Information and networking were in the focus of the 13th Humboldt-Tag on July 27, 2017, organized by the International Scholars and Welcome Office and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Young scientists and future hosts at KIT met excellent international researchers from the Humboldt network as well experts for research, innovation, and researchers’ mobility.

KIT’s Service Units of International Affairs (INTL), Research Office (FOR), and Innovation and Relations Management (IRM) as well as the Young Investigator Network (YIN) and the Humboldt Regional Group Karlsruhe-Pforzheim informed about their comprehensive scopes of services offered to internationally mobile researchers at KIT in presentations and personal conversations.

In his welcome address, KIT Vice President for Innovation and International Affairs, Professor Dr. Thomas Hirth, underlined the importance of mobility of researchers, exchange, and dialog in science and the high significance of the long-standing cooperation of KIT with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In particular, he emphasized Karlsruhe’s long relationship to the Foundation. Since the Foundation’s establishment in 1953, 788 Humboldtians have come to KIT and its two predecessor institutions, the University of Karlsruhe and Karlsruhe Research Center.

Dr. Thomas Hesse, Deputy Secretary General of the Foundation, presented the funding instruments of the Humboldt Foundation for internationally mobile researchers and the worldwide network of Humboldtians.

During the Humboldt-Lightning Talks, seven Humboldt fellows highlighted their current research work at KIT in short five-minute presentations. The Lightning Talks were presented by Dipl.-Phys. Philipp Schrögel, who works in the area of science communication at the Institute for German Studies.

The Humboldt-Insights covered reports of researchers about their personal experiences in international mobility. The Humboldt-Insights were presented by Professor Caroline Y. Robertson-von Trotha, Head of the Center for Cultural and General Studies and member of the Karlsruhe-Pforzheim Humboldt Regional Group.

Professor Dr. Herbert Gleiter’s exceptional commitment as a Humboldt host at KIT was gratefully acknowledged. Since he started to work in Karlsruhe in 1994, Gleiter has hosted eight Humboldt fellows at the Institute of Nanotechnology (INT). “With this, you have made an exceptional contribution to research and internationalization of KIT and its predecessor institutions,” Vice President Hirth said. Professor Horst Hahn, Head of the Institute of Nanotechnology, recognized Gleiter’s merits as a host of Humboldt fellows in his laudatory speech.