From left: Rector Yves Fluckiger (Geneva); Nick Chavasse (Exeter, Global Partnerships); Nobel Laureate Prof. Michel Mayor (Geneva); DVC Mark Goodwin (Exeter); Vice-Rector Stephane Berthet (Geneva)

University of Exeter and University of Geneva launch second round of Genex joint funding to increase research and education collaboration

On 15^th October 2019 at the University of Geneva, Exeter’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement, Mark Goodwin, and Geneva’s Vice-Rector for International Relations, Stephane Berthet, signed a MoU for 5 years, agreeing a second round of GenEx Seed Funding, to increase research and teaching collaboration between the two universities. Both institutions are in the top-200 globally in university league tables, and produce high-quality and high-impact research in a broad range of shared thematic research areas.

In 2018/19, the previous round of GenEx funding supported successful and innovative projects in Climate Extremes & Hazards; the Geneva-Exeter Renaissance Exchange; a study of the coordination and dynamics of pathological gait; and a project to boost and measure the magneto-sensitivity of recombination reactions by radical scavenging.

The GenEx 2019/20 funding call will go out at the start of November to Geneva and Exeter academics, with applications for funding invited by the end of January. Details will be posted on the Global Partnerships website, with applications made on the University of Geneva’s funding portal.

The United Kingdom and Switzerland are currently number 1 and number 2 respectively in terms of the volume of European Horizon 2020 research funding received. The future relationship of both countries with the European Union is uncertain, making the deepening of this strategic relationship that much more important and significant in the years ahead.

The Exeter delegation had the honour to meet with Geneva’s co-winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize Winner for Physics, Prof Michel Mayor (pictured), and Prof. Mayor’s knowledge of Exeter’s own highly regarded Exoplanets Research Group was briefly discussed

Date: 15 October 2019