News

Graduate School Day 25./26. November 2011

All HGNI students and faculty members were invited to take part at the GSD2011 in the Relexa Hotel in Bad Salzdetfurth. On two days students of all three PhD programs presented their scientific projects either in a poster presentation or in scientific lectures. A social event on Friday evening rounded up the program.

Thanks to all supervisors and students for participating and for making the GS Day 2011 such a harmonious and successful event!

Program for download

Reform of the graduate school

The graduate school of the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo) offers an ambitious and high-quality education to students from all over the world. The new PhD program “Animal and Zoonotic Infections” (start winter term 2011) extends the choice for international junior researchers. Due to climate changes and an increasing global mobility of society and trade, zoonoses are on the advance. The new program will supplement several ongoing research projects of the TiHo and will pave the way for junior scientists to a promising research area. Beside this new course of study there are two more PhD programs under the roof of the graduate school: “Veterinary Research and Animal Biology” and “Systems Neuroscience”.

“Veterinary Research and Animal Biology” already exists since 1998. It was the very first PhD course of study in Germany ever and covers various scientific focuses, e.g. infection medicine, clinical research, food sciences, zoology, and biochemistry. The other two PhD programs have a more narrow focus: “Systems Neuroscience” was established by the Center for Systems Neuroscience (ZSN) and offers a structured education for graduate students in the three main areas “Hearing and Communication: Behavior, Physiology and Pathophysiology”, “Epilepsy and other paroxysmal disturbances: pathophysiology and new therapeutic approaches”, and “Disturbances of motor systems: models and clinic”. Starting in winter term 2011/12, students of the PhD program “Animal and Zoonotic Infections” will work on projects focusing on zoonotic pathogens.

The organization of three PhD programs under one roof is not the only innovation of the graduate school that was founded in 2003. A new name and a new management are part of the innovations.

The former “Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences” was renamed in “Hannover Graduate School of Veterinary Pathobiology, Neuroinfectiology, and Translational Medicine” (HGNI). The administrative office coordinates all three programs and provides support and consulting service to all students. The management was taken over by Apl. Prof. Dr. Beatrice Grummer in April 2011. During her time at the Institute of Virology she supervised several doctorate and PhD students and gained experiences in raising third-party and other funds. In the HGNI she is assisted by Dr. Tina Selle, the former scientific secretary of the department of molecular cardiology of the Hannover Medical School. Further support comes from Sigrid Faber , secretary of the HGNI until May 2012 and Maritta Ledwoch, office for academic foreign affairs. The HGNI has a high proportion of foreign students, a third of all PhD students (40 out of 123) are from other countries than Germany. The long-time goal is to build up an international network of HGNI alumni, where students and researchers can benefit from.