Berlin Seminar – What a journey!

The Berlin Seminar 2017 invited over 500 Fulbrighters to Germany’s capital. American grantees from Germany and from 19 neighboring countries joined 180 German students – who came to Berlin for their orientation meeting - for this mid-year conference in order to compare notes and observations and to meet exciting peers. All participants enjoyed several academic and cultural events together, such as the opening event on Monday morning with a “kick-off” talk by Brent Goff - Chief News Anchor at Deutsche Welle News, Berlin and Fulbright Alumnus, which was followed by group discussions of current topics such as the refugee issue and future transatlantic cooperation and a visit at the Social Science Center Berlin.

The Fulbright Ceremony on Monday night at the University of the Arts offered the Fulbright Commission Chair David M. Reinert (U.S. Embassy Berlin) and Vice Chair Heidrun Tempel (Federal Foreign Office) the chance to welcome the seminar participants. Peter Greisler (Federal Ministry of Education and Research) presented the Fulbright-Cottrell Award 2017 to Prof. Dr. Ute Hellmich (Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz) and to Prof. Dr. Steffen Schumann (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) for excellence in research and teaching.  The evening was complemented by music performances and a networking reception.

Another conference highlight was the visit to the Berlin City Hall (Rotes Rathaus) where Sawsan Chebli, Undersecretary for Active Citizenship and International Relations at the Berlin Senate Chancellery, took the time to welcome the grantees and answered their many questions.

Over the course of the conference several Fulbrighters presented their work and inspired the audience with research projects from Northern Sweden to the ancient history of Greece and shared the story behind their academic and personal Fulbright journey. These project presentations offered a glimpse of the vast array of diverse and dedicated work that Fulbrighters engage in – all over Europe.
(Here you can find the final program.)

The Berlin Seminar ended with a farewell party at the “Alte Pumpe”, leaving lasting impressions on the Fulbright Commission staff and hopefully on all its participants.