Launch and kick-off meeting of the IRTG 1522 26. - 28.02.2009
The International Research Training Group (IRTG) on HIV/Aids and associated Infectious Diseases in Southern Africa was officially launched at the Wallenberg Centre in Stellenbosch on 26th February 2009.
This IRTG is the first in Africa and is a collaboration between the University of Würzburg and the South African partners Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town.
It comprises 12 research groups each, in South Africa and Germany. Research training groups comprise university training programmes established for a specific period to support young researchers in their pursuit of a doctorate.
The 26 Würzburg members of the IRTG 1522 travelled to South Africa to take part in the official launch of the IRTG 1522 and to meet their cooperation partners of the Stellenbosch and Cape Town Universities.
In the two days from 27th-28th February each project group presented their research outline with an open discussion among all members afterwards. The IRTG concept was developed in Germany where so-called Graduiertenkollegs are funded by the German Research Foundation. They provide doctoral students with the opportunity to work within a coordinated research programme, run by lecturers from participating universities. The study programme is incorporated into the overall research programmes of the participating universities but aims to complement and extend the individual specialisations of the doctoral candidates involved, and provide a structure for cooperation. Research and study programmes are designed to have an interdisciplinary focus. Scholarships for the first 12 South African PhD candidates are funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF). Through the IRTG, these students will be exposed to unprecedented joint training opportunities with their German partner group at the University of Würzburg. The research and study programmes are jointly developed and supervised by the three partner institutions. The students in the programme will spend six months at the respective partner institutions to do research, and they will be given opportunities to attend retreats and summer schools.
Prof Preiser and Prof Rethwilm, the speakers of the IRTG from the South African and German side, and their colleagues pointed out that HIV and infectious diseases presented a huge challenge to South Africa and the rest of the world. Consequently the focus of the new German-South African IRTG was particularly significant since 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa carry the HI virus.
