Matariki Network of Universities (MNU)

MNU members are critical friends and trusted partners who support each other to enhance quality in all areas of institutional activity. The network creates new opportunities for multilateral international collaboration in research and education. It enables members to enrich their work by sharing ideas and best practice with trusted peers and to collaborate in areas where collectively they can contribute more than each institution individually.

After fourteen years of activity, Matariki has become a well-established group of institutions with deep connections and the collective commitment and enthusiasm to go even further. Building on its previous success, the Network has in 2022 reviewed and refined its values and guiding principles:

1. Commitment to Transnational Dialogue
2. Academic Freedom and Autonomy, Freedom of Expression
3. Respect for Diversity
4. Critical Friendship
5. Purposeful Collaboration for Improving Lives

The Network has also developed new complementary priority activities to reflect these updated guiding principles:

• Develop/refine curricular and co-curricular collaborative activities for students (e.g. COIL programs, undergraduate research fellowships, Indigenous Student Mobility Program)
• Foster research collaborations (e.g. the Research Seed Fund)
• Collective advocacy and action on big issues (e.g. sustainability on campus, research and education on SDGs)
• Intensify engagement (e.g. Engagement Grant, civic engagement)
• Raise MNU’s Profile and Global Reach

The Executive Board Meeting of the year 2024 was organized by Uppsala University. Following the format of the meeting at UWA in 2023, also the International Leads and Indigenous Leads joined the meeting as well as this time also the Research Leads, and three institutional Coordinators. At the welcome reception, the MoU with University of Western Cape (UWC) was signed by its Vice-Chancellor, Tyrone Pretorius, the acting Matariki Chair, Patrick Deane from Queen’s University, and the acting Matariki Vice-Chair and host of this year’s meeting, Anders Hagfeldt from Uppsala University (see below). UWC was present (beside the VC as Executive Head) with its International Lead, Research Lead, Indigenous Lead, and Coordinator. The meeting agenda 2024 had three concurrent sessions in the morning of the first day and two in the afternoon and on the second day: Executive Heads and International Leads discussed the first parts of their business agenda, while Research Leads met for an exchange about new research collaborations with UWC and the next seed fund call; the Indigenous Leads had their own agenda. Later, the Research Leads joined the Executive meeting, and the Indigenous Leads presented their meeting results and recommendations to the plenum at the morning session of the next day. UWC showed an overview of the university and its strengths in research and education both to the plenum and at the Research Leads meeting. Executives expressed their regret about Dartmouth College leaving the network on 1st July 2025 and their gratitude to Lisa Adams for the great contribution and support of Dartmouth College during more than one decade of its membership (see Official Statement - The Matariki Network and Dartmouth - Matariki Network). At the end of the session, a round-table discussion around the current geo-political & academic climate was initiated by the Chair. In the second part of the business agenda, updates related to priority activities were presented, incl. the Matariki Seed Fund results of the 1st call 2023/2024). Uppsala gave the host’s presentation about ‘Global opportunities and challenges’, one of the Uppsala Matariki Fellows presented his paleontological research and community work at Timor-Leste (in collaboration with UWA), and one of the five approved seed fund projects, the one where Uppsala has the lead and four other MNU partners join (UWA, Queen’s, Durham, and Otago) was introduced in a panel discussion and best practice sharing session. The Indigenous Leads (from Otago, Queen’s, UWA and UWC) presented a long list of recommendations, which was highly appreciated by the plenum. The next Executive meeting is scheduled to take place on 16-18 September 2025 at Durham University.

On 4th September 2024, the three Vice-Chancellors Tyrone Pretorius from the University of Western Cape, Patrick Deane from Queen’s University (as the acting Matariki Chair) and Anders Hagfeldt from Uppsala University (as the acting Matariki Vice-Chair, host of the Uppsala Executive meeting) signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the membership of UWC in the Matariki Network. The present Matariki members warmly welcomed the representatives of UWC in the group and expressed their hope for fruitful and sustainable cooperation.

See the official statement of the Matariki Secretariat: The Matariki Network of Universities welcomes its 8th member  - Matariki Network 
 

At the Executive meeting at Queen’s University in 2022 the Matariki members decided upon a list of new priority activities. One of them is the new Matariki Research Seed Fund, the most substantial activity related to the promotion of research collaborations in the network presently. Researchers were asked to apply for joint projects with at least two MNU partners involved with a duration of max. 24 months and max. funding of £ 25,000 per project. Each Matariki partner is requested to offer funding for its own academic staff up to max. £ 30,000 per year. The range of subjects and research fields is open to all disciplines, but special priority is set on research related to the UN SDGs (THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development), to support especially the fifth of the five Matariki guiding principles: Purposeful collaboration for improving lives (Our Mission – Matariki Network). As a second important priority it was decided by the executives to especially include early-career researchers (ECR) in the joint projects as lead, co-applicant, or participating researcher.

In the first round, 33 applications have been submitted. Five projects were selected as winners, in one of them the University of Tübingen is one of two co-applicants: Dr. Christian Wild, Geophysics and Glaciology, Dept. of Geosciences, Faculty of Science. The title of the project is: “The role of shear margins in rapid ice sheet acceleration”, the leading university is Otago and Durham is the other co-applicant.

See the list of selected projects at the Matariki homepage: 2023-2024 Matariki Seed Fund Projects - Matariki Network 
 

After the great success of the first call of the Matariki Research Seed Fund, the network opened the second call in October 2024 (with deadline for application submission on 6th December). This time, 27 applications have been submitted. The judging panel will meet on 26th February 2025 to select the winners of the second round. Again, a broad range of research fields from the natural sciences, life and medical sciences as well as social sciences is included in the joint projects, of which the majority is multilateral. The University of Tübingen is this time present with one lead project and six projects as co-applicant.

For more information see the Matariki homepage: Matariki Research Seed Fund - Matariki Network 

The results of the 2nd call will be announced at the end of February 2025.
 

Like the two years before, the University of Tübingen has participated in the Matariki 3MT Competition of 2024. Also this year the organization and selection processes were managed by colleagues from the Graduate Academy at the Research Division. This time, it was very difficult for the judging panel to elect the winners because of the excellent quality of presentations. So, they decided to award two doctoral candidates with the runner-up spot. The online People’s Choice vote attracted over 600 votes, as the Secretariat has pointed out. The winner was a doctoral researcher from the Tübingen English Studies Department: Miriam Schiele with a linguistic theme: “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Preposition: English flexibility vs German precision”. Our warm congratulations for her success!

See the report at the Matariki homepage: 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) – Matariki Network 
 

The network will launch the next call for the Matariki Engagement Grant (MEG) in February 2025. After a not successful first launch in spring 2024, the MEG working group has discussed the difficulties and has recommended several changes at the new call, esp. related to the target group, the timeline of the application process, and the maximum budget of the grant.

The aim of the MEG is “to enhance personal- and career development, professional leadership expertise and international collaboration”. This time, grants will be awarded up to max. £ 5,000, with earliest start in August 2025 and running for max. 12 months. The call will be open on February 3rd and close on April 30th, 2025. Communication of results: end of June 2025.

The target group is professional service staff on a managerial level. Staff from at least two MNU partners shall collaborate in the project, but more than two partners are strongly encouraged for building multilateral communities of practice. Projects shall focus on the Matariki guiding principles and priority areas, e.g.: sustainability (sustainable development, SDGs), diversity and inclusion, student experience, University global strategy, et al. They should provide benefits to the participating staff members as well as to their institutions and the whole network.

Pre-call for 2025/2026: Matariki Engagement Grant - Matariki Network
 

Strategic Meetings of Uppsala University in Tübingen

On 15 May 2023, a delegation of Uppsala University Management has visited the University of Tübingen. Under the lead of its Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt and Deputy Vice-Chancellor Coco Norén, the eight members of Uppsala delegation have met at different occasions during the morning and afternoon with the three Tübingen Vice-Presidents Karin Amos, Peter Grathwohl, and Monique Scheer, several deans and researchers from the Faculties of Medicine, Science, Economics and Social Sciences, and Humanities as well as with members of the University’s central administration. Subjects of main interest have been interdisciplinarity in research, excellence strategy and internationalization strategy, sustainability and sustainable development

Uppsala University is one of University of Tübingen’s strategic partners and a network partner in the Matariki Network of Universities (MNU) and in The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities (The Guild). After the meetings, Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt and Vice-Rector Mats Larhed have expressed their wish to strengthen and further intensify the already strong strategic collaborations of both universities, esp. in medical sciences and natural & life sciences.

Executive Meeting at the University of Western Australia (UWA)

After the Network had jointly decided its new guiding principles / core values and a list of short-/mid-term priority activities (Our Mission – Matariki Network) at the Executive Meeting at Queen’s University (Canada) in 2022, the following face-to-face meetings of the Executive Board, International Leads and for the first time also Indigenous Leads was organized in September 2023 at the University of Western Australia in Perth (Australia). From the side of the University of Tübingen, Prof. Dr. Monique Scheer, Vice-President for International Affairs and Diversity, attended the meeting. Beside the general business agenda, the Executive Heads and International Leads discussed the progress of priority activities, procedures for network expansion, and – in a round-table discussion – about ‘International risks to research security and other international security risks in HE’, while in concurrent sessions the Indigenous Leads exchanged views about developing an Indigenous engagement framework for MNU with joint activities in research and education. It was decided to continue the processes initiated at Queen’s and followed at UWA at the next meeting scheduled to take place at Uppsala University in September 2024.

Success Story of Research Collaboration with Uppsala University in the Fields of Women’s Mental Health

A long-term collaboration in the fields of women’s mental health between researchers from the Universities of Tübingen and Uppsala was rewarded with a grant for the International Research Training Group (IRTG) by the German Research Foundation (DFG). Prof. Dr. Birgit Derntl, research group leader at the Tübingen University Hospital for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, had organized in 2018 and 2019 – after delegation visits at Uppsala and Tübingen in the years 2016/17 – two winter schools at Tübingen and Uppsala together with her Uppsala colleague Prof. Dr. Inger Sunström Poromaa (now the Uppsala IRTG speaker) and other researchers from both universities. These winter schools have been part of the Matariki Research Theme Brain and Mind. Integrative Neuroscience. On this basis and within their joint research project (incl. a mini IRTG) on “Pregnancy and the Brain”, funded by the Tübingen Center for Integrated Neuroscience (CIN), the leading researchers have developed the DFG application during the years 2020, 2021.

The International Research Training Group “Women’s mental health across the reproductive years” will be funded by 7 Million Euro over five years, starting on 1st January 2023.

A quote from the English abstract:

"The IRTG strives to enhance interdisciplinary research and education on a topic of high clinical and societal relevance: women’s mental health across the reproductive years. … Within our IRTG we aim to better understand the associations between hormonal transition phases and women’s mental health by addressing specific hypotheses in the context of sex hormone variation. … Our long-term perspective is to improve prevention, detection and treatment of mental disorders in women. … Doctoral candidates will be supervised by a German and a Swedish researcher and mentored by Germen/Swedish teams, enabling them to profit from an elaborate mentoring program. Thus, our IRTG strives to establish a productive and interdisciplinary environment for high-level education of young scientists putting Tübingen and Uppsala at the forefront of research and education in women’s mental health across the reproductive years."

Contact
University Hospital Tübingen
General Psychiatry and Psychotherapy with Outpatient Clinic
Research Group  Leader Innovative Brain Functional Processes
Prof. Dr. Birgit Derntl
Calwerstr. 14, D-72076 Tübingen
 Phone: +49 7071 29 85437
E-mail: birgit.derntlspam prevention@med.uni-tuebingen.de  

Matariki Global Citizenship Fellow Exchange Scheme

In the framework of multilateral cooperation in the Matariki Network, the University of Tübingen offers funding opportunities for Master and PhD students as well as for postdoctoral researchers of the Universities Dartmouth, Durham, Otago, Queen’s, Uppsala, and UWA in two different funding schemes:

Matariki Global Citizenship Fellow Exchange Scheme for Doctoral / Master Students from Matariki Universities 2020-2022
3 Master / PhD Students from our Matariki partners per year for stays at the University of Tübingen of 3 weeks up to 6 months, for the years 2020-2022

Applicants shall be engaged in one of the areas of the Matariki Global Citizenship Programme sein. More information: http://matarikiglobalcitizen.org 

Matariki Lecture Series 2021: #Race, Racism and Decolonisation

The second Matariki Lecture Series of this year: Race, Racism and Decolonisation, presents at three events between 21^st and 27^th October 2021 a sequence of 3-5 short lectures given by researchers from all seven Matariki partner universities, followed by an interactive Q&A and panel discussion.

Link: Matariki Lectures – Matariki Network 

Event # 1 – "Racism and social determinants of health": https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoDT3ZU3FLTmXcZT5JSHY1n5yjt8Dfb5z  

Event # 2  - "Practical impacts of racism on everyday living": https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoDT3ZU3FLTmW6qAy8BtYu3aNbXAqdKH7  

Event # 3 – "Decolonisation": https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoDT3ZU3FLTlMFVm4EiM5hhx2JKRogQEk 

The University of Tübingen will be the host of Event 2. At this event as well as at Event 3 Tübingen researchers will participate: Dr. Nicole Hirschfelder, Dr. Debarchana Baruah and Arhea Marshall. Staff members from Tübingen Campus TV Studio (Oliver Häussler et al.) are undertaking the logistics in close cooperation with the Matariki Secretariat (Lucy Turzynski).

1.    Thursday 21st October – “Health and social determinants of racism”
2.    Monday 25th October – “Practical impacts of racism on everyday living”
3.    Wednesday 27th October – “Decolonisation”

All events are open to colleagues both within and outside of the Matariki Network (pre-registration required). All presentations will be recorded and uploaded to the Matariki YouTube channel, to be accessed at a later date.

Poster Event 1
Poster Event 2
Poster Event 3

Contact:
Oliver Häussler: CampusTV | University of Tübingen (uni-tuebingen.de)
Lucy Turzynski, Matariki Secretariat: Contact Us – Matariki Network 

Matariki 3MT® 2021

This October the University of Tübingen participates for the first time in the 3 Minute Thesis Competition (3MT®) of the Matariki Network. Our participants are a doctoral student and a postdoc who has just finished his PhD. 

Link: https://www.matarikinetwork.org/research/3-minute-thesis-competition-3mt/ 

The Matariki Network organizes the annual 3MT® competition since 2019. For the first time this year all seven partners join the competition with two research students each. The video presentations have been submitted until 4th October. From 11th October a jury of representatives from all Matariki partners judge on the submitted videos. In addition, there is a People’s Choice vote for the best video between 15th and 24th October. On 25th October the results of the main competition with the 1st place and the Runner-up will be announced as well as the People’s Choice winner.

The Tübinger participants are Monja Neuser (doctoral student of the neuroMADLAB, Translationale Psychiatry, University Hospital for Psychiatry) with her PhD project “Binge Eating und (neuronale) Variabilität” and Dr. Moritz Koch (just finished his PhD at the Interfaculty Institute for Microbiology and Infection Medicine on “Using metabolic engineering strategies to improve phototrophic cyanobacteria for the production of sustainable, biodegradable bioplastics”. Since 2021 he is a postdoc at the University of British Columbia. Both participants have several experiences in science communication and have already received prices for their research and engagement.

Award ceremony for Dr. Moritz Koch: News from the Faculty of Sciences

Contact: 
Dr. Martina Bross Link Team | University of Tübingen (uni-tuebingen.de)

Matariki Common Purpose Global Citizenship Programme

On 13th September 2021 the Matariki Common Purpose Global Citizenship Online Programme has started in the framework of the network’s activities on the theme of global citizenship.

Link Matariki GCP: https://www.matarikinetwork.org/education/matariki-global-citizenship-programme/; http://matarikiglobalcitizen.org/  

350 students from six Matariki partner universities signed up for this pilot three-weeks online course provided by Common Purpose (https://commonpurpose.org/), a non-profit organization specializing in global leadership programmes, 25 students from the University of Tübingen (17 of them have successfully completed the course). Over 9 asynchronous teaching hours (with 6 modules and 3 assessments) offered knowledge and best practice for understanding and practical experience of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Under the five character traits “Quick”, “Interconnected”, “Awake”, “Accessible”, and “Trustworthy” students as the future “Open Source Leaders” learned until 4th October by videos, interactive discussions, and individual and group work, how they could become quick in adapting to a changing world and capable for global networking, how they could be aware and counterbalance intolerance, and how they could become accessible and trustworthy leaders in the 21st century.

The online programme was organized by the Matariki Secretariat (Lucy Turzynski), on Tübingen side in cooperation with Dr. Christine Rubas, Director of the International Office (Division V). The Matariki Network has funded 180 student places from the central network budget, additional places have been subsidised by the individual partner institutions.

Contact:
Dr. Christine Rubas: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/facilities/administration/v-international-office/ 

Matariki Lecture Series 2021: #Human Evolution

“Is human evolution more complicated than we first thought?” – This question was discussed in a live streamed Zoom webinar on Tuesday, 16 March 2021 with presentations by scientists from four MNU partners followed by a moderated interactive Q&A session. Recording of the Matariki Lecture on Human Evolution

The four speakers are:

• Prof. Dr. Madelaine Böhme, University of Tübingen
• Prof. Per Ahlberg, PhD, Uppsala University
• Prof. Jerry DeSilva, PhD, Dartmouth College
• Prof. Sarah Elton, PhD, Durham University

Press release
Poster

Matariki Mobility Scheme for Doctoral/PhD students and Post-doctoral researchers in the years 2020-2021

2 doctoral/PhD Students or postdoctoral researchers from our Matariki partners per year for stays at the University of Tübingen of 2 weeks up to 3 months, for the years 2020-2021

Applicants shall identify a professor at the University of Tübingen who agrees to host them

Priority research fields are the Matariki Research Themes (https://www.matarikinetwork.org/research/), but doctoral candidates/postdocs from other existing collaborations can also apply

• How to apply

In addition, other funding opportunities in the framework of the Excellence Strategy of the University of Tübingen can be found here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/33496

Matariki Executive Board Meeting

On 15th and 16th July 2019, the Matariki Executive Board Meeting was held at the University of Tübingen. The Presidents/Vice-Chancellors of the Matariki partner universities as well as responsible executive staff members for International/Global Relations and several Matariki Coordinators came to Tübingen. At the meeting, the Chairmanship of the Matariki Network was passed from Dartmouth College to the University of Western Australia; at the same time, the University of Tübingen took on the duties of Vice-Chair and will start to have the Chairmanship of the Network from 1st January 2020 for two years. The agenda of the meeting included discussions of the recent developments in the network with respect to activities in research and education, ongoing benchmarking projects and planned funding programs for students and faculty. After the meeting Professor Bernd Pichler presented the Tübingen excellence cluster “Image-Guided and Functionally Instructed Tumor Therapies (iFIT)”, followed by a lab visit at radio-pharmacy.

2nd Winter School “Pregnancy and the Brain”

The 2nd Winter School of the CIN-funded Mini International Research Training Group (MRTG) entitled “Pregnancy and the Brain” was organized on 27-28 February 2019 at Uppsala University. From the University of Tübingen a group of eight researchers and six students attended the winter school: Professors Birgit Derntl, Manfred Hallschmid, Ingeborg Krägeloh-Mann, Hubert Preißl, Tobias Renner, Martin Walter, J-Prof. Vanessa Nieratschker, PD Dr. Melanie Henes and the students Ilena Bauer, Ann-Christin Kimmig, Marina Krylova, Carolin Lewis, Elisa Rehbein, and Ferdinand Soerensen. From Uppsala University, four researchers are involved in the MRTG as supervisors: Professors Inger Sundström Poromaa, Anna-Karin Wikström, Fotis Papadopoulus, Alkestis Skalkidou. At a strategic meeting of the supervisors and PIs from Tübingen and Uppsala it was agreed to write a joint application for an International Research Training Group (IRTG) to be submitted to the DFG in the course of this year or early 2020.

Another joint activity of researchers of history from Uppsala University and the University of Tübingen was an Erasmus+-funded  faculty exchange combined with a lecture series (Studium Generale) in Tübingen in the winter semester 2018/19. The exchange shall be continued in spring-summer 2020. From Tübingen Professors Ewald Frie, Johannes Großmann, Ellen Widder, Dr. Philip Hahn and Dr. Daniel Menning travelled to Uppsala; from Uppsala the researchers Gudrun Andersson, Lars M. Andersson, Louise Berglund, Carl Mikael Carlsson and Dag Lindström came to Tübingen. The title of the lectures series in Tübingen was “Borders and Transgressions from the late Medieval Period to the Present”, jointly organized by Gudrun Andersson and Daniel Menning.

Both bilateral activities between the Universities of Tübingen and Uppsala are based on individual collaborations between the involved researchers and have been highly promoted and strengthened by the strategic cooperation in the Matariki Network of Universities.

Matariki Lecture in Tübingen 2018

On Wednesday 24 October 2018, Professor Dr. Alexander Densmore, Institute of Hazard, Risk, and Resilience and Department of Geography of Durham University held the Matariki Lecture 2018 in the Auditorium Maximum of the University of Tübingen (Neue Aula, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz) on The use of science in earthquake risk reduction: lessons from the 2015 Nepal earthquake. After the Lecture, Vice-Rector (Research) Peter Grathwohl hosted a reception at the Kleiner Senat of the University. Prof. Densmore met with students and staff members of the Earth System Dynamics Research Group of Prof. Todd Ehlers at the Dept. of Geology and Geodynamics on the day after. The lecture was recorded by the Tübingen Media Competence Center, the video can be found here:

The Matariki Lectures have been started with an initiative of Queen’s University in February 2017 by Professor Denise Anthony, Vice-Provost for Academic Initiatives des Dartmouth College, at Queen’s in Kingston. More information here: https://matarikinetwork.org/events/matariki-lecture-2017. The Tübingen Matariki Lecture was the second, the third Lecture will be organized at the University of Otago next years.

Tübingen - Durham Seedcorn Fund

Bilateral funding programme between Durham University and the University of Tübingen for academic staff, including early-career researchers and postgraduate students. For more information see http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/de/33496.

Contacts: Elenora Haag (Tübingen) international.researchspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de and Jemima Lloyd (Durham) international.partnershipsspam prevention@durham.ac.uk

Winter School „Sex Hormones and the Brain“, 31 January – 2 February 2018

The international winter school “Sex Hormones and the Brain” was organized on 31 January – 2 February in Tübingen. The Organizers have been the Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN) of the University of Tübingen and Uppsala University. The winter school is part of the Matariki Research Theme „Brain and Mind (Integrative Neuroscience)“.

• Link to CIN-Website
• Link to MNU-Website

Spring School and Conference “High-Level Vision: from Mechanisms to Perception”, 10–13 April

The Spring School and Conference “High-Level Vision: from Mechanisms to Perception” was organized on 10–13 April 2017 in Tübingen.

• Matariki Research Theme “Brain and Mind. Integrative Neuroscience”

Humanities Colloquium “Language”, 9–12 October 2017

The Humanities colloquium “Language” in the framework of the Matariki Research Theme “Arts & Humanities Research for the World” was organized on 9–12 October 2017 in Tübingen. The four previous colloquia of the series took place in 2013 at Dartmouth College, 2014 at University of Otago, 2015 at Queen’s University, and 2016 at Durham University.

• Program
• Matariki Research Theme “Arts & Humanities Research for the World”

Continuation of the Teach-at-Tübingen program (T@T)

Since 2013, in total 28 doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers from Matariki universities received a scholarship for a one or two semester teaching and research stay in Tübingen.

• Calls for application every half year in the framework of the German Excellence Initiative

Workshop “Quantum Science”, 19–23 March

A workshop on “Quantum Science” was held on 19–23 March 2016 at the University of Otago. It was a follow-up event of the workshop 2013 in Tübingen.

• Matariki Research Theme “Quantum Science”

Workshop “ASEAN and the EU: Regions in Crisis”, 2–3 June

A workshop on “ASEAN and the EU: Regions in Crisis” was held on 2–3 June 2016 in Tübingen in cooperation with researchers from the University of Western Australia.

Tübingen Research World Tour

Delegation visits at the Universities of Durham (21–23 September 2016) and Uppsala (3–5 October 2016).

Summer School “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”, 8–11 July

A Summer School on “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences” was held on 8–11 July 2015 in Tübingen. It was the follow-up event of the Spring School 2014 in Tübingen.

• Matariki Research Theme “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”

International conference “Digitizing Matariki Museum Coin Collections”, 22–23 October

The international conference “Digitizing Matariki Museum Coin Collections” was held on 22–23 October 2015 in Tübingen, in cooperation with Uppsala University and other Matariki partners. In 2016 the coin collections from Uppsala and Tübingen were included in the list of Matariki Shared Facilities.

• Matariki Research Theme “Digital Humanities”

Spring School “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”, 9–12 April

A Spring School on “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences” was held on 9–12 April 2014 in Tübingen. It was the follow-up event of the workshops 2011 in Tübingen and 2012 in Durham in a new format (teaching offer for doctoral students and medical students).

• Matariki Research Theme “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”

EU research project HAIRS, 2014–2017

The Tübingen EU research project “Hybrid Architecture for Quantum Information using Rydberg Ensembles and Superconductors” (HAIRS) in cooperation with Durham University and others is approved. Duration: 2014–2017.

Workshop “Quantum Science”, 1–4 July

A Workshop on „Quantum Science“ was held on 1–4 July 2014 in Tübingen.

• Matariki Research Theme “Quantum Science”

Workshop “Regulating Research in the Life Sciences in a Globalised World” , 18–20 July

The Workshop “Regulating Research in the Life Sciences in a Globalised World: Case Studies” was held on 18–20 July 2012 in Durham. It was the follow-up event of the workshop 2011 in Tübingen.

• Matariki Research Theme “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”

Workshop “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”, 26–29 October

The Workshop “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences – Agenda Setting for Research and Teaching” was held on 26–29 October 2011 in Tübingen.

• Matariki Research Theme “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences”

Tübingen funding program “Multilateral Strategic Partnerships”, 2011–2014

The Tübingen funding program “Multilateral Strategic Partnerships” (2011–2014), funded by the Baden-Württemberg SCHOLARSHIP for Students (BWS plus) of the Baden-Württemberg Foundation, was approved. With financial support of this program, the University of Tübingen was able to fund the first two Matariki Research Workshops in Tübingen on “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences” 2011 and “Quantum Science” 2013, as well as the Matariki Spring School “Research Ethics in the Life Sciences” 2014 in Tübingen. In addition, travel funds could be offered for Tübingen researchers participating at three Matariki Research Workshops 2012, 2013, and 2014 in Durham and Uppsala and scholarships could be given to 16 doctoral students in total, 3 of them from Matariki partners (Durham and Otago).