Research in Germany Attends Congress in Cancun

(18.09.15) Between 16 and 20 August 2015 the International Materials Research Congress was held in Cancun, Mexico. With an interdisciplinary programme, the event offered a discussion forum for topics in materials science such as synthesis, characterisation, properties, processes, applications, corrosion protection, trends in basic research and other relevant subjects.

The congress was well attended with 1851 participants from 51 countries and included symposiums, plenary sessions and tutorials. 1228 participants came from Mexico, 200 from the USA, 52 from Brazil, 49 from Colombia, 36 from Germany, 31 from Japan, 29 from Canada, 25 from France, 23 from Korea, 19 from China, 16 from Spain, 11 from Chile, 11 from the UK and 10 from the Czech Republic.

On the second day of the congress, representatives of the institutions involved in the Research in Germany initiative ran an information stand. Dr. Alexander Au represented the DAAD, Dr. Claudia Treviño was there for the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and the DFG was represented by Liaison Scientist Dr. Christina Siebe. The stand was busy throughout the day and the team gave out information and advice to numerous visitors. There were also plenty of enquiries about opportunities in Germany for postdoctoral and established researchers. On the exhibition day of the congress there were 49 information stands for interested participants to browse.

Interested participants at the Research in Germany workshop

Interested participants at the Research in Germany workshop

On the following day there was a two-hour workshop in the form of a lunch session, which was attended by around 80 people. Although the diverse audience was mostly made up of visitors from Mexico there were also participants from Russia, China, India, Japan, Colombia and Germany. Professor Dr. Horst Hahn, Executive Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT) and Chair of the Research Unit for Nanostructured Materials at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), was invited to the event by the DFG to give a presentation on his research work at KIT. Dr. Au, Dr. Treviño and Dr. Siebe also presented the funding programmes offered by the DAAD, the Humboldt Foundation and the DFG. The audience was particularly interested in joint research projects with German partners.