Welcome to your new home!

The Welcome Center for International Researchers of the University of Siegen is the central point of contact for all non-academic matters and general questions.

Home is where you’re welcome. Deciding to go abroad to do their research internationally, is an important step for academics, which provides many chances, opportunities and international experiences but can also bring a number of challenges with it. “We know, what it means to essentially pack your life and culture into a suitcase and move to another country. Being welcomed and supported are incredibly important in this process,” says Eva Shirley. She works in the Welcome Center for International Researchers at the University of Siegen, the central point of contact for international researchers in all non-academic matters and general questions.

The Welcome Center with Dr. Nina Fenn, Eva Shirley and the team of students offers support where possible, be it general information, answering specific questions or accompanying researchers to appointments with public authorities. These services are offered to international visiting professors, postdocs and PhD students, as well as their hosts at the University of Siegen, at any and all points of their stay: from preparing and planning their stay up until their departure, and sometimes their return to Siegen, too. The Welcome Center cooperates with a strong network of internal and external partners to offer the best consultation and support possible, no matter the duration of the stay or the type of financing, to both scholarship holders and newly employed internationals.

Another important responsibility for the Welcome Center is to organise information events and informal networking events for international researchers, such as monthly get-togethers – currently digital events during the pandemic – or the festive annual reception. 

Furthermore, as head of the Welcome Center, Dr. Nina Fenn offers support in building up the University of Siegen’s international research cooperation, by assisting departments in applying for Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships and cooperation projects, or with regard to Cotutelle (bi-national PhDs). Dr. Fenn consults local researchers on funding opportunities for research abroad, procures third-party funding, such as STIBET Doktoranden (scholarship and support funds for PhD students), and coordinates the Philipp Schwartz-Initiative for threatened researchers at the University of Siegen.