Following a Call for proposals, two Luxembourg nationals have been awarded prestigious research stay scholarships by the Fulbright Scholar Programme of the USA, co-funded by the FNR.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship scholarship programme promoting international exchange between the United States and over 160 countries worldwide. It fosters and promotes academic excellence and cross-cultural exchange.
The Fulbright Award competition for Luxembourg is held annually by the Commission for Educational Exchange between Belgium, Luxembourg, and the US. It administers several prestigious Fulbright scholarship programmes for Luxembourg citizens. This includes mobility grants for research visits of pre-doctoral, post-doctoral and senior researchers (visiting scholars) at US academic institutions, which are now co-funded by the FNR. Details of the next Call deadline will be communicated on the FNR website in the next few weeks.
Grantees
Jean Haler, PhD in Chemistry from University of Liège
Jean Haler has been awarded a 12-month scholarship, during which he will on a post-doctoral research stay at Florida International University.
During his research stay as a Fulbright Scholar, Jean Haler will sample and identify the conformational dynamics and kinetic folding intermediates of knot proteins with increasing knot complexity by developing new hybrid characterisation techniques, coupling trapped ion mobility spectrometry, mass spectrometry, variable-laser excitations, hydrogen-deuterium exchange experiments and computational simulations.
In 2017, Jean Haler was also among two Luxembourg scientists selected to attend the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting on the topic of chemistry.
Mathis Wolter, PhD candidate at Luxembourg Institute of Health in the Eco-Immunology and Microbiome research group, led by Prof Mahesh Desai
As part of his PhD project, Mathis is currently visiting Prof Eric Martens’ laboratory at the University of Michigan Medical School, USA, for four months, where he is further investigating different aspects of the complex interplay between gut microbiota, the gut mucus layer and dietary fibre. The Fulbright scholarship not only helps Mathis to make important progress in his PhD project by spending time in the collaborator’s laboratory but also strengthens the already funded FNR CORE project of Prof Desai, which supports Mathis’ four-year PhD thesis.
Mathis explains about the objectives of his research stay:
“The Fulbright scholarship will help to further strengthen our ongoing long-standing collaboration with Prof Martens. During my visit that started on 1st September, I have been working on two projects, which are part of my PhD thesis work that originate from our collaboration with Prof Martens. A core element of both projects is the analysis of the complex interactions between gut microbiota, the gut mucus layer and dietary fibre.”
Prof Markus Ollert, Director of the Department of Infection and Immunity at LIH states: “I am delighted that a PhD candidate from our department has been selected for the prestigious Fulbright programme. Of note, Mathis is also affiliated to the FNR-funded PRIDE Doctoral Training Unit NextImmune. The research stay at the University of Michigan will allow him to discover a different working culture and get a valuable mobility experience, a key element for a researcher’s career.”
About the Fulbright Program
The Fulbright Award competition for Luxembourg is held annually by the Commission for Educational Exchange between Belgium, Luxembourg, and the US. It administers several prestigious Fulbright scholarship programmes for Luxembourg citizens. This includes mobility grants for research visits of pre-doctoral, post-doctoral and senior researchers (visiting scholars) at US academic institutions, which are now co-funded by the FNR. Details of the next Call deadline will be communicated on the FNR website in the next few weeks.
Go to FNR-Fulbright programme page
