Finding research partners around the globe

By Kelli Whitlock

Global collaborations in the business world seem common in today's marketplace. Now, faculty at Ohio University and colleges around the country are following suit.

The benefits of inter-university collaboration have long been enjoyed by scientists and scholars who team with fellow researchers at universities across the state or across the nation. But over the last decade, improvements to the Internet have made it easier to send information from one continent to another with the stroke of a computer key. The technology makes doing research with a university in Europe seem almost simple.

"Forging international research collaborations boosts Ohio University's national and international reputation in the research community," said John Bantle, vice president for research at Ohio University. "It increases our capacity to do more sophisticated research and provides an international experience for our faculty and students."

Bantle and a group of faculty from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry hosted faculty and students from Germany's Leipzig University, who visited Athens last week to formalize discussions that began this summer with a collaborative research agreement.

In August, Bantle and several faculty from Ohio University traveled to Germany to learn more about research under way in Leipzig University's chemistry department. Work in the labs there is similar to work under way in Athens, said Jennifer Hines, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio University who visited Germany over the summer.

"We discovered there was potential for broadening all of our perspectives about the research we're doing," Hines said. "They have certain areas in their department that nicely complement areas in ours. There isn't a lot of redundancy between our departments, so there's more of a chance for interdisciplinary research."

While Ohio University has formal ties to institutions in other countries for faculty exchange programs and other educational initiatives - including a tie between the University and Leipzig in journalism - few such partnerships exist for research. Many faculty in Athens work with international collaborators, but they do it on an individual basis, not through a University program.

"Discussions between Leipzig and researchers in Athens are working toward a formal Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutes," Bantle said. "A Memorandum of Understanding sets the framework for the relationships, defines the scope of the program, sets expectations and enables the faculty and students to go forward."

Leipzig University has about 27,000 students and 14 departments of study. A formal research exchange program with Ohio University would foster more than just research projects, said Evamarie Hey-Hawkins, a professor of chemistry at Leipzig.

"International collaboration such as this helps our faculty and students acquire language, learn about new cultures and participate in a research group to do work we can't do on our own campus," said Hey-Hawkins, who began a research partnership with a chemist at Ohio University following the visit to Germany in August.

"Research in collaboration with the University of Leipzig allows us to see different approaches to problem solving in research," Bantle said. "In addition they have many instruments presently lacking at Ohio University. The Chemistry department at the University of Leipzig is as old as Ohio University. It is well respected and we plan to learn from them as much as they plan to learn from us."

Kelli Whitlock is director of the Office of Research Communications.