Priority Projects for the University Coincide with German Initiatives

11:50, October 25, 2021

The German ambassador and the rector of the university discussed the prospects for the development of relations between the two countries

Key research projects for Ural Federal University are conducted in the logic of initiatives of German-Russian cooperation, says German Ambassador to Russia Géza Andreas von Geyr, who visited the university this morning and held a meeting with Rector Victor Koksharov.

"The conference of graduates of scholarship programs organized by your university is a special event in the program of the cross-year of Russia and Germany. The topic of climate change and energy policy can become a mainstream and strategic one for the development of our cooperation in the coming years," said Géza Andreas von Geyr.

When developing the cooperation strategy, according to the diplomat, it is important to think how to unite different spheres thematically and set accents in the complex development of the main projects. For example, hydrogen energy technology is one of the focuses of the university's development program in the Priority 2030 project - the most important agenda for Germany.

"For our researchers, Germany has been the main partner in the scientific field for the last seven years. All these years, the maximum number of joint publications with foreign colleagues from scientists of the UrFU was exactly with German partners - up to 130-140 per year in recent years. It was only in 2019 that China surpassed Germany for the first time," noted Victor Koksharov.

The visit of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Russia is timed to coincide with the Conference for Russian graduates of German educational programs, which is held at UrFU on October 24-25.

The program of the ambassador includes a meeting with Acting Governor of the Sverdlovsk region Alexey Shmykov, a flower laying ceremony at the Eternal Flame and the Stone of Reconciliation and a visit to the Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art. Besides, meetings with representatives of cultural sphere and German economy are planned.

Reference

Ural Federal University has 30 partner universities in the Federal Republic of Germany and 792 scientific publications with 129 German universities, the greatest number of them in physics and astronomy. Six German citizens work at the University.

Géza Andreas von Geyr was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Germany to Russia in 2019 and has already visited UrFU twice. Before that, he was vice president of the Federal Intelligence Service and head of the Political Department of the German Defense Ministry.