Delegation from the University of Greifswald visited the University of Tartu

On 26 February, the University of Tartu was visited by representatives of its long-standing cooperation partner, the University of Greifswald. The delegation was led by Rector Professor Katharina Riedel and Pro-Rector for Teaching, Teacher Training and Internationalisation Dorthe G. A. Hartmann.

In the first half of the day, the guests visited the Institute of Genomics and were hosted by Vice Rector for Development Tõnu Esko, Head of the Institute Mait Metspalu and Head of the Estonian Biobank Lili Milani.

After that, they met with Rector Toomas Asser and Vice Rector for Academic Affairs Aune Valk in the university main building to discuss possibilities to extend the existing research cooperation mostly in social sciences and humanities to other fields.

As the University of Greifswald’s strongest areas of research and most promising opportunities for collaboration, Rector Katharina Riedel highlighted research into zoonotic diseases in the field of medicine and the marine and wetland carbon cycle in ecology and environmental sciences. The UT Institute of Technology is already taking part in a research project led by the University of Greifswald, aiming to develop sustainable methods for the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in aquatic environments.

In addition, political researchers from the University of Greifswald visited the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies and were hosted by Professor of Comparative Politics Piret Ehin, Professor of International Relations Theory Eiki Berg and Lecturer in Politics of Baltic Sea Region Countries Heiko Pääbo. Clemens Räthel, Professor for Modern Scandinavian Literatures at the University of Greifswald, listened to a lecture on Scandinavian literature by Daniel Sävborg, Professor of Scandinavian Studies at the Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures.

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the exhibition “Signs of Power” at the UT Art Museum, guided by the museum’s Research Secretary and curator of the exhibition Ken Ird. Part of the delegation also visited the University of Tartu Museum on Toome Hill.

The universities of Greifswald and Tartu have a long-standing cooperation, which began shortly after the restoration of independence. The University of Greifswald is one of the few universities in Germany teaching Estonian. UT students and teaching staff have also taught at Greifswald.

The previous official visit of representatives of the University of Greifswald to the University of Tartu was in 2017, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the cooperation agreement between the two universities. Back then, the delegation was also led by Professor Katharina Riedel, who was pro-rector for research at the time.