Newsletter from the Welcome Centre
Dear international academics,
Spring is around the corner and we have so many news to share with you. From workshops and events to a day trip recommendation, we have packed this newsletter with great opportunities for you and hope you enjoy reading it.
Your Welcome Centre Team
News from the Welcome Centre Team – Goodbye Carolina
Our team is glad to have had Carolina on board since the beginning of 2023, and we are grateful for her contributions to the Welcome Centre’s success. Now it is time to say Goodbye as Carolina is expecting a baby and therefore sets off on a new and special adventure. With her commitment and kindness, Carolina played a very important role in providing newcomers with advice and support on visa requirements and residence permits and guiding internationals in all non-academic matters before, during and after their stay at the University of Passau. You might also have met her during one of our events, especially the art workshop, which was successfully led by Carolina a couple of weeks ago.
Dear Carolina, we will surely miss you and wish you and your young family all the best for the future!
Invitation to our Guided Tour of Passau and the Semester Opening Event at RIO
Are you still relatively new to Passau or would you like to discover a few new places in your town? Then come to our Welcome Centre tour of Passau on Thursday,11 April. We start at 17:00 from the Innwiese lawn.
We’ll show you our favourite places to relax in summer, the best cafés, cinemas with English-language films and much more. It won’t be a classic historical tour of the town, but we’ll show you the beautiful Passau from our perspective with personal recommendations.
We’ll finish together with the semester opening event at 18:30 at RIO, Lederergasse 50, where you can enjoy cold drinks, snacks and good conversation. If you can’t make the tour, you are of course welcome to join us later at the RIO.
To register, please email us at researchmobility@uni-passau.de. If desired, you can register for just the tour or semester opening.
We look forward to starting the new semester with you!
Holi Get Together
Isha Das, PhD student from the University of Passau had the great idea of celebrating the Holi festival together in Passau on 25 March. The event will start at 6 p.m. in the club room (ITZ 005).
If you are interested, please get in touch with Isha by email (Isha.Das@uni-passau.de).
Workshops in English – Offered by LEHRE+
Online Seminar: Interactive Lecturing
Interactive lecturing is generally defined as a method in which lectures are repeatedly paused and enhanced with pedagogical elements such as active learning methods, collaborative learning and formative assessment – without losing the lecture as the primary tool for conveying knowledge. The aim is to give students the opportunity to engage with the material and to promote learning as a dialogical experience. By completing this course consisting of three online meetings and self-learning activities in between, you get to know the benefits of interactive lecturing and how to apply these methods in your own lectures and integrate them into your own teaching practices.
Date: 26 April 2024
Time: 11:00 to 12:30
Location: Online via Zoom
Registration and further information on admission requirements on Stud.IP: 68823
Online Seminar: Teaching in Multicultural Learning Environments
This seminar focuses on culture and communication, first creating awareness of your own cultural imprints and resulting communication patterns and then using this as the foundation to reflect on other cultural backgrounds and communication. These insights will help you to further develop sensitivity for possible hurdles in order to work on strategies to counteract these. Experienced trainer Jyotika Dalal will guide you to acquire a greater ability and range of approaches to foster appropriate communication in intercultural interactions that arise on a regular basis, such as in the classroom, tutorials, consultation hours etc.
Date: 17 June 2024
Time: 9:00 to 16:30
Location: Online via Zoom
Registration and further information on admission requirements on Stud.IP: 68832.
Science Slam Diversity
On 28 May 2024, the German Diversity Day will take place, in which the University of Passau has been participating with a diverse programme since 2020. On this day students and researchers at the University of Passau have the opportunity to publicly present their diverse research in a science slam.
What is a Science Slam?
A science slam offers the unique opportunity to present your own research area or project to the audience in a lively and entertaining way within a short period of time. Creativity in the presentation is expressly encouraged – because science can also be fun!
The Science Slam Diversity will take place on 28 May 2024 at 18:00. All participants will have 10 minutes to present their research topic and, above all, to convince the audience.
Would you like to take part?
Are you currently researching an exciting topic and would like to give a broad audience an insight into it? Regardless of the scope of the research – term paper, habilitation thesis or international research project – all contributions are welcome as long as they are related to diversity! Presentations can be given in either German or English. Register by 8 April 2024 via this form https://www.uni-passau.de/en/diversity-day.
Call for Applications: Research-in-Residence Fellowships at the University of Passau, Germany, in 2024 and 2025
The Passau International Centre for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies (PICAIS) at the University of Passau invites applications worldwide from internationally established academics as well as from promising junior researchers at the postdoctoral level for Research-in-Residence Fellowships and Scientific Event Funding at the University of Passau in Lower Bavaria, Germany.
Research-in-Residence Fellowship
- Funding of a visiting position for junior or senior researchers at the University of Passau
- Funding covers accommodation and living expenses, travel expenses/mobility allowance and a contribution towards research costs
- Duration: 2 to 6 months
- Eligibility: researchers/academics holding a doctorate
- Applications must be endorsed by a member of the University of Passau, who will act as their host
- Funding of academic events to be held in Passau
- Aimed at international networking and cooperation between researchers at different career stages; exchange of ideas on innovative research issues
- Eligibility: researchers/academics holding a doctorate
- Applications must include a member of the University of Passau who acts as the main event organiser ; externals act as co-organisers
The upcoming application deadlines for the above PICAIS funding programmes are:
Wednesday, 15 May 2024 and Tuesday, 15 October 2024
Please refer to the PICAIS website as well as the attached calls/guidelines for detailed information regarding the requirements of the application, eligibility criteria, selection procedure, and application forms.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the PICAIS office (picais-office@uni-passau.de) at any time.
Recommendation Corner
Now that spring has sprung, it’s time for some leisure activities in the summer semester. For that, we have prepared a Recommendation Corner for you. In each newsletter, you will get to discover an idea for a quick getaway close to Passau. Here is our first recommendation:
A Trip to Schärding
The small baroque Austrian town of Schärding, just a stone’s throw away from Passau, is always worth a visit. The late-baroque Silberzeilein Schärding is one of the most beautiful ensembles of colourful houses with bell gables. The different colours correspond to the medieval guild colours, which in the past were assigned to different trades, such as bakers, butchers, innkeepers and others. In summer the central square is very lively and perfect for some window-shopping or a visit to a café or ice-cream parlour. But there is much more to discover. Take your time and stroll through the charming alleyways and discover e.g. the old town wall, medieval gates, the Orangerie and the beautiful Schlosspark.
How to get there:
By train: The train ride takes 13 minutes from Passau to Schärding. Tickets are available from the Austrian Railways (ÖBB) ticket machines at Passau railway station (Hauptbahnhof) or you can buy them online.
By bike: There are beautiful cycling paths on both banks of the Inn river directly connecting Passau and Schärding, which in total make a really nice and easy, family-friendly roundtrip (32 km in total). You could also combine bike and train. If you don’t own a bike, why not rent one?
We hope you’ll enjoy your trip!
Welcome Poster – Submit Your Recommendations
We are updating our Welcome poster and would appreciate your help! As seen on the image above, we need the word “welcome” in your language.
If you want to contribute, please send the word to researchmobility@uni-passau.de.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you!
Best regards,
Your Welcome Centre Team