Within the thematic area ‘Information Systems‘ it is the aim of wwu.usp to adjust the respective curricula at WWU and USP and to develop joint research projects within the framework of DFG/FAPESP programs. Referring to the overall goal of working together on di fferent levels, summer schools and workshops are organized. They not only enhance the cooperation among the partners already working together but intent also to win new partners and to attract students as well as PhD candidates. Consequently, an e ffcient visibility is relevant for the success and the sustainability of this thematic area.
One specific objective within this topic is the integration of the respective faculty of the University of São Paulo into the European Center for Information Systems (ERCIS). It is an international network of research institutions and companies, working together in the fields of information systems, computer science, quantitative methods, business administration, medical informatics, and law.
Integration of USP in the ERCIS-Network - Signature of the Letter of Intent
As the first Latin-American institution USP has been integrated at the ERCIS-Network, which is coordinated by the Insitute of Informatic System of the WWU. Prof. Dr. Bernd Hellingrath, representing ERCIS, and Prof. Dr. Renata Pontin de Matos Fortes from the São Carlos Institute of Computing and Mathematical Science signed the corresponding Letter of Intent on 10 October 2018 during a reception at the Rectory of USP in São Paulo preceding the Closing Ceremony of the first financing phase of the project wwu.usp.
Information Systems - Workshop and Winter School in Münster
From January 28 to February 2 2018 Prof. Bernd Hellingrath organized in collaboration with the Brazil Center of the WWU a Winter School on the thematic focus “Information Systems” in Münster.
The main objective of the event was to give an overview on the research work performed nowadays at both universities and identify possible fields of collaboration for joint research projects. Another central objective consisted in discussing the conditions for the integration of USP at ERCIS-network and verifying in which degree USP satisfies these conditions. Fourteen PhD-students, being five from USP and nine from WWU, attended at the Winter School. From the side of the docents, six professors of the USP and twelve of the WWU were present. The members of the USP delegation were from the São Carlos Institute of Computer and Mathematic Sciences (ICMC) and the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH), São Paulo.
A series of workshops involving the participants of USP and the different informatics areas at the WWU (Information Systems, Geoinformatics, Medical Informatics and Basic Informatics) have been performed. In all these meetings, the various research themes developed at USP and WWU have been presented and possible collaboration themes were identified. These themes were subsequently concretized in bilateral dialogues and corresponding activities for their implementation have been planned. This procedure demonstrated to be highly efficient, since up to 30 themes for joint research work were discussed and concretized. Complementary, the PhD-students of both universities discussed in a two days workshop concrete themes of the joint research, planning their realization. Again a number of five tangible approaches for joint work arise from the discussions.
In view of the second central objective of the event, the admission of USP in the ERCIS-network, the conditions were jointly discussed and evaluated in regard to their conformance by both research groups from USP. Subsequently, the management of ERCIS testified that USP fulfils the conditions for the integration in the ERCIS-network. As the next step, it was decided that USP will formally apply for its admission in the ERCIS-network.
