On October 26, Jürgen Mlynek, Chairman of the Board of the Falling Walls Foundation, visited ShanghaiTech University and met with Vice President Jiang Ge. Mlynek served as Vice President of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and later as President of the Humboldt University in Berlin. From 2005 until 2015, he was President of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres.
Jiang Ge warmly welcomed Mlynek’s visit, providing a detailed overview of the university’s history, academic programs, distinctive talent cultivation, and international collaborations. He notably highlighted the cooperation between ShanghaiTech and Germany, such as the 2019 Sino-German Translational Medicine Frontier Symposium co-hosted with the German Cancer Research Center. Mlynek conveyed his willingness to promote deeper exchanges between ShanghaiTech and German universities and research institutions. He also introduced the Falling Walls Foundation and hoped to attract more ShanghaiTech scholars to participate in the foundation’s annual international innovation competition. Both parties also discussed potential exchanges, visits, and the possibility of co-hosting seminars.
During his visit, Mlynek toured the Shanghai HIgh repetitioN rate XFEL and Extreme light facility (SHINE), ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies (SIAIS), iHuman Institute, and the Exhibition Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of ShanghaiTech University.
This visit was accompanied by He Hong, Chief Representative at Helmholtz Beijing Representative Office, and Nie Yan, Deputy Director of the Office of International Affairs at ShanghaiTech.
The Falling Walls Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 2009. Each year, the foundation selects award-winning research in ten fields including biology, physics, technology, social sciences, and arts through anonymous global nominations. The foundation honors “groundbreaking scientific achievements, outstanding projects, and great contributions.” On November 4, 2020, Professor Yang Haitao, Executive Director of SIAIS, ShanghaiTech University, was honored as one of the ten Falling Walls Winners in Life Sciences.