Professor Eckart Rühl from the Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy at Freie Universität is being recognized for his project German-Russian Interdisciplinary Science Center (G-RISC). This Russian-German Center of Excellence was established in 2009. Above all, G-RISC promotes the exchange of young scientists, conferences, and courses that lead to new, long-term collaborations. The cooperation is open to all research institutions in Russia and Germany, and during the last decade, a close, interdisciplinary network has emerged between the two countries.

Professor Theocharis Grigoriadis from the Institute for East European Studies and the School of Business and Economics at Freie Universität is receiving an award for his project Russisch-Deutsche Beziehungen: Wirtschaft & Politik (Russian-German Relations: Economy & Politics). It is a one-year certificate program in which lecturers from Freie Universität Berlin teach regional expertise on Germany and Europe to students in bachelor’s and master’s degree programs at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations. In addition, the students gain intercultural skills as well as skills needed in economics and the social sciences.

The competition “Bridges for German-Russian University and Science Cooperation” is organized jointly by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education and the coordinators of the theme year: the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Science and Innovation House (DWIH) in Moscow, and the Russian National University for Research and Technology.