5 meetings, 4 towns, 3 days, 2 countries, 1 purpose: find out how successful research schools operate to transfer their experience into a good start for COINS.
I was on travel recently together with my colleague Einar Snekkenes and visited representatives for the DISC interuniversitary graduate school systems and control, the university-wide RUB Research School plus, the B-IT Research School in computer science, the WONDER research school in mathematics, and the Ius Commune research school in law. All persons we talked to were positive and enthusiastic about the work they do and what they have achieved. I did not have time yet to write a report on the tour; however, there seem to be some preliminary conclusions to draw.
- Everybody has some activities specialised to the discipline of the research school.
- Cooperation across faculties or institutions is easier to achieve when there is money.
- Cooperation across faculties or institutions is easier to achieve when there is not too much money.
- Attracting good master students to a research school that may be developed into Ph.D. candidates is not uncommon.
- Students seem to work hard even if they only get a certificate that has little formal value.
- Many (institutions and students alike) use a research school as a brand to brush up their funding applications or CVs.
While the focus of this tour was rather broad or more on research schools in general, we envision a future tour to have a look at more specialised research schools in security.
