b0d2 Research collaborations between Australia and Germany thrive at the Doherty Institute | Doherty Website

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23 Dec 2020

Research collaborations between Australia and Germany thrive at the Doherty Institute

An innovative international postgraduate training program enhances student opportunities and promotes ties between Europe and Australia.

The Bonn Melbourne Graduate School in Immunology is a joint PhD training program in immunology between the University of Melbourne at the Doherty Institute and the University of Bonn in Germany. Established in 2016, the program brings together scientists and students from both countries.

“Bonn University has expertise in innate immunity, while our Melbourne-based researchers complement this expertise as world leaders in the research of adaptive immunity,” says Program Director, University of Melbourne Professor Sammy Bedoui.

“The ability to join forces provides an excellent opportunity to deliver basic and applied science, and to maximise our success in combatting infectious diseases or cancer.”

The Graduate School currently has over 60 graduate researchers and more than 30 participating supervisors in both locations. PhD candidates typically spend two years of their PhD at their home institution and one year at their partner institution.

“Our students are highly competitive candidates and the research output in this program has been fantastic,” says Melbourne Coordinator of the Program, University of Melbourne Dr Marie Greyer

“We have had over 40 publications in high-ranking journals, more than 16 student awards, and most recently, the first cohort of doctorate students have also submitted their theses at the three-and-a-half-year mark. This is an important milestone and we are incredibly proud!”

In recognition of its innovation, international engagement and training of the next generation of scientists, the University of Melbourne awarded the Bonn Melbourne Graduate School in Immunology with the Excellence Award for Internationalisation of Research in 2018. In 2017, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in Germany also awarded €650,000 to establish a second exchange program called “BMAXIS” to encourage additional research collaborations in the clinical arena between Australia and Germany.

The Graduate School is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the University of Melbourne through the International Research and Research Training Fund (IRRTF), with a total of AUD$10 million in funding until 2020, and a current bid to have this funding extended for another four-and-a-half years.

This article was first published in the Celebrating Five Years of the Doherty Institute Impact Report.

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