechEU is a core project for Bonn as a University of Excellence,” declared Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch. “Over the past three years we and our alliance partners have together successfully established the necessary structures on the research, teaching and administration levels. Thus now we are moving into a phase of sustained implementation and consolidation.” Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch, Vice Rector for International Affairs at the University of Bonn, commented: “Extending this project is one of our top priorities, and we are confident that we and our partners will achieve this goal, working together.”

The meeting was chiefly devoted to expanding NeurotechEU and working on the Erasmus+ follow-up application. Two new universities joined the alliance in an official ceremony: The latest two full-fledged partners are Université de Lille, one of France’s largest universities with approximately 74,000 students, and the private university Háskólinn í Reykjavík, which maintains close ties with the business sector. “Expanding NeurotechEU to include new partners in France and Iceland is in line with the European Commission’s aim of ensuring a geographical balance among the European universities. The Rector was accompanied on this trip by Dr. Katharina Fuchs-Bodde, Director of the International Office, who added: “The expansion is furthermore superbly aligned with the explicit, overarching goals comprising the University of Bonn’s Europe strategy: to achieve sustained gains in strengthening European identity.”

The other delegation members were: Prof. Dr. Ilona Grunwald, Director of the Institute of Physiology II, who will be the neuroscientific support person for the NeurotechEU project going forward, Dr. Sarah Monreal, Project Coordinator at the University of Bonn, and PhD student Stephanie Taylor representing Bonn Student Council. The next Board of Rectors meeting will be held in Stockholm, Sweden in May 2023.

Further information:
Project coordination
neurotecheu@uni-bonn.de
+49 228 73-9632
https://www.neurotecheu.uni-bonn.de/de/neurotecheu