Freie Universität Berlin has taken the initiative to establish a network of Chinese geoscientists who have taken part in study or research programs in Germany. The "Sino-German Geo Alumni Network“ was founded at Nanjing University. The members come from all parts of China and are working in various fields in the earth sciences. They bring with them a wide range of scientific contacts to German universities and research institutions in locations as diverse as Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Tübingen, Bonn, Kiel, Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Jena and Geesthacht. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is supporting the network with funds from its Alumni Plus Program.
It is hoped that numerous Chinese German Alumni will help to further expand the network before the first workshop takes place in late fall 2010. A steering committee, which is to prepare the meeting, is scheduled to be constituted soon. Geoscientist Professor Bernd Wünnemann of Freie Universität Berlin, who started the network, emphasized: "Our aim is to network our Alumni better with each other than in the past and utilise the synergies this generates“. Professor Wünnemann is presently engaged in teaching and research at Nanjing University.
The Geo Alumni Network will also include informal groups representing such different specialized subjects as physical geography, geology and human geography. The network covers every field in the geosciences and is open to all Chinese scholars who have studied or taught in the area at German universities and research institutes. Former scholars from the Department of Earth Sciences play a major role among Freie Universität Alumni in China with a wide range of cooperations established, both in teaching and research, between scientists at Freie Universität and their colleagues in China.
