Visit to the University of HamburgThe Universities of Leeds and Hamburg Expand Cooperation

24 February 2025, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: University of Hamburg/Göttling

From left to right: Phil Holliday (head of the Europe Office, International Office, U Leeds), Courtney Peltzer-Hönicke (head of Dept. of International Affairs, U Hamburg), Jetta Frost (vice president, U Hamburg), Hauke Heekeren (president, U Hamburg), Shearer West (vice chancellor and president, U Leeds), Natalia Filatkina (vice president, U Hamburg), Jasjit Singh (pro-dean International, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures, U Leeds), Louise Heery (associate director of Global Research Partnerships, Research and Innovation Services, U Leeds), Franziska Jerosch (partnership manager Europe, U Hamburg), Judith Lohner (assistant to the president, U Hamburg)

Representatives of the University of Leeds visited the University of Hamburg on 20 February 2025. The universities, which have been strategic partners since 2023, used the meeting to discuss topic and focus areas for future cooperation.

The University of Hamburg’s president, Hauke Heekeren, and 2 vice presidents (Natalia Filatkina and Jetta Frost) welcomed Shearer West and her delegation for a day at the University of Hamburg. West has been vice chancellor and president and the University of Leeds since November 2024.

The University of Hamburg and the University of Leeds have been linked since 2021 through a formal collaboration that includes a central student exchange. In 2023, they signed a strategic partnership, under which 7 joint research projects in the humanities, the natural and social sciences, medicine, and informatics have already been established. The trusting, well-established partnership now includes exchange and cooperation on a host of topics and across several faculties, administrative offices, and management levels.

At the meeting with the University of Hamburg’s Executive University Board several topics in higher education development were discussed, including how to promote diversity and inclusion in teaching and research; improving research culture; and how greater cooperation with civil society, political players, and industry can be achieved.

In the humanities, further cooperation, especially in liberal arts degree programs and the digital humanities, was agreed upon. For example, on 26 February, extensive cooperation will begin between the Faculty of Humanities and the University of Leeds with a joint lecture series in the digital humanities: Affect, Archive, and Artificial Intelligence. Both universities also want greater exchange on the topic of research culture.

To strengthen cooperation in the natural sciences, there will be an online workshop on 4 March 2025, run jointly by the University of Hamburg’s Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and the Natural Sciences and the University of Leeds’ Astbury Center.