Celebrating 10 years: Welcome Center for international guest researchers
"It's crazy," says Julia Holz. "Before we shake hands with our international guests for the first time, we know so much about them because we’ve already been engaged with them for months." Ms Holz works as a coordinator at the U Bremen Research Alliance Welcome Center at the University of Bremen, which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. She has been there almost from the beginning, together with Janna Wilbers, who is currently on parental leave. Thousands of international researchers also had reason to celebrate and congratulate – every year, the Welcome Team looks after up to 500 new arrivals in Bremen and Bremerhaven.
For newcomers to Bremen, the staff at the Welcome Center are scouts in the bureaucratic jungle, agents for flats and places in childcare programmes, suppliers of ideas, organisers of a wide range of events, and occasionally also a sympathetic ear when the journey with the whole family doesn't work out after all or plans to bring the academic cat threaten to fall through because of the mandatory three-week quarantine in Hamburg. For most who come to Uni Bremen for a three-month or even three-year research stay, the Welcome Center is the first point of contact, months before their arrival. The team also includes Franziska Treviranus and Jana Sievers as well as a team assistant, a trainee, an FSJ (Voluntary Social Year) student and student employees. Together, they work through a detailed checklist that specifies in a carefully devised sequence which documents and permits need to be acquired, from visas to tax IDs and health insurance to flat rental contracts. "As a rule, the scientists start their research as soon as they arrive in Bremen or Bremerhaven. That's why we need to have everything else sorted out in advance. That is often a real challenge," says Ms Holz.
The Welcome Center was founded in the context of the Excellence Initiative, and since 2017 has been associated with the U Bremen Research Alliance, a network for cooperation amongst the University of Bremen and twelve federally and state-funded non-university research institutes. Once the researchers have arrived in Bremen, the onboarding process begins, and here the Welcome Center distinguishes itself with a wide range of events. At Christmas time, biscuit-baking is on the agenda, and there are mudflat walks and guided tours of the city. The aim: helping international guests feel at home in Bremen and at the same time get to know (North) German culture and network with each other. Taking place every Wednesday afternoon is the Café International on floor 2a of the GW2 cafeteria, which always includes a few SeniorCitizens – a team of senior citizens who look after international students and visiting academics by helping them get to know the city, going on excursions together or giving them an introduction to recent German history. "We're always looking for committed volunteers," says Ms Holz, "and for alumni in particular, this could be an exciting job that's also a lot of fun."
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