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(24.06.15) On the evening of 26 May 2015, around 50 people attended a formal dinner at the residence of the German Consul General Friedrich Däuble in São Paulo as a new director took over the reins at the DFG's Latin America office in São Paulo. In her address, DFG Secretary General Dorothee Dzwonnek, who visited a number of funding organisations in Brazil and Argentina during her trip, thanked Dr. Dietrich Halm, who has developed and led the DFG's office in Latin America in recent years, and introduced the new director Dr. Kathrin Winkler.

Ms. Dzwonnek expressed her pleasure at developments in scientific research in Brazil, the broad-minded approach of funding organisations and the collaborations between researchers in Brazil and Germany. This is visible, for example, in the significant increase in the number of collaborative projects and in the funding budget over the past four years. The opportunity to collaborate with researchers in Brazil, particularly in the state of São Paulo, is becoming increasingly important to Germany. The decision to open an office in Brazil and the choice of São Paulo as its location has already more than paid off.

The Secretary General praised the achievements of the outgoing director, who has developed and led the DFG office in São Paulo since the beginning of 2011. Through his science-focused approach he has made a substantial contribution to the expansion of cooperation between the DFG and Latin American funding organisations, successfully bringing collaborations from the level of initiating academic contacts to the level of real projects in the space of a few years. Dr. Dietrich Halm will return to the DFG's Head Office in Bonn from July, where he will manage the Latin America section.

Deputy Consul Uwe Heye also thanked Mr. Halm for the constructive cooperation over the last several years and expressed his good wishes for Mr. Halm's new role in Germany. The productive partnership with the German Consulate General and its continual support for DFG initiatives has been enormously important to the DFG office in São Paulo.

The São Paulo office will now be directed by Dr. Kathrin Winkler, who has an in-depth knowledge of DFG funding programmes thanks to a six-year period spent in a DFG department as well as extensive experience of international cooperation through the coordination of the European research funding network ERA-Chemistry. Her visits to Latin American countries will also enable her to put her expertise to effective use in the DFG's Latin America office. Kathrin Winkler studied chemistry at the universities of Göttingen and Santa Barbara and carried out doctoral research in physical chemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. She spent several years in biophysics research before joining the DFG in 2008 with responsibility for physical chemistry.