Office of Science & Technology - Noteworthy Information

Noteworthy Information

appear – Austrian Partnership Program in Higher Education & Research for Development

bridges vol. 25, April 2010 / Noteworthy Information

A consortium formed by the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH) and the Latin America Institute (LAI) has implemented "appear" - a new partnership program conceived, guided, and financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC).

According to the development policy trend in Europe, and the ADC's Strategy on Higher Education and Scientific Cooperation, the new "Austrian Partnership Program in Higher Education and Research for Development - appear" supports partnerships between higher education institutions in Austria and in eligible countries in the South (Palestinian Territories, Bhutan, Nepal, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala). Under the superordinate goal of poverty reduction, appear also contributes to a discourse in society about the quality and orientation of development in general. The program is aimed at strengthening institutional capacities in higher education, research, and management in the ADC key regions. appear wants to encourage researchers, professionals, and academic institutions in the eligible countries and in Austria to share their knowledge and experiences, to design innovative projects, and to improve the overall standards in higher education, research, and management.

Austrian Helga Nowotny Elected New President of the European Research Council (ERC)

bridges vol. 25, April 2010 / Noteworthy Information

Prof. Helga Nowotny

After three years of committed work as vice president, Prof. Helga Nowotny, an outstanding Austrian social scientist, was elected unanimously by the ERC Scientific Council as the new ERC president as of March 1, 2010. Her predecessor, Prof. Fotis Kafatos, the first president of the council, announced his resignation in January after three years of distinguished leadership of the ERC, but will remain a member of the Scientific Council and has been proposed as ERC honorary president.

Austrian Fashion Designer Says Girls Have Both the Genes and the Jeans for Mathematics

bridges vol. 25, April 2010 / Noteworthy Information

By Kathlyn Stone

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Prof. Jonathan David Farley and Austrian Designer Peren Linn.

Fashion designer Peren Linn, from Natternbach, Austria, and her business partner Jonathan David Farley , a mathematician and guest professor at the Kepler Universität Linz, want girls to draw their own conclusions about math - and they're giving them an unlikely tool to help them do just that.

Linn created her line of girls' imprinted jeans - "The Math Jeans" - out of a desire "to bring math and forms into daily life," she explained. "It didn't take too much time because jeans are part of our daily life. So I worked on and brought out the imprinted girls' jeans."

Both the mathematician and the artist were taken aback by a comment made by former Harvard University President Lawrence Summers, saying that girls lack the genetic means to do well in math and science.

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