Internationalizing Finnishscience – actions and ideas
Howy JacobsIBT Tampere
• FinMIT summer school
• Erasmus exchange programmes
• FiDiPro
• Euromit 2014
• ad hoc collaboration networks
Actions undertaken by FinMIT
Investigator-led initiatives
Some ideas on what we could do in future
• salaries by negotiation
• agency for inward mobility
• abolish barriers to inernational collaboration
• a global university
Some ideas on what we could do in future
• salaries by negotiation
• agency for inward mobility
• abolish barriers to inernational collaboration
• a global university
Policy actions
WHY BOTHER WITH ALL THIS ??
• individual success / competitiveness in science
• exporting knowledge is key to national and Europeaneconomic survival
• Europe’s demographic time bomb
FinMIT summer school
Palmse Mois, Estonia, 2010
Tallukka, Finland 2013
East Lansing, MI, USA, 2012
Keurusselkä, Finland 2011
Mitochondria, metabolism and homeostasis
Mitochondria and cancer
Mitochondria and organelle communication
Energy, signals and homeostasis
FinMIT summer school
• 12-15 PhD students from Finland + 12-15 fromelsewhere
• 4-5 world experts as lecturers, in residence forwhole week, plus 2-3 faculty as organizers
• lectures, Q&A, group work and presentations, posters,ethical discussions, exhausting recreational programme
• minisymposium on the topic, with 10-12 topspeakers from Nordic region, plus posters, party.....
FinMIT summer school
• students get extended exposure to frontiers of the subject andto top experts
• students actively participate: strong focus on asking toughquestions and honing presentation skills
• Finnish PhD students have to operate in an internationalenvironment (and make contacts useful for postdoc)
• foreign PhD students access Finnish research environment(potential recruiting tool)
• opportunity to showcase the best relevant research fromFinland/Nordic region
BENEFITS
FinMIT summer school
• substantial.......
• FinMIT pays core costs plus ownstudents' participation
• partnering (e.g. EGSBB, MitoSci Med, GPBM...)
• sponsorship from major organizations, e.g. ASBMB
COSTS
FiDiPro programme
• kicked off as FinMIT's own FiDiPro
• once appointed, became full participant in second half of the term
• some issues,.... (FiDiPro funding too little, has had difficultyraising other funds in Finland for 'own projects', salary mismatch,bureaucratic and language hassles
Laurie Kaguni
Erasmus exchange programmes
Jana
Amelia Jack
Görkem
GLASGOW
PRAGUE
ISTANBUL
Erasmus exchange programmes
full year placement (masters thesis)
summer placement (>3 m)
TO Finlandfor research
FROM Finland for study
breadth of material
english language
• THE major international congress of the field
• Funding raised from outside sponsorship and registration fees(FinMIT pays only for existing staff costs)
• Tampere-talo assisted in putting together our bid
• spiced with Finnish flavours (tango, mustamakkara, circus performers,accordeon players, heavy-metal, midsummer bonfire, international folk-dancefestival)
• satellite events for young scientists and patients
ad hoc collaborationnetworks
Massimo Zeviani
Thomas Braun
NorbertWeissman
RobertVoswinckel
Pierre Rustin
CAMBRIDGE
BAD NAUHEIM+ GIESSEN
PARIS
MADRID
Tonio Enriquez
HELSINKI
TAMPERE
MILANO
THE ALTERNATIVES
Some ideas on what we could do in future
• salaries by negotiation
• agency for inward mobility
• abolish barriers to international collaboration
• a global university
HOWY'S PERSONAL MANIFESTO
Salaries by negotiation
• people won’t move to the frozen north withouta decent offer
• generous personal salaries arenecessary but not sufficient
Agency for inward mobility
• practical assistance, not cash grants
• spouse’s employment, professional accreditation,language training
• bilingual education
• housing, real estate,pensions, taxation …
• one-stop shop needed
Abolish barriers to international collaboration
• forms and websites in English language
• amend and humanize immigration and taxationrules to make it easier to hire
• sweep away all the irritating university bureaucracy(FC model, YPJ, mindless reporting, MTAs)
• lobby for an EU-wide or global system for licensingand reporting on animal, GMO work, IPR
A global university
• University of Helsinki (top 100)
• University of Finland (dispersed campuses offeringdistinct specialities)
• room for maybe one other institution if it islaunched onto a high trajectory
The Finnish university landscape in 2030
HOW MIGHT IT LOOK?
A global university
• a small, elite, English-language research university in an exoticlocation, that recruits staff and students worldwide
• government scholarships for Finnish residents, all others– or their sponsors – must pay FEC
• recruitment packages capable of attracting top researchers
• simplest possible internal organization (3 faculties, one degree track)
• emphasis on topics of global importance, including basicsciences as seedcorn for innovation
A global university
NO BAGGAGE FROM THE ’OLD’ SYSTEM
Thank-you