Opening of the Minerva Alumni Programme
On 31 July 2024, the future Minerva Alumni Programme was officially opened in the historic setting of the Harnack House.
For over 50 years, the Minerva Fellowship Programme has enabled young scientists from Germany and Israel to spend several months conducting research in the other country.
This makes it not only the most traditional exchange programme in cutting-edge research, it also maintains the dialogue and friendship between the two countries through each individual scholarship holder.
Against this background, Minerva fellowship holders have enormous potential - both academically and interculturally. The Minerva Alumni Programme wants to take up this potential as so-called ‘bridge builders’ in the future, preserve it and also use it for future generations of fellowship holders.
The Minerva Alumni Programme was launched on 31 July in the presence of the Minerva management, representatives of the Minerva Fellowship Committee and numerous German and Israeli scholarship holders. The newly established Programme will be part of the Max Planck Alumni Programme, which is currently being established and will also include a large database and numerous alumni events. This database will enable former Minerva fellows to establish scientific contacts in the Max Planck Community and to support new Minerva fellows in their start in the other country through a kind of mentoring programme.
Maximilian Prugger, Managing Director of the Minerva Stiftung, emphasized in his speech that the scholarship holders from both countries have been in an extremely difficult situation since the start of the war in Israel following the Hamas terror attack against Israel on 7 October 2023:
‘Let me emphasize that the past few months have not been easy. First and foremost, for you as Minerva Fellows but also for the Minerva Team. As Minerva Stiftung and as part of the Max Planck Society, we are aware on a daily basis of the unspeakable suffering caused by 7 October last year – the previously unimaginable attack by the terrorist group Hamas against Israeli civilians in the South, the catastrophic effects it continues to have on the population of Gaza, the immense political polarization in the wake of this conflict, not only in Israel but worldwide, and the devastating consequences this conflict is currently having for Israeli science. (…) At this point, I also want to mention that we have five Arab-Israeli Fellows in the Minerva Fellowship Programme. And we can well imagine how stressful and complex the situation must be for you at the moment.’
All those present found the evening together and the personal exchange very beneficial, especially in these difficult times. In the future, it will be possible to connect all Minerva scholarship holders beyond the fellowship through the Minerva Alumni Programme.
