Prof. Graham Worth from the Department of Chemistry at the University College London visited the University of Innsbruck in February and March 2020.
The visit was hosted by Prof. Roland Wester and his team from the Department of Ion Physics and Applied Physics at the University of Innsbruck.

The project aimed to bring together two different approaches to study the formation of small molecules found in space. Prof. Francesco Gianturco from the University of Innsbruck uses calculations that examine all the available quantum states of a molecular reaction to see how it then populates some of them under the chosen conditions, whereas Prof. Worth directly simulates the time evolution of the atoms as they come together. The visit of Prof. Worth helped the two researchers to learn more about each other's methods.

During his visit, Prof. Worth also gave a public lecture on "Watching Fundamental Chemistry as is Happens Using Lasers and Computers". 

BritInn Fellow Report

From 17 February until 28 February 2020, the Winter School on Federalism and Governance took place. The Winter School ​is a cross-border project within the Cooperation Agreement between Eurac Research and the University of Innsbruck.
Since 2010, every year the postgraduate program is jointly organized by the Faculty of Law and the Department of Political Science of the University of Innsbruck as well as the Institute for Comparative Federalism of Eurac Research.
The Winter School is structured in a two-week programme: One week is taking place at the University of Innsbruck and the other week at Eurac Research in Bolzano. The program is a unique opportunity to be trained both on theoretical and practical aspects of federalism and multilevel governance within an international learning environment. This year's Winter School put a focus on the relation of federalism and language.
BritInn supported the participation and stay of two researchers from the UK, Prof. Alexandra Xanthaki from the Brunel University London and Dr. Asanga Welikala from the University of Edinburgh.

Our colleagues from the projekt.service.büro issued the following statement on the UK participation in Horizon 2020:
UK scientists, researchers and businesses can continue to participate in, bid for and lead projects in Horizon 2020, as if the UK remained a Member State, even after the UK´s exit from the EU.
The UK remains the second highest recipient of Horizon 2020 funding for science and innovation and UK organisations are encouraged to continue to bid into calls for grants until the end of the Horizon 2020 programme.
The Withdrawal Agreement means that the UK continues to participate in EU Programmes financed by the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) until their closure. Horizon 2020 is a Programme funded under the current MFF. UK scientists, researchers and businesses can continue to  participate in these programmes and receive EU grant funding for the lifetime of individual projects, including projects finishing after the transition period ends in 2020.

Find additional information here:

https://www.ukri.org/news/uk-participation-in-horizon-2020-the-eus-flagship-science-and-innovation-programme/

https://www.ffg.at/en/europe/brexit

For more information, please get in contact with the research support office at the projekt.service.büro: www.uibk.ac.at/projektservice

Last week, Prof. Darren J. Dixon from the University of Oxford visited Prof. Thomas Magauer and his team from the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy at the University of Innsbruck.
Prof. Dixon discussed ongoing research projects at the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy with Prof. Magauer and met with PhD students from the University of Innsbruck.

The visit included presentations by the two PhD students Franz-Lucas Haut and Christoph Habiger, as well as one presentation by Postdoc Denis Höfler. The presentations were followed by an intense discussion in order to identify potential solutions for recently encountered problems within the individual projects. Prof. Dixon also took time to give the students more information about the Higher Education System in the UK and discuss options for future research stays.
Moreover, Prof. Dixon gave a talk on "Catalytic Approaches for Simplifying Complex Natural Product and Tertiary Amine Synthesis".
After an intense day of scientific exchange, there was also time to enjoy the city and some Austrian food!

BritInn Fellow Report

BritInn Fellow Dr. Matthias Neuner from the Institute of Basic Sciences in Engineering Sciences at the University of Innsbruck visited the School of Engineering at the Cardiff University in November 2019.
He visited the research group of Prof. Tony Jefferson to start a long-term collaboration on the assessment and development of numerical models to predict the failure process of fibre reinforced cementitious materials such as concrete or shotcrete.

Read the report of his stay here:

BritInn Fellow Report

Prof. Winfried Löffler from the Department of Christian Philosophy at the University of Innsbruck visited the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford in November 2019.
At the University of Oxford Prof. Löffler was working on a project which was based on the working hypothesis that the historical conditions for the emergence of analytic philosophy in Great Britain around 1900 were much broader than the usual view permits, i.e. that the analytic style of philosophizing was foreshadowed by a broader range of figures and that a sort of “para-analytic” philosophy flourished, in relative detachment from the mainstream Moore/Russell/Wittgenstein traditions, well into the 20th century (William R. Sorley and John Cook Wilson might provide initial examples). Beyond catalogue and literature studies, his research consisted in its first stage in large-scale inspections of the relevant shelves of some relatively untouched older philosophy libraries at Oxford.
Beyond conducting his research, Prof. Löffler presented a paper on “Empirical Evidence Against Free Will? A Case Study in Neuro-Mythology” at the Ian Ramsey Center on 4 November 2019.

Read the report of his stay in Oxford here:

BritInn Fellow Report

On November 18 and 19, 2019, the OEAD Hochschultagung took place at the University of Vienna. 
One of the main topics this year was Brexit and future cooperations with UK universities.

Andy Mackay (Director Europe, British Council) talked about "The UK's role in the world, soft power and international relationships Post-Brexit". After his talk, a panel discussion has held where Martin Gilbert (Director British Council Österreich, British Council), Wolfgang Bogensberger (European Commission), Sabine Seidler (Rector TU Vienna) and Barbara Weitgruber (Sektionschefin BMBWF) participated.
Vice Rector Bernhard Fügenschuh, Dr. Barbara Tasser and BritInn from the University of Innsbruck took part at the OEAD Hochschultagung 2019 as well.

From 3 - 6 November 2019, Dr. Natasha Kersh from the Institute of Education at the University College London (UCL) visited the Department of Organisation and Learning at the University of Innsbruck.
Prof. Annette Ostendorf welcomed Dr. Kersh to Innsbruck and together they were working on the project "Developing research cooperation between UCL and the University of Innsbruck through networking and research meeting".
Read the report of Dr. Kersh's stay in Innsbruck here:

BritInn Fellow Report

The third iqClock consortium meeting took place in Innsbruck on 22 and 23 October 2019, hosted by the University of Innsbruck. Two days of interesting talks, updates and plans for the future were discussed in the Claudiasaal, which was provided by the BritInn Academic Network of the University of Innsbruck.
As the University of Birmingham and several British companies are partners within the consortium, the iqClock consortium meeting helped to further establish the good connection between the University of Innsbruck and some of the partners in the UK.

On 18 October 2019, the British Ambassador to Austria Mr. Leigh Turner visited the University of Innsbruck and BritInn.
Together with Dr. Barbara Tasser, head of the International Services and the team of BritInn, the Ambassador discussed the current developments of Brexit and future academic relations between Austria and the UK.
Mr. Turner stated that the embassy puts particular emphasis on further developing academic ties between the two countries and he will do his best to support the academic network BritInn.