With the distinguished participation of the Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology, Prof. Dr. Erwin Neher, and the director of the Max-Planck Institute for Brain Research. Prof. Dr. Hc. mult. Wolf Singer, the International Symposium “Chilean Science meets the Max-Planck Institutes” was held at the Naval Museum of Valparaíso between 11 and 13 January 2010.
Joined by 8 scientists from the Max-Planck Institutes and 20 Chilean scientists, Dr. Neher and Dr. Singer offered a presentation to about 200 researchers, professors and students from pre and postgraduate programmes in the disciplines of the event.
This symposium was organized by the European Union Programme of the Department of International Relations, through its CHIEP-2 project, the Max-Planck Society in Germany, and the Universidad de Valparaiso, under the Memorandum of Understanding between CONICYT and the Max-Planck Society signed in March 2008. This event marked the beginning of the collaboration between Chilean scientific community and the Max-Planck Institutes, and therefore it has become a milestone in bilateral cooperation with Germany.
Participants showed interest in maintaining and deepening bonds of exchange and collaboration between German and Chilean scientific communities. In this regard, the European Union Programme of the Department of International Relations highlighted that the aim of the CHIEP-2 project is to further intensify cooperation in science and technology between Chile and the European Union by means of their joint participation in the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme. This Programme offers various financing options for internships, thematic workshops and joint projects, thus allowing to strengthen collaboration not only between Chilean and German researchers, but also with other scientific communities of the European Union.