30/06/2023 | During a recent stay in Germany, Professor Andrés Osorio, Executive Director of the Corporation Center of Excellence in Marine Sciences (CEMarin) in Colombia visited ZMT to strengthen the existing ties between the two institutions and to develop new research alliances. His visit was coordinated by Professor Oscar Puebla at ZMT who was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Marine Science 2023 (ICSM) hosted by CEMarin in Cartagena in February.
After a presentation that illustrated the healthy and successful development of CEMarin since it started in 2009, Andrés Osorio had one-to-one chats with ZMT scientists to figure out areas of collaboration.
His main goal, however, was to encourage ZMT to become an official member of the CEMarin network and to benefit from its affiliations and connections with scientists from its six member universities in Colombia and Germany.
Networking is a central part of the CEMarin mission and vision. CEMarin envisions itself as a platform for exchange between marine scientists in Colombia, Germany and beyond, by promoting and coordinating highly visible, externally funded, collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects with high impact in the region (Latin-American and the Caribbean).
As a result of such networking efforts three ZMT scientists – Professor Matthias Wolff, Professor Achim Schlüter and Dr. Andreas Kunzmann – have collaborated individually with CEMarin and are now Associated Researchers at the institution.
“CEMarin has been working with ZMT scientists since it started and three of its scientists are Associated Researchers within our network,” Osorio said during his visit. “However, ZMT is not officially part of our network yet. I hope my visit is a first step in that direction and that ZMT will join us soon.”
The topic was also discussed during a meeting with ZMT’s scientific director Professor Raimund Bleischwitz. He said: “Colombia has extensive coasts along the Caribbean and the Pacific, a rich biodiversity, coral reefs and mangrove forests. ZMT is already engaged in a research project with field work in Colombia, so it seems like a logical step to build on the already existing ties and to closely look at how CEMarin, which is incredibly well connected and already working with ZMT, could become a strategic partner of our institute in the future.”
About CEMarin
CEMarin is an international non-profit academic consortium promoted and financed by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) of the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Established in 2009, it became a DAAD Center of Excellence for research and teaching in 2015, focused on high-level interdisciplinary research and academic training through transnational cooperation with six Colombian and German universities, among other national and international partners. More information on CEMarin: https://cemarin.org/.
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