Pitt Participates in Global Research Exchange for Scholars Studying International Affairs Issues

PITTSBURGH—The University of Pittsburgh’s European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center has joined a program of scholarly exchange between universities in Germany, Turkey, and the United States.

Through the EU-GLOBAL partnership for scholars studying international affairs and related issues, the University will host researchers from abroad interested in exploring topics in Pitt faculty members’ areas of expertise, including migration, global health governance, national disaster response, and the intersection of U.S. and European security policies. Pitt researchers will visit participating universities to collaborate with their faculties. Pitt’s partners in the EU-GLOBAL program are Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey; Yaşar University in Izmir, Turkey; the University of Cologne in Germany; and the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor of Political Science Ronald Linden, director of Pitt’s European Union Center of Excellence and European Studies Center, will be the first Pitt researcher to go abroad through the program, visiting the Middle East Technical University in May for approximately one month to study Turkish views and policies toward countries in the Balkan and Black Sea regions. Researchers from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and Departments of Political Science and Sociology in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences are expected to follow over the next several years.

Linden said of the relationship, “We are flattered and proud to be part of this transatlantic research cooperation in areas of vital importance to all of our communities. This program will allow for a broad exchange of perspectives and exposure of the Pitt community to work being done abroad on issues like health care provision, disaster management, and both human and national security.”

Pitt hosted its first visiting international scholar during the spring semester. Wulf Reiners, EU External Action Project and Financial Director and the Jean Monnet Chair for Political Science and European Affairs at the University of Cologne in Germany, collaborated with researchers and scholars on the topic of how global governance affects the control of infectious diseases.

“In times of globalization, the nexus of health security, development policy, and global governance has risen to the political agenda in both the United States and the European Union,” said Reiners. “My research stay, in the framework of the staff exchange scheme, offered the unique opportunity to benefit from the vast expertise in Pittsburgh and beyond, to strengthen the transatlantic network of contacts, and to extend my research to a truly EU-global perspective.”

EU-GLOBAL is funded by the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme, offered through the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions office. Its aim is to help maintain Europe’s leading role in many important areas of scientific and technological research, in addition to establishing and strengthening long-term cooperation with other universities around the world, through a coordinated exchange program.

In addition, support for Pitt’s participation in the program comes from the University’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, and Office of the Provost. 

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4/30/13/mab/cjhm