Campus Digest

HKBU signs MOU with Max Weber Foundation in Germany for joint research collaboration

05 Jun 2014

Professor Adrian J. Bailey (second from right) signs the Memorandum of Understanding, accompanied by Professor Ricardo Mak (right), Professor H. Werner Hess (left) and Dr. Bettina Dietz (second from left). Professor Adrian J. Bailey (second from right) signs the Memorandum of Understanding, accompanied by Professor Ricardo Mak (right), Professor H. Werner Hess (left) and Dr. Bettina Dietz (second from left).
Professor Adrian J. Bailey (second from right) signs the Memorandum of Understanding, accompanied by Professor Ricardo Mak (right), Professor H. Werner Hess (left) and Dr. Bettina Dietz (second from left).

 

The Faculty of Social Sciences of HKBU recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Max Weber Foundation – German Humanities Institutes Abroad to embark on joint research collaboration. The two parties will establish a research group in Hong Kong to conduct a three-year joint research project on “Migration, China, and the Global Context” beginning in October 2014.

 

Max Weber Foundation will provide significant funding to support the activities of the research group which will include a postdoctoral fellow and three fully funded PhD students. International recruitment for these positions is in progress. The research group will be co-supervised by Professor Sabine Dabringhaus of University of Freiburg in Germany and Professor Ricardo Mak of the Department of History at HKBU. An exchange visit of one to two semesters to University of Freiburg will be an integral part of the activity of the research group.

 

“The collaboration will not only strengthen the relationship between both parties in education and research, but also offer an exciting opportunity for an outstanding postdoctoral researcher and three doctoral students to take part in academic exchanges between Hong Kong and Germany,” said Professor Adrian J. Bailey, Dean of Social Sciences of HKBU. “Over the long term, both parties wish to expand collaboration and leverage synergies in research and teaching.”

 

Professor Heinz Duchhardt, President of Max Weber Foundation, said: “We are very excited to build the partnerships across the borders of Europe and Asia, and the humanities and social sciences. We believe the collaboration will contribute to the development of young scholars and academic knowledge in the areas of migration, China and the global context.”

 

Max Weber Foundation – German Humanities Institutes Abroad is an internationally active institution that has 10 research institutes as well as two branch offices abroad and is funded by the Federal Republic of Germany. The head office of the Foundation is in Bonn. It reports to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.