IRTG2991 and GIANT make it possible – An interim report on Maria and Johannes’s international exchange
03/13/2026Maria, a PhD student in the Höbartner research group, and Johannes, who has just completed his Master’s thesis, are currently pursuing international opportunities as part of a research exchange programme, and of course for their personal and professional development. Both are spending several months at the School of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram (IISER TVM) in India.
Maria is taking part in the International Research Training Group 2991 (IRTG 2991) research project. IRTG 2991 is an international and interdisciplinary, knowledge-driven research and training programme on innovative supramolecular functional materials with photoluminescent properties (https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/irtg2991/). One of Maria’s key objectives during her research stay in India is to learn new measurement methods for NMR spectroscopy, which she can use to investigate the mobility of her fluorescent RNA aptamer.
Johannes is also learning a great deal. For example, about the expression and purification of proteins and their analysis using NMR spectroscopy. He is participating in the GIANT program at JMU. The German Indian Academic Network for Tomorrow (https://www.uni-wuerzburg.de/giant/) project, known as IISER-TVM on the Indian side, is funded by the DAAD and the Indian SPARC. The cooperation aims to expand bilateral teaching and learning opportunities at the master’s level.
The conditions for a fruitful exchange at IISER are good: Johannes and Maria appreciate the collaborative work on site and the intensive discussions that arise from it. New contacts and networks are forming. But getting to know Indian culture is not neglected either, for example at cultural festivals that are also celebrated in the evenings on campus, with plenty of dancing and joie de vivre.
And there is even more for Maria and Johannes to discover: The campus is located in the middle of the jungle, and they frequently have the opportunity to see animals in their natural habitat that they would otherwise only know from the zoo. They observe peacocks, monkeys, and, of course, the fascinating flora.
It’s already clear that they’ll be bringing back a wealth of scientific experience from India. They’ve also decided to import some ideas from India that they particularly like, such as auditions on campus to perform in front of everyone at big celebrations. They’ll certainly have plenty to share when they get back—both on a personal and professional level.
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