PhD and PostDoc Position at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ

The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (located in German cities of Leipzig, Halle and Magdeburg) currently offers 50 positions for PhD and PostDoc candidates. For more details, check the following website: http://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=30617

The deadline is August 10th 2012.

 

Letter from the EMA President: Save Erasmus Mundus

Dear EMA member,

On 23 November 2011, the European Commission proposed a new EU program for education, training, youth and sport named Erasmus for All, which is currently under discussion at the Council of Europe and the European Parliament.  The new programme is defined to be implemented in the period of 2014-2020.

If the proposal is approved as it is the Erasmus Mundus brand will disappear and all our efforts in promoting the Erasmus Mundus programme around the world to prospective students and employers as a program of excellence will be lost.  What until now has been known as Erasmus Mundus Master Courses will fall under the Erasmus for All – Joint degree programmes category and the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorates will be absorbed by Marie Curie.

A statement position was presented and discussed during the last Liaison Group meeting in April 2012 in Brussels and the final version it is now posted online at: http://www.em-a.eu/en/erasmus-mundu/erasmus-for-all.html

EMA is joining efforts with Erasmus Mundus coordinators, professors, and other stakeholders across Europe in order to preserve the Erasmus Mundus brand. EMA’s position statement will be sent to the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament to request them to reconsider the change of brand name.

That is why we need your support, please log on to our community site (http://community.em-a.eu) and show your support by signing the statement. Please spread the word or simply forward this e-mail to all the Erasmus Mundus students and alumni you know, as well as Erasmus Mundus Master or Doctorate coordinators and professors for them to share it with their students and other alumni.

In 2014 Erasmus Mundus will celebrate 10 successful years and EMA will celebrate 8 years of existence supporting and promoting Erasmus Mundus. Help us keep the Erasmus Mundus brand as a program of excellence in Europe and celebrate many more years of Erasmus Mundus.

Thanking you in advance for your support and dedication to Erasmus Mundus.

Warm Regards,
_______________________________________________
Jean Carlos Pelicano

President

Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association (EMA)
president@em-a.eu
www.em-a.eu

Inter-generational meeting in Newcastle – 2012

It always feels great to refresh good memories of the time’s past. It’s like putting you back at the same exact situation and while enjoying the same old sceneries and same old noise, it inevitably gives you flashbacks that ‘relives’ the past experiences. It’s been almost a year since I left Newcastle and all I can say is that nothing much has changed. It was not until last 27th of April 2012 that I had the opportunity to have a peek of this lovely city once again.

It has been a tradition for EuroAquae to hold an inter-generational meeting in Newcastle every year. It has the sole goal of providing the 2nd semester students the guidance they need in order to have a clear picture of choosing among 3rd semester locations. In addition, it is also a good occasion to develop and strengthen not only the professional but also the social bond between EuroAquae students as well as alumni. This event is an independent effort which has been conceptualised by the pioneering batch of the EuroAquae Alumni Association (EAAA) Coordination Board; and through the years, this tradition has been passed down from generation to generation. This year, five graduating students from generation 7 volunteered to facilitate this activity in cooperation with the incumbent coordination board of the alumni association. Our gratitude goes to Waiteng Luen, Shanshan Liu, Katya Perez, and Mamadou Doucoure for their effort of travelling from far places just to make this meeting a successful one.

Before the event has started, we had a spontaneous dinner at an Indian restaurant called ‘Salomon’s place’. Afterwards, the main meeting commenced around 9:00pm in 75 Wingrove Road with a large turnout of participants. We used to call this venue a ‘big house’ because it was able to accommodate more or less 30 people when we had the same meeting last year. We are very much grateful to the current EuroAquae residents in that house for their hospitality of providing not only the meeting venue but also warm accommodation for some of the visiting facilitators. During the session, an informal and light atmosphere was observed while everyone was enjoying some refreshments; thanks to EAAA for sponsoring the foods and drinks.

A comprehensive presentation of each 3rd semester location was given with particular focus on subject matters. Nevertheless, other important aspects about student life were not disregarded which include accommodation, city living, social life and activities, administrative stuffs, visa issues, and internships, to mention a few. I hope we were at least able to shed light on minds of students with regards to some facets of their future professional plans. Overall, I can say that it was a successful activity and is worth continuing in many generations to come. -JR.Estil

(Photo credit: Nazmul Azim Rezwan)

Inter-generational meeting – 2012

The inter-generational meeting in Newcastle will take place on the 27th of April starting at 9:00 p.m. this year. More information in this message from the members of the 4th Coordination Board of the EAAA. Many thanks to them (especially Jennyl) for organising this event. I hope that the students and alumni will turn up in huge numbers.

Hi Euroaquae People!

We hope that you are fine wherever in the world you might currently be.

As you may know, every year students from previous generations visit Newcastle and meet with the current generation to assist them in making their decision of where to go for third semester. We hope the meeting will also serve to extend our own personal and professional contacts among the Euroaquae community. This year five Generation 7 students will go to Newcastle at the end of April. The precise date and time is April 27th at 9pm.

We would like to extend an invitation to all generations of Euroaquae to join the generation 7 representatives. Not only is it an occasion to discuss your experiences with current students, but also to bring together as many people from all generations of Euroaquae as possible. We now are around 150 persons!

If you live close by or simply would enjoy a small get away, please come contribute with your own experience. You will be more than welcome!

We look forward to meeting everyone in Newcastle – 2012! If you decide to participate please reply with an email to this address or contact the members of Euroaquae Alumni Association Coordination Board.

Kind regards,

Euroaquae Alumni Association
http://eaaa-forum.activebb.net/

Download this event in the iCalendar format.

Update: Added link to icalendar event.

Election Results: Fourth Coordination Board of the EAAA

The wait is finally over. The election procedure for the Fourth Coordination Board of the EuroAquae Alumni Association (EAAA), as laid out in the constitution of the EAAA, is now complete and we are pleased to announce the results in this post. The composition of the new coordination board is as follows:

• President: Rodolfo Alvarado (Generation 7)
• Vice-President: Annabeth Cohen (Generation 7)
• Treasurer: Jennyl Estil (Generation 7)
• Secretary: Carolina Furlan (Generation 4)
• Secretary: Mónica Macías

The transfer of responsibilities is already under way and is planned to be completed until the end of April 2012.

We would like to congratulate the new board members and wish them all the best in their new roles.

As reported in an earlier post, Viviane from Generation 2 represented EuroAquae at the General Assembly of the EMA in Budapest on the 24^th and 25^th of June 2011. Viviane was kind enough to report on her experiences from the General Assembly.

Viviane writes:

… the issues we have on Euro Aquae (quality assurance, diplomas,course contents, mobility,et. [sic]) are common to many other master courses and the comission [sic] is aware of most of them and open to receive inputs.

Furthermore she feels that:

… I would like to stress the message about the importance of participating and contributing with your ideas, opinions and disagreements, because that is the only way we can be heard. As we won’t be heard individually.

Her full account of the event is available on the EAAA Forums.

More Conferences in 2012

The 2^nd SimHydro Conference will be held in Nice, France from the 12^th to 14^th of September 2012. Since the conference will be held around the time of the Graduation Ceremony in 2012, it will be a nice opportunity for all the EuroAquae students to participate in this conference. The final date for abstract submission is the 31^st of October 2011.

Another conference revolving around the theme “water” is the ICHE 2012 Conference which will be held in Florida, USA from the 4^th to the 7^th of November 2012. The final date for abstract submission is the 1^st of February 2012.