RAN Newsletter 02/2023New Funding Opportunities for Short Stays in Heidelberg
The programme line “HAIreconnect Tandem” opens up new perspectives: As of now, young academics can also benefit from HAIreconnect. Former guest researchers can work in tandem to give young researchers a first insight into Heidelberg's research landscape.
Since 2012, HAI has been supporting the re-invitation of international guest researchers with a grant for short stays in Heidelberg through the “HAIreconnect” programme. 64 researchers from 29 countries have already used these short-term scholarships, for example to strengthen ongoing research projects through personal exchange or to initiate new projects. In 2023, the additional programme line “HAIreconnect Tandem” was launched, with which research alumni can nominate promising young researchers for a research stay in Heidelberg. During their first visit to Heidelberg, they can, for example, establish scientific contacts or initiate or prepare a doctoral project or postdoctoral stay. The prerequisite is the personal and well-founded recommendation of a former visiting scholar from the Research Alumni Network, who can also travel together with the mentee.
As the first HAIreconnect tandem, the two Chilean legal scholars Dr Adolfo Andrés Wegmann Stockebrand and Diego Ojeda Soto came to Heidelberg together for ten days at the end of June / beginning of July 2023. Adolfo Wegmann, who was a doctoral student at the Institute for History of Law under Prof. Dr Christian Baldus from 2010 to 2014, teaches and conducts research as a full professor of civil law, Roman law and comparative law at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago de Chile; his former student Diego Ojeda has been his research assistant for four years and would like to do his doctorate in Heidelberg like his mentor.
“The visit to Heidelberg was a very enriching experience for me,” the 24-year-old sums up. “I came to meet professors and visit the university and its libraries – and I already found many books useful for my research in the first few days.” During his stay, his mentor Adolfo Wegmann acted as the official representative of his faculty to promote cooperation with the Heidelberg Faculty of Law. After the partnership between the two universities has been contractually regulated for a long time, the cooperation between the faculties is now also to be fixed with a contract. In addition, Adolfo Wegmann used the stay for research at the Institute for History of Law – and introduced his student to the institute.
“Since Diego Ojeda wants to pursue an academic career, I thought of Heidelberg and Prof. Baldus for him early on,” explains Adolfo Wegmann. He himself started learning German at the age of 26 after he met Christian Baldus during a research stay in Chile and he offered him a doctorate in Heidelberg: “Just one week later I was looking for a German course!” In this respect, Diego Ojeda has an advantage, as he already lived in Germany for a year as a child, continued to learn German and therefore already speaks the language well – ideal prerequisites, therefore, for a doctorate in Heidelberg and, of course, also conducive to his first personal contacts during his HAIreconnect stay.
But is an HAIreconnect stay funded for a maximum of ten days generally worthwhile, even with such a long journey as from Chile? “Yes, definitely – both for a short research stay and for maintaining contacts,” says Adolfo Wegmann, who has already returned to the Neckar for the third time after completing his doctorate. “If, like me on my current visit, you even want to fit both in, time is a bit tight, but well planned and with concentration it works out too – especially if you already know your way around and know exactly what you want to do: when I arrive on Monday, I'm already sitting in the library working on Tuesday morning.” Diego Ojeda also benefited from Adolfo Wegmann's experience and knowledge: he didn't waste any time with orientation, but was able to make optimal use of the ten days to make contacts for his planned doctorate and to already prepare for it.
“Heidelberg is the first and most important step on Diego Ojeda's career path,” Adolfo Wegmann is certain. Even though Chilean academics do their doctorates all over the world, the greatest respect for a doctorate is earned in Germany: “If someone can do academic work in German, he or she is sure to be held in high esteem, because that is always considered a higher level,” he knows from his own experience. And this experience is now to be shared by his academic pupil Diego Ojeda – who, like his mentor, is aiming for a professorship as a career goal.
The short stays within the framework of HAIreconnect are exclusively reserved for HAI members, they are subsidised by donations from alumnae and alumni. Applications for both programmes require invitations or recommendations from the host institute, and the subsequent selection process is competitive. Donations for the HAIreconnect programme make it possible to sponsor additional persons.