In their biomedical projects the scientists of the Center for Molecular Medicine at the University of Cologne (CMMC) investigate at the molecular level the pathogenetic mechanisms of cardiovascular disorders, inflammatory and infectious diseases, cancer and neurological disorders.

Coordinaed by the CMMC is the Interdisciplinary MD-PhD Program in Molecular Medicine  (IPMM), open to graduates from the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.

The organisers of the IPMM invited Alexia Petersen to contribute a workshop on intercultural communication for the participants of the program, which took place end of February 2010.

About the Interdisciplinary Program in Molecular Medicine:

The University of Cologne has a long-standing academic tradition and a world-wide reputation for top-level biomedical research. Since 2003, the Faculties of Medicine and of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Cologne offer an Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program in Molecular Medicine (IPMM). This IPMM is coordinated by the Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne (CMMC). The IPMM is member of the Organization for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System.

Based on Anglo-American models, the IPMM is aimed at outstanding research-oriented medical and life science graduates. The three-year PhD program reflects the increasing importance of interdisciplinarity and provides comprehensive research training in an atmosphere of scientific excellence.

IPMM participants are enrolled in a 3-year experimental research project in the field of biomedicine. This research project is supplemented with an individually tailored study program of obligatory lectures and courses, guest seminars, progress reports, advanced method courses and workshops as well as scientific soft skills training.

In 2005-06 Spencer Szczesny spent a year at RWTH Aachen University as a Charlemagne Scholarship recipient and joined our workshop on intercultural communication. He has maintained a deep interest in the topic and stayed in contact ever since.

Over the years, we have been meeting up with him in various places. For instance, in Cambridge, Massachusetts he introduced us to the MIT Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Alexia Petersen was invited to give a guest lecture on intercultural communication as part of the course "Working in the Global Economy". On his invitation, Dr. Stephan Petersen also gave an introductory talk on intercultural communication at Aesculap Implant Systems in Center Valley, Pennsylvania.

In October last year we met him again, this time at the University of Pennsylvania  in Philadelphia, where he is currently doing his PhD. In addition to his studies he has been active in the Intercultural Leadership Program at Penn and founded InterComm, a student group supporting intercultural communication competency and training. It was for this group that he invited Stephan Petersen to give a talk on intercultural communication and leadership.

Alexia Petersen was invited in November 2009 by the Graduate School "MAterials Science IN MainZ" (MAINZ) at the University of Mainz to conduct a one-day introductory workshop for participants in this international PhD programme.

Like many internationally oriented research school programmes, MAINZ  seeks to provide doctoral students with a wide range of professional skills training courses throughout the year. MAINZ has been selected as one of the few PhD programmes in the interdisciplinary area of Chemistry, Physics and Biology as part of the German Excellence Initiative.

About MAINZ Graduate School:

The Graduate School of Excellence "MAterials Science IN MainZ" (MAINZ) is an international PhD programme which focuses on graduate training through excellence in research in the combined fields of polymer science, colloids, supramolecular assemblies, magnetoelectronics and strongly correlated quantum systems, including ultracold quantum gases.

Scientists from the University of Mainz, the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) and the University of Kaiserslautern (TUKL) have joined to form MAINZ. MAINZ has been selected as one of the few PhD programmes in the interdisciplinary area of Chemistry, Physics and Biology as part of the Excellence Initiative.

Both dates for our "Workshops on Intercultural Communication" (winter semester) for students at RWTH Aachen University have been set:

• October 22-23, 2010 (Friday-Saturday)
• January 14-15, 2011 (Friday-Saturday)

Details on the workshops are, as always, available on our workshop pages.

In 2009, the RWTH Aachen University Alumni Team produced a short introductory video on our RWTH workshops on intercultural communication and published it on YouTube.

You can find the video, with commentary in German, on the RWTH workshop info web site.

After having contributed a talk to a seminar series organized by the ZIBI Graduate School Berlin  in December 2008, Alexia and Stephan Petersen were invited by the organizers of the graduate program to conduct a 2-day workshop on intercultural communication for its PhD students.

ZIBI Graduate School Berlin is the roof of two graduate programs, and is closely linked to the Interdisciplinary Center for Infection Biology and Immunity  of the Humboldt University and non-universitary research institutes in the field of infection biology and immunity in Berlin.

About the ZIBI Graduate School Berlin:

The ZIBI Graduate School Berlin is a joint doctoral program of the International Max Planck Research School for Infectious Diseases and Immunology (IMPRS-IDI) funded by the Max Planck Society starting 2006 and the GRK1121 "Genetic and Immunologic Determinants of Pathogen-Host-Interactions" funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) starting 2005. The ZIBI Graduate School Berlin is closely linked to the Interdisciplinary Center for Infection Biology and Immunity of Humboldt University (ZIBI) which is a collaboration network between scientists at the Humboldt University to Berlin, the Free University of Berlin, the Charité - University Medicine Berlin and at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, the German Rheumatism Research Center, the Leibniz-Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, and the Robert Koch Institute. Currently about 30 research groups are involved in the ZIBI Graduate School Berlin hosting about 70 doctoral students. The research projects aim to elucidate the genetic, biochemical and organismal basis of infections and immune reactions. They are in the areas of pathogenity mechanisms, pathogen-host interactions, pathogen-host coevolution, chronic inflammations, autoimmune diseases, neuroimmunology, development and differentiation of immune cells.

The ZIBI Graduate School Berlin is an international program. Currently almost half of the doctoral students come from abroad. English is the official language of the school. The Mission of the ZIBI Graduate School Berlin is to develop students into creative, responsible and self-confident young researchers. In a "tailor-made" course program students are introduced to modern science practice and to advanced methodology. Particular emphasis is put on an active participation of the students. Thus, students meet regularly to present and discuss their projects. They visit international conferences and spend time at other labs abroad. For their individual research projects students are supervised constantly by a thesis committee. As a result of these efforts, many papers have been published with faculty and students as co-authors.

The ZIBI Graduate School Berlin has an active and lively student community. The collegial atmosphere assures that everybody has a productive and memorable time in Berlin.

Both dates for our "Workshops on Intercultural Communication" (summer semester) for students at RWTH Aachen University have been set:

• June 10-11, 2010 (Thursday-Friday)
• July 16-17, 2010 (Friday-Saturday)

Details on the workshops are, as always, available on our workshop pages.

End of November 2009 Alexia Petersen was invited for the first time to teach a workshop on intercultural communication at the Research Academy Leipzig .

The very international group of participants - from countries including Russia, Italy, Brazil, and Tanzania - , consisted of doctoral students from an equally wide area of subjects such as cultural studies, natural sciences, engineering, liberal arts, and journalism. A second work shop has already been scheduled for later this year.

About the Research Academy Leipzig:

The Universität Leipzig, an internationally renowned research university, has a rich experience in postgraduate research training across all disciplines. The Research Academy Leipzig bundles efforts to foster the capacity of doctoral students for cutting-edge research at the frontiers of established fields of knowledge and for interdisciplinary exchange. Three Graduate Centres organise research training programmes in the following fields:

• Mathematics/Computer Science and Natural Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Humanities and Social Sciences

The Research Academy serves as a platform for a research community of established worldwide leading scholars and the best qualified doctoral students enrolled at research training programmes. In this respect the Research Academy Leipzig represents the classical ideas of academic education.

At the same time, the Research Academy develops into a meeting point between those researchers working at extra-university centres like Max Planck Institutes or Institutes of the Leibniz Society and faculty from the University's departments sharing the common objective of excellent postgraduates training.

From an earlier newsletter edition you might already know that we support Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V. , (Engineers without Borders - Germany).

The current issue of "keep in touch", the alumni magazine of RWTH Aachen University, also carries an article about the activities of the young Aachen chapter of the non-profit association.

Dr. Stephan Petersen is also providing seminars on intercultural communication for active members of the association. The primary target group are members from all German regional chapters who are preparing for project assignments abroad. Apart from that, he is also an active member of the Aachen regional chapter.

To help us with our first project that the Aachen regional chapter just started, the constructions of sanitary facilities at a school in Kenya, we are still looking for donors, sponsors and supporters. In addition to that, everybody who is interested in the project is invited to join the Aachen regional chapter as an active member.

More information is available on the web site of Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V. , or can be obtained directly from us.

Over the last years we were interviewed for a number of articles in newspapers, magazines, as well as for television programs. We have recently started to collect some of them in the new press area on our web site.

We will include copies of the original articles for download where possible. The press section is still under construction, more entries will follow.

RWTH Aachen University's Alumni-Team  has invited Alexia Petersen to host a 2-day workshop on intercultural communication for alumni of RWTH Aachen University.

Invited to this weekend workshop, which takes place on February 27 and 28, 2010, are all alumni of RWTH Aachen University, especially internationally-active managers, project leaders of international teams, engineers, and scientists.

For further information, please check our section events and dates.

In the run-up to the 1. Aachener Interkulturelles Kompetenzforum in October 2009, Aachener Zeitung  interviewed us about our work as trainers in the area of intercultural communication. The interview appeared in the issue of October 10, 2009.

A PDF version of the interview is available in the press section of our web site.

Alexia Petersen was interviewed for an article on Canada, which appeared in the October 2009 issue of working@office . The article "Multikulturelles Mosaik und milde Töne" (in German) describes the business etiquette and the communication culture in the Canadian professional environment.

Das Einwanderungsland Kanada beherbergt viele Nationen - doch alle fühlen sich einfach als Kanadier. Business-Partnern begegnen sie mit britischer Höflichkeit. Im geschäftlichen Miteinander setzen sie auf kurze Informationen - und sind im Entscheiden oft sehr schnell.

working@office is Germany's largest professional journal for secretaries, assistants, and office managers.

Alexia Petersen has been giving seminars and workshops for a number of international graduate programs all over Germany. In July 2009, the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology  joined this list of graduate schools. The 2-day workshop introduced the key leadership skills of applied intercultural communication to Ph.D students of the research school, in preparation for their future professional life in the global workplace. Below, a few voices from the participants:

"Not abstract learning about facts about other countries but learning a structural model that helps to make up own plan of understanding situations. Great course, great benefit" (Ricarda M.)

"I liked in particular: materials, way of providing information, very useful exercises, task was taken from life situations" (Magda S.)

The increasingly multicultural demographics in the academic and scientific workplace mean that graduate students are faced with having to be more interculturally skilled and proactive when interacting in teams with other students, or with supervisors and professors, who can approach work and supervision in unexpectedly very different ways. As in many other graduate programs in Germany, the group of Ph.D students represents a very multicultural team that benefits from practical intercultural communication skills both with respect to their daily work, as well as with a future international career in mind. Furthermore, especially as they are positioned at a key communication interface between professors and younger students, Ph.d students find themselves already in situations of having at times to function as intermediaries or facilitators for other students who may encounter cross-cultural difficulties. Whether students are presently in leadership positions or simply often called upon to exercise leadership abilities, sensitivity and skill in handling the cultural context of teamwork is a key component to harnessing and synergising the multicultural work potential.

About the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology:

Complex networks of molecular interactions regulate physiological processes at the cellular and systemic level. To understand them is of one of the greatest challenges of today's basic and applied research. Progress in this field depends on the refinement and development of cutting-edge interdisciplinary approaches. This is the mission of Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology. It provides a unique academic environment within the Departments of Biology, Chemistry, and Computer & Information Science that fosters top level interdisciplinary education and research. Hence, Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology is supported by the German Excellence Initiative.

The research portfolio of the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology is built on strong research priorities at the University of Konstanz in Synthetic Chemistry, Cellular Biochemistry, Biomedicine, Biophysics, and Computational Biology. The research element unifying all groups participating in the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology is the desire to elucidate and to understand complex biological processes at the molecular level. The implementation of such an ambitious task requires both the expertise in a broad range of state-of-the-art methodologies and techniques and the availability of biologically relevant model systems.

Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology provides its doctoral students with an interdisciplinary state-of-the-art training in chemical and biological concepts. The methods taught will prepare them for competitive research careers in both academia and industry. To account for the different academic backgrounds of the doctoral candidates, individual training programs are designed. The curriculum of the Konstanz Research School Chemical Biology consists of well conceived scientific courses as well as courses for the improvement of transferable and management skills. The training program is supported by several top-class research institutions and industrial partners known world-wide.

Dr. Stephan Petersen has been invited by AixSPACE  (Aachen Student Platform for Social Awareness and Leadership Competence) to give a talk at the "Social Business Administration School", which was established by AixSPACE.

He will give his talk "Intercultural Communication: Key Skills for Global Collaboration and Leadership" as part of the 5th venue "Social Entrepreneurship" on Saturday, November 7, 2009 in the "Ford Saal" at RWTH's SuperC.

Fur further details and a flyer, please see the section events and dates.

About AixSPACE:

AixSPACE - is a new social platform started by RWTH Students with technical support from Professors of the Executive MBA Master of Business Administration Program from the RWTH Aachen University, international social Experts, and Governmental as well as Non-Governmental Organizations.

AixSPACE realizes RWTH students of today as the elite of leaders and decision-makers from tomorrow. Therefore, our core activities focus on enabling the promotion of sustainable social development, looking forward to support the mastering of research challenges with high social and global relevance, as stated in the Excellence Initiative RWTH 2020 - "Meeting Global Challenges". As a new social-oriented organization inside the RWTH Aachen University, AixSPACE pursues three major goals:

1. Enabling social engagement: towards the encouragement of social awareness in the student communities through leadership activities promoting their more proactive participation in social issues around sustainable development.
2. Handling as intermediaries: to bring sustainability promoters and socially disadvantage people together, in order to take advantage of available human and technical resources in developing world, through feasible solutions made in RWTH Aachen.
3. Contributing to sustainable development: even as students, through the design and development of business strategies leading to the successful implementation of international social projects, tailor-made for developing world needs.

Based on the establishment of a Social Business Administration (SBA) School and the implementation of an International Social Project, AixSPACE looks forward to encourage social awareness and leadership competence inside the student community, towards a more proactive engagement of the RWTH Aachen University in the social issues challenging the achievement of Millennium Development Goals nowadays.

Venues of the Social Business Administration School will take place at the "Ford-Saal" at RWTH's SuperC, in 5 sessions on Saturdays from August until November.

Since 2007, Haus der Technik  in Essen, Germany, which is affiliated with RWTH Aachen University, has offered a new Master’s Programme in Energy Economics. This part-time program is a co-operation between Haus der Technik, University of Münster, and RWTH Aachen University, and is supported by a number of relevant professional organizations.

After the positive feedback to the two-day workshop on intercultural communication that Alexia Petersen and Dr. Stephan Petersen gave last year for this program, they were invited back this year to teach the workshop for the current group of participants. The workshop took place end of July / beginning of August 2009 at "Haus der Technik" in Essen.

The Master’s Programme in Energy Economics provides participants with the necessary management qualifications from the areas of power generation, distribution, and consumption. Technology, economics, and law modules are blended into a practice-oriented program. At the same time, it aims to provide the students with substantial knowledge on general management.

The main target groups are engineers and natural scientists from fields related to the energy industry. Due to its multi-disciplinary approach this program is also suited for business administration and law professionals, as well as economists.

Alexia and Stephan Petersen have been invited to present a talk at 1. Aachener Interkulturelles Kompetenzforum - Unbekannter Nachbar Frankreich , which will take place at RWTH Aachen University on October 14, 2009, in Aachen, Germany.

Their presentation "Die Erfahrungen und Empfehlungen zweier Trainer für angewandte interkulturelle Kommunikation" (please note that the conference language is German) will highlight the experiences and recommendation of 10 years of intercultural teaching and training.

A flyer with the event's program can be found in the section events and dates.

We would be happy to meet you during the event!

About "Aachener Interkulturelle Kompetenzforen":

In dieser neuartigen Veranstaltungsreihe der RWTH Aachen werden mit hochkarätigen Partnern aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Beratung Fragenkomplexe, Problemkreise und nachhaltige Lösungsmöglichkeiten rund um das Thema Interkulturelle Kompetenz in Wirtschaft, Technik und Wissenschaft diskutiert.

Wir wollen mit den Aachener interkulturellen Kompetenzforen, die jährlich zu einem jeweils anderen internationalen Schwerpunkt stattfinden, ein bislang in Aachen so noch nicht dagewesenes Kommunikationsdreieck aus Wissenschaft, Wirtschaft und Beratung schaffen.

Wir wollen allen Vertretern aus Industrie/Technik und Wirtschaft die RWTH als zuverlässigen und kompetenten Partner und Vermittler in allen Fragen interkultureller Kompetenz präsentieren und sie unkompliziert mit kompetenten Lösungsanbietern aus Wissenschaft und Beratung zusammenbringen.

Wir wollen alle Hochschulmitglieder und Studierenden der RWTH Aachen für die Entwicklung interkultureller Kompetenz im Rahmen ihrer Leitziele "Internationalität und Interdisziplinarität" sensibilisieren, um nachhaltige Strukturen für eine permanente internationale Austauschplattform zwischen RWTH, Industrie/Technik, Wirtschaft und Beratung zu Fragen des interkulturellen Know-How-Transfers aus den Kulturwissenschaften in Industrie/Technik und Wirtschaft zu schaffen.

Zum Schwerpunkt-Thema "Unbekannter Nachbar Frankreich? Interkulturelle Kompetenz im bilateralen Austausch" werden Vertreter aus Technik/Industrie, Wirtschaft, Wissenschaft und Beratung relevante Fragestellungen, Problemkreise und Lösungsansätze im Hinblick auf "Interkulturelle Kompetenz im deutsch-französischen Kontext" erschließen und diskutieren. Die Präsentation der Ergebnisse einer groß angelegten Umfrage verdeutlicht, welche Reibungsverluste infolge mangelnder interkultureller Kompetenz in deutsch-französischen (Geschäfts-) Beziehungen entstehen und wir werden aufzeigen, welche Strategien zur Vermeidung und Lösung solcher Probleme existieren.

In co-operation with the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) , the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)  awards scholarships to both Korean graduate and under-graduate students of higher semesters in support of a short research exchange in Germany within the "Summer Institute Programme". A week-long orientation programme that took place this year July 6-10, 2009, at RWTH Aachen University  kicked off the two-month long KOSEF exchange. The Korean students, all from various engineering and natural science fields, were able to enjoy a packed programme that not only introduced to them the city of Aachen and its environs and the university itself, but also a crash course in "survival German".

Part of the agenda was also a half-day introductory seminar on intercultural communication given by Dr. Stephan Petersen by invitation of the DAAD and RWTH Aachen, just as in previous years. The main purpose of this seminar was to prepare the participants for the differences they will encounter within the social and academic environment during their stay in Germany.

Following the orientation week in Aachen most of the students travelled on to their various universities and research institutes in different cities throughout Germany.

Both dates for our "Workshops on Intercultural Communication" (winter semester) for students at RWTH Aachen University have been set:

• October 16-17, 2009
• January 22-23, 2010

Details on the workshops are, as always, available on our workshop pages.

The Center for Graduate Studies ( Dahlem Research School , DRS) at the Freie Universität Berlin invited Alexia Petersen to conduct a workshop on intercultural communication within the framework of the DRS Training Program. The workshop for doctoral students of the DRS took place in Berlin in early July 2009.

About Dahlem Research School:

Dahlem Research School (DRS) promotes the development of innovative doctoral programs and supports existing initiatives. It formulates and implements consistent quality standards and structures on a university-wide basis. DRS offers training for young researchers in fields considered essential for the further professional development either in academia or on the non-academic labor market. Furthermore, DRS provides additional funding for specific purposes, e.g. international mobility and it supports the integration of international candidates.

The DRS Training Program aims at developing the potential of young researchers by supporting their personal, professional, and career development in the research environment By collaborating with other professional education institutions at Freie Universität, the Program provides a wide range of courses covering five major areas: academic, management, career, IT, and language skills. The courses are evaluated continuously and the training program further developed.

Alexia Petersen has been invited by Deutsche Telekom Foundation  in Bonn to teach a workshop on intercultural communication for participants of the foundation's scholarship program.

Through its scholarship program, Deutsche Telekom Foundation supports young talented academics in mathematics as well as the natural and engineering sciences. The participants of the workshop were particularly gifted and committed PhD students in mathematics, physics, chemistry, as well as computer and engineering sciences, which are supported in the framework of this scholarship program. Universities which are strong in the above-mentioned research areas according to the relevant rankings, are invited to put forward their best young scientists for the scholarship program.

The two-day workshop, which took place end of May in Bad Honnef, introduced the PhD students to the basic issues of applied intercultural communication, and was met with very positive feedback.

About Deutsche Telekom Foundation:

Die gemeinnützige Deutsche Telekom Stiftung engagiert sich für eine Verbesserung der Bildung in den MINT-Fächern (Mathematik, Informatik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik). Sie arbeitet dabei entlang der Bildungskette und setzt sich gleichermaßen für die Basis- wie die Spitzenförderung ein. Unter dem Motto "Früh übt sich..." kümmert sich die Stiftung um die Bildung und Erziehung in Kindertageseinrichtungen und Grundschulen. "Begeisterung macht Schule" ist die Überschrift für die Projekte an weiterführenden Schulen und gemeinsam mit den Hochschulen will die Telekom-Stiftung "Bildung auf die Spitze treiben". Zu einer umfassenden Allgemeinbildung in einer vernetzten Wissens- und Informationsgesellschaft gehört aber auch ein besseres Verständnis der Menschen für Forschung, Technologie und Innovation. Wie spannend Wissenschaft sein kann oder wie wichtig Innovationen für die Zukunft sind, zeigt der vierte Programmbereich "Innovation".

Being an active member of the Aachen regional chapter of Ingenieure ohne Grenzen  (Engineers without Borders - Germany), Dr. Stephan Petersen has given a short seminar on intercultural communication within the framework of the course "Grundlagen der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit" ("basics of development cooperation") as part of his involvement. The course was part of the annual national meeting and took place beginning of June 2009 in Marburg, Germany.

The group of participants consisted of 50 active members of the association, some of which already had experience in performing relief projects abroad, while others are currently planning to do so.

Practice-oriented skills in the area of intercultural communication are a key qualification for people active in development cooperation projects. The teaching of practice-oriented knowledge and training of effective skills in this area as part of the preparation for a mission abroad are especially relevant for students, who constitute the largest part of the teams providing engineering-related services and technical assistance in the target countries.

The short seminar was met with very positive feedback, with full-length workshops for Ingenieure ohne Grenzen now currently in the planning stage.

About "Ingenieure ohne Grenzen e.V.":

Ingenieure ohne Grenzen  (Engineers without Borders - Germany), a charitable relief organization, was founded in 2003 by nine engineers and one economist. According to its statutes, its activities are focused on providing engineering services and technical assistance, as well as training and research in the area of developmental aid and cooperation.

The impulse to found "Ingenieure ohne Grenzen Deutschland" came from Jojakim Sames, an engineer who was confronted with problems in other countries through his work for the Technische Hilfswerk and the United Nations. Especially water supply and infrastructure problems continued to demand solutions involving engineering know-how.

Examples for projects, which are executed by the various regional chapters, are the design and implementation of solar heat and photovoltaic installations, cisterns, bridges, ground water dams, and biogas plants. Present and previous target countries include Ethiopia, Chile, Kenya, Panama, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania.

The group of active members consists of both undergraduate and graduate students of all branches of study, as well as professionally experienced engineers with diverse backgrounds.

We are always happy about new members joining us. The active involvement in the association is the basis to achieve our goals; organizational work "at home" is the prerequisite for effective help abroad. A major part of the project work is done within the regional chapters. Joining "Ingenieure ohne Grenzen" provides the opportunity to expand one's engineering skills, make valuable contributions to a globally relevant topic, and establish contacts to like-minded people.

Memberships are available to students, professionals, families, as well as legal entities. To carry out its projects, Ingenieure ohne Grenzen also relies on donations from individuals, institutions, and companies.

In order to enhance one's know-how in the area of applied development cooperation, as well as to prepare for a possible mission abroad, courses and workshops are given on an annual basis.

"Ingenieure ohne Grenzen Deutschland" is a member of the network "Engineers Without Borders - International" (EWB-international.org).

After the success of the InfoGuide Germany 2006/2007 and the popularity of our contributed article on intercultural communication, the publishers at the Delegation of German Industry & Commerce Shanghai  have invited us to update our article for inclusion in the latest edition.

The InfoGuide Germany 2009/2010 has meanwhile been published. The 226-page booklet is available for download from the publisher's web site and can also be ordered in printed form. Details can be found in our publication section.

The article, just as the entire guide book, is written for the target group of Chinese visitors to Germany as well as those doing business with Germans in China. Since the InfoGuide Germany is published entirely in the Chinese language, our article, though originally written in English, was translated by the publishers into Chinese.

Given that the Chinese and German communication styles are so different, the article introduces the basics of intercultural communication and highlights those issues particularly relevant for the Chinese-German business relationship, looking at how to make the most out of new contacts, providing practical tips for how to adjust to the German business communication style and to avoid unnecessary miscommunication and pitfalls.

Alexia and Stephan Petersen have both submitted proposals for presentations for Going Diverse: Innovative Answers to Future Challenges - International Conference on Gender and Diversity in Science, Technology and Business , which will take place on October 29 - 30, 2009, in Aachen, Germany.

Both proposals have been accepted, and will be delivered as oral presentations during the conference:

Alexia Petersen: Developing intercultural communication skills at internationally oriented academic institutions: Moving from skills training to fundamental paradigm shift in human resource and talent development as well as university policy

Stephan Petersen: Preparing students of science, technology, and business for a culturally diverse workplace - The experiences of teaching intercultural communication at RWTH Aachen University

We would be happy to meet you during the conference!

About the conference:

"Going Diverse: Innovative Answers to Future Challenges - International Conference on Gender and Diversity in Science, Technology and Business"

RWTH Aachen University in cooperation with Imperial College London, ETH Zürich and TU Delft

Today's world is rapidly changing regarding economical, legal, social and cultural conditions. Internationalisation and globalisation, modern and individual lifestyles, demographic changes, migration and labour shortage, as well as urgent issues like climate change, shortage of resources and the collapse of the international finance markets are only a few aspects of the changes we experience. These challenges are framed by progressive political and legal decisions that have shaped the world in the last decades, including matters on equal opportunities and equal rights.

Globalisation is a challenge for working life. Today's labour markets require flexibility and mobility, yet at the same time employers, universities and companies alike, compete for skilled staff and sales markets. To be successful, they need to acknowledge the diversity of their potential students, employees and customers, and foster a creative, fruitful and respectful working environment. Both in science and business diverse teams produce more innovative solutions and perform better. Hence, it is essential to make equality, gender and diversity important elements of organisational and human resources development. The conference will focus on all aspects of gender and diversity in science, technology and business.

Following the success of the workshop the last five years, the organisers of three international graduate programs invited Alexia & Stephan Petersen back again for a 6th workshop on intercultural communication.

This year the weekend workshop was organised by the MSc/PhD Molecular Biology  and Neurosciences  Programs / International Max Planck Research Schools, Göttingen and Göttingen Graduate School for Neurosciences and Molecular Biosciences (GGNB), in co-operation with the MD/PhD Molecular Medicine Program  at Hannover Medical School.

The workshop was hosted from May 8-10, 2009 in Germerode, Germany. The 19 participants were sciences graduates and advanced students of medicine from 10 countries, making this once more a very international event. Stephan Petersen opened the event on Friday evening with his introductory lecture Intercultural communication for scientists - Facts, data, methods: Debunking the Myth of Neutrality. In this talk he highlighted why communications skills often don't come easy to scientists, and, as every year, picks an example from the academic environment that illustrates how culture can considerably influence the way scientific work and research is done.

After using SARS, the "Piltdown Man", the Neanderthals, and the reception of atomic physics and modern evolutionary synthesis in Soviet Russia as examples in his talks in previous years, this time he chose the influences of culture on Darwin's life and work as a topic.

The two-day workshop on intercultural communication given by Alexia Petersen followed Saturday and Sunday.

As always we're constantly on the lookout for interesting books and articles on intercultural communication or topics in which the transnational experience is either a point of focus or simply plays an ancillary role.

Recently we've again put together several links to articles that introduce very interesting aspects of intercultural communication that broaden yet again our perspective of the whole playing field of the topic.

You'll find the commented links for May 2009 in the section "links to interesting online articles".

Enjoy the read!

Alexia Petersen has been giving seminars and workshops for a number of international graduate programs and International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS). In March 2009, the IMPRS "Primary Metabolism and Plant Growth"  in Potsdam-Golm near Berlin joined the list. The 2-day workshop introduced the issues of applied intercultural communication to Ph.D students as well as postdocs and co-ordinators of the research school and resulted in very positive feedback.

As in many other graduate programs in Germany, the group of Ph.D students represents a very multicultural team that benefits from practical intercultural communication skills both with respect to their daily work, as well as with a future international career in mind.

About the International Max Planck Research School "Primary Metabolism and Plant Growth":

Multicellular organisms adjust their growth and development in response to a multitude of endogenous and exogenous cues. In order to thrive, they must optimize the use of available resources,balancing their needs for energy, biosynthetic building blocks, and reserves. Whereas animals satisfy their demand of organic nutrients by feeding on plants or other animals, green plants produce all of their own organic compounds. A plant's ability to grow thus depends entirely on its own photosynthetic and metabolic capacity.

The rate of growth and development has to be adjusted to the metabolic status of a plant. To achieve this, the metabolic status needs to be translated into an appropriate response. Thus, growth and primary metabolism are highly interconnected via multiple cross-acting regulatory mechanisms and controls.

The study of the relationship between primary metabolism and growth is the focus of the IMPRS "Primary Metabolism and Plant Growth" (IMPRS-PMPG), a joint initiative of the University of Potsdam and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology. We are following a systems-oriented approach, primarily using Arabidopsis thaliana as a model organism. Our research combines cutting-edge analytical techniques, molecular phenotyping (-omics) technologies and physiology with bioinformatics and modelling approaches.

IMPRS-PMPG collaborates closely with the GoFORSYS doctoral programme. To learn more about doctoral training within both programmes, please check here .

Ten students from the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech)  arrived in Aachen in August 2008 for a two-week study trip - from August 17 to August 31 - that encompassed a full academic and cultural program. Selected by the university and funded by the DAAD , the students were teamed up with 10 local German student "buddies" who would help to guide them and contribute to what would be for many their first trip to Germany.

The goal of such an exchange is to provide students with an understanding and appreciation of Germany and GUtech's partner university, RWTH Aachen University. During their visit to Aachen students attended German language courses in the mornings and other culture-oriented courses in the afternoons, including cooking lessons, sightseeing programs, a day excursion to Maastricht and other cities in the three-country region, and of course, a ride on an ICE train.

One of the courses organized for the students was a 2-part introduction to Intercultural Communication with a specific emphasis given to highlighting the challenges often faced by Arab students and German professors from both sides of the Omani-German academic relationship. These took place on August 18th and 29th and were taught by Alexia Petersen. While the topic itself was very new to the students, it was acknowledged by the students and their Omani program coordinator alike as very essential to a successful international academic and professional career, and was received with enthusiasm and curiosity by the students who recognized misunderstandings and different cultural expectations described in the examples used in the seminar.

The ZIBI Graduate School Berlin , associated with the Interdisciplinary Center for Infection Biology and Immunity  of the Humboldt-University, Berlin, has recently established a seminar series on topics at the interface between science, ethics and politics. The organizers believe that in our changing world science is moving into a "public space", and that young scientists have to be prepared for their place in society.

The first session titled "Responsible Conduct of Research - What does it mean?" took place in Berlin on December 11th, 2008. Dr. Susann Beetz of the organizing committee invited Dr. Stephan Petersen to contribute a talk on the influence of culture on science. "When the rules of science collide with the rules of culture: Cultural influence on science" highlighted several cases where cultural factors had a significant influence on the "way science was done", producing an outcome that one would normally not call "good scientific practice".

Other than Dr. Stephan Petersen's talk, the seminar provided the audience, which largely consisted of Ph.D. students from several international graduate programs in the life sciences, with the following contributions: "The rules of good scientific practice" (Prof. G.W. Kreutzberg, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Martinsried, Germany), "Scientific communication and the responsible conduct of research" (Dr. Marie-Claude Roland, Réflexives, INRA, Paris, France), and "The editor's work" (Dr. Laurie Dempsey, Senior Editor, Nature Immunology, New York, USA).The event was moderated by Dr. Katrin Grüber, Head of the Institute "Institut Mensch, Ethik und Wissenschaft", Berlin.

As always we're constantly on the lookout for interesting books and articles on intercultural communication or topics in which the transnational experience is either a point of focus or simply plays an ancillary role.

Recently we've again put together several links to articles that introduce very interesting aspects of intercultural communication that broaden yet again our perspective of the whole playing field of the topic.

You'll find the commented links for January 2009 in the section "links to interesting online articles".

Enjoy the read!

After having worked with and for a number of international graduate schools in Germany, several of them from the area of life sciences, Alexia Petersen was invited last year by the Graduate School for Biological Sciences  at the University of Cologne to hold a workshop on intercultural communication.

The 2-day workshop, which took place beginning of July 2008, introduced the issues of applied intercultural communication to Ph.D students as well as supervisors and organizers of the school and resulted in very positive feedback.

As in many other graduate programs in Germany, the group of Ph.D students represents a very multicultural team that benefits from practical intercultural communication skills both with respect to their daily work, as well as with a future international career in mind.

About the Graduate School for Biological Sciences:

In May 2006, the University of Cologne established an international, broadly based graduate school in the biological sciences. Centred on the molecular analysis of biological processes, the scientific base of the programme is broad, providing students with opportunities for training in fields ranging from ecology and evolution to medicine, and including all of the major microbial, plant and animal model organisms.

Based on a phase of systematic experimentation in previous, small-scale graduate programmes in which methods for an improved graduate training have been developed and tested, a structured programme, building on the extensive experience and infrastructure from the existing programmes was developed. These are partially unified and a core programme is available for graduate students in all areas of biology.

The School is supported by a selective, international English language Fast Track Masters/Doctoral Programme, which is in place since winter semester 2006/07. It fosters the excellent scientific connections between research groups in the medical and basic science research institutes in the University and the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research (MPIZ) and exploits them for the benefit of the graduates.

Since 2006 Alexia Petersen has frequently taught seminars on intercultural communications to doctoral students at the International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences  (IMPRS-LS) in Martinsried near Munich.

In October 2008, for the first time a special retreat was held at Ringberg Castle  overlooking the Tegernsee lake in the foothills of the Bavarian Alps. The event brought together a large number of Ph.D students to participate in a program that offered intensive extracurricular career workshops and training in complementary skills such as scientific writing, speed reading and Alexia Petersen's intercultural communication for the global workplace. The pristine and somewhat isolated natural surroundings of the castle enabled students not only to get away from their labs and to dedicate their full energies and concentrations on intense learning outside their direct scientific subjects, but enhanced group bonding through social activities and many outstanding meals together in the impressive medieval-style dining hall.

Feedback from students, program co-ordinators and trainers alike was very enthusiastic for this kind of retreat, so that a similar event is anticipated for the fall of 2010.

About the IMPRS-LS:

The International Max Planck Research School for Molecular and Cellular Life Sciences (IMPRS-LS) offers an international PhD program in life sciences covering areas of biochemistry, cell biology, molecular medicine, neurobiology and structural biology. The 3 to 4 year program, entirely taught in English, provides comprehensive scientific training in a superb and vibrant research environment with state of the art facilities and cutting edge research projects. The interdisciplinary setting of the program exposes students to a wide variety of different topics and technologies thereby promoting the ability of cross-frontier thinking. Laboratory work will be supplemented by seminars, summer schools, elective courses, training in soft skills and participation in international conferences.

Doctoral students usually have their doctoral degree awarded by one of the two Munich universities both of which are amongst the highest ranking universities in Germany. International doctoral students may also choose to have their doctoral degree awarded by a university of their home country.

More than 250 doctoral students from all over the world are currently working at the Max Planck Institutes of Biochemistry and Neurobiology and, together with numerous doctoral students from university laboratories, are creating a young and dynamic international atmosphere at the institutes.

Women are still underrepresented in the German economy, particularly in executive positions, despite the fact that female student outnumber their male counterparts at the universities.

To prepare female students for executive positions, RWTH Aachen University , in cooperation with the Aachen University of Applied Sciences, the Catholic University of Applied Sciences of North Rhine Westphalia (Aachen Campus), and the Sparkasse Aachen  has been offering career-training for female students since the winter semester 2001/2002. This pilot project is one of the cornerstones of the university's promotion of female graduates.

The seminar series offers personality-oriented training elements as well as subject-specific information. For the winter semester 2004/2005 the formerly seven-part series was extended for the first time by an eighth event. Alexia Petersen had been invited by the Sparkasse Aachen and RWTH Aachen University's bureau of equality to offer a workshop on intercultural communication for the participants of the seminar series, who, just as in the previous years, have been selected from a large number of applicants.

After the very positive echo to the first workshop, as well as to the repeat seminars in the last years, the organisers invited us back again to give the workshop this winter semester, which took place on two dates in December 2008.

On September 8th, 2008, Alexia Petersen's introductory seminar on intercultural communication kicked off the "IDEA League Summer School on Transferable Skills", hosted by RWTH Aachen University from September 8th - 13th. Held at RWTH's university hospital, the IDEA League Summer School programme was targeted at early-stage doctoral students in health science and medical engineering, especially those of the professors who form the IDEA League  excellence cluster "Health".

In addition to intercultural communication, a week of presentations, excursions, interactive mini-workshops covered topics that included entrepreneurship, innovation in health science and medical engineering, as well as international collaboration. Such a broad-based and practice-oriented program aims to both provide students with an opportunity to develop skills for succeeding in business and research, as well as to benefit from the IDEA League network, and to get in touch with executives from the industry.

The IDEA League is a network of excellence formed by four of Europe's finest technical universities. Created in 1999, it includes the Imperial College London (Great Britain), Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland), and RWTH Aachen University (Germany). This group was joined later by ParisTech (France) in 2006.

The IDEA League universities comprise 74,000 undergraduate and 13,000 graduate students in total and aim at developing joint activities in research and education through the exchange of students, professors, ideas and expertise through establishing common standards, fostering student mobility, and promoting a coherent international practice in educational quality measurement and management, and in accreditation.

This summer Alexia Petersen conducted the first workshop on "Intercultural Business Communication" for SONY Deutschland in Stuttgart, targeted at managers, scientists and engineers of the Stuttgart Technology Center .

As an internationally established market leader and innovator across the widest sectors, SONY's managers and technical specialists encounter the challenges, risks and potentials of intercultural communication on a daily basis. The participants of the pilot workshop not only represented the immense cultural diversity at home at SONY Deutschland headquarters, but also the wealth of international experience each brings to their work and was able to contribute to the workshop.

Future workshop are planned in view of the positive feedback following the workshop.

About Sony Deutschland GmbH - Stuttgart Technology Center:

A 100 meter long rectangle with an area of 25000 m2. The contents: sophisticated technological know-how leading to scientific firsts that are extensively applied to Sony products. Everything in our company has that certain thing which allows us to say without hesitation: this is Sony. "like.no.other".

Sony R&D activities in Stuttgart (Stuttgart Technology Center, STC) are ranging from research topics like Nano technology over wireless and wired communication technology to device specific technology for audio and video applications.

STC is the home of the departments European Technology Center (EuTEC), Sensing Systems Laboratory (SSL), Material Science Lab (MSL) and Flat TV Europe (FTVE). Our Intellectual Property Department (IPD) contributes to strengthen Sony’s global patent portfolio for protecting Sony’s products and services whilst also enabling wider commercial utilization.

Dr. Stephan Petersen was invited by the University of Cooperative Education Mannheim (Berufsakademie Mannheim) to teach a course on "Intercultural Communication and Management" to students of the program International Business Information Technology .

This bilingual program, directed by Prof. Dr. Rainer Hoch, provides its students not only with courses in the key areas business administration and information technology, but adds intercultural communication and management as a third focus. Not only due to the intercultural topics taught is this program unique in Germany.

The three-day practise-oriented workshop was taught end of September 2008 in Mannheim.