Dr. Erik Bründermann
Tel. (0234) 32-24239
(Spokesman Regional Group Ruhr)
PD Dr. Dominik J. Bomans,
Tel. (0234) 32-22335
(Deputy Spokesman Regional Group Ruhr)
E-Mail: Humboldt@rub.de
Scholarships of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation are very special for scientists: only a few are selected and allowed to work at a science institution of their choice abroad. With the purpose to strengthen the network, to improve the exchange, to integrate foreign students and to reintegrate returnees, members of the German Humboldt Club have established a regional group in cooperation with the three Ruhr universities. 33 Humboldtians and guests from the region now met for the opening ceremony in the International Lounge of Ruhr-Universität Bochum.
With establishing the Regional Group Ruhr the members of the club support the Humboldt Foundation in its efforts, especially by integrating former and current scholarship holders in the region. Besides the dialogue within Germany the exchange with other Humboldt associations around the world is also supposed to be intensified. “The received grant also is an obligation for each Humboldt Scholarship Holder”, states Prof. Dr. Uwe Dorka (Universität Kassel), Chairman of the Humboldt Club. “Therefore, we want to deal with the Foundation and its ongoing changes and constructively help to shape it. The variety and excellence of the Humboldt Family, knowing no subject-related barriers, provides an ideal forum”.
During the foundation ceremony the members – from the Ruhr area and beyond, e.g. Bochum, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Essen, Hagen, Kassel, Krefeld, Marl and Oberhausen – also elected the spokesmen of the Regional Group: Spokesman Dr. Erik Bründermann, Deputy Spokesman Dr. Dominik J. Bomans. The two spouses Irene Brüdermann and Kerstin Weis, a Feodor Lynen Scholarship Holder of the Humboldt Foundation and working at RUB, support the spokesmen in their activities. The Regional Group has already made their first plans. Thus, in the spirit of Alexander von Humboldt, the first joint expedition will take them behind the scenes of the Bochum planetarium.
Prorectors of all members of the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr (UAMR) emphasize the importance of this Regional Group. “The Humboldt Foundation focuses on the people and the Humboldt Family”, states Prof. Dr. Ulf Eysel, representative of the Rectorate for the Humboldt Foundation, Prorector for Research and Science Transfer at Ruhr-Universität Bochum and new member of the German Humboldt Club. Prof. Dr. Walter Grünzweig, Prorector for Academic Affairs at TU Dortmund and member of the Humboldt Club, reflects on the development of the Humboldt Idea in the light of his own experiences as an Austrian Humboldt Scholarship Holder in Germany at the beginning of the 1990s. Prof. Dr. Michael Farle, Prorector for Research, Young Academics & Science Transfer at Universität Duisburg-Essen, reported about the network conference of the Humboldt Foundation with 123 guest researchers from 38 countries which took place in Essen in April.
The German Humboldtian Society (registered society), in short the German Humboldt Club, was established by 11 Humboldtians from all over Germany in Kassel on 15.06.2007. During the scholarship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the membership is non-contributory. Although it was only established in 2007, the German Humboldt Club is one of the fastest growing clubs. “With nearly 200 members it can draw on a potential of approx. 3000 Humboldtians in Germany”, states Dr. Gerrit Limberg from the Alexander Humboldt Foundation.