Anniversary Meeting for DAAD Scholarship Holders in Berlin - BTU doctoral candidate Ms Adiali was part of it

Every year, the DAAD invites scholarship holders who have recently arrived in Germany to an exchange meeting. This year, the meeting is part of the celebrations to mark the DAAD's 100th anniversary. More than 500 international DAAD scholarship holders took part in the event. They had the opportunity to make valuable contacts and network professionally. The programme consisted of exciting keynotes, lectures by scholarship holders and exchange meetings with DAAD staff members, which offered the opportunity to learn from each other. Special moments included the welcome address by the President of the DAAD Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee and the opening speech by the Foreign Minister Dr. Johann Wadephul.

Before the opening of the evening programme, an informal discussion took place with the President of the DAAD and the Foreign Minister, to which four representatives of the scholarship holders were invited. They talked about their general experiences in Germany and at their respective universities as well as their own research topics and possible future plans. BTU doctoral student Freda Adiali from Ghana was selected for this special format due to her research topic "Innovations at the Grassroots: A Socio-economic Transformation of Agri-Food Systems in Ghana" and as a representative of the African continent. Among other things, she was asked why she decided to do her doctoral studies in Germany and at BTU in particular. Ms Adiali replied: "As the level of education in Germany is very high, I decided to study here. BTU offers me optimal conditions in my research discipline, Transformation Studies. I am doing my doctorate under Prof. Dr. phil. Melanie Jaeger-Erben and am very well integrated into the department here. I was particularly impressed by the international orientation, the interdisciplinary approach and the research activities of the chair." The representatives of the DAAD and the Federal Foreign Office were also interested in how the arrival in Germany and at BTU went. "The Welcome Centre of the International Relations Office gave me a lot of support during onboarding. This made integration much easier for me and my two children. This applies to the search for a flat, a place in a daycare centre or school and even the search for a paediatrician. This family atmosphere has helped me and my children to feel very comfortable here."