Unite! launches second round of Visiting Professorships

Unite! continues to promote academic mobility and cross-border collaboration with the second edition of its Visiting Professorship programme. In the winter semester 2025/26, 13 postdoctoral scholars from six Unite! partner universities will join TU Darmstadt to contribute to teaching and research activities across eight departments.

The Unite! Visiting Professorship supports the professional development of early-career researchers while fostering long-term academic exchange among institutions. Participating scholars will teach elective or supplementary courses, many of which introduce fresh, interdisciplinary perspectives aligned with Unite!’s mission to build a truly European university.

The teaching appointments begin in mid-October 2025 and run through the end of the lecture period in mid-February 2026, with the possibility of extending the collaboration for up to two years.

Beyond enhancing course offerings, the programme creates meaningful connections between academic communities within the alliance. Students also benefit from a more international learning environment, often gaining access to new research topics and approaches.

Designing and teaching this course was a great experience — I learned a lot,” says Felix Siebenhühner, a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, who was among the first to take part in the programme.

“22 students completed the module, and several told me it inspired them to pursue neuroscience research. One of them is now doing their master’s thesis with me. It’s a great programme that I highly recommend to other postdocs who want to gain teaching experience Felix Siebenhühner, postdoctoral researcher

As Unite! continues to scale up its efforts to build a shared European Higher Education Area, initiatives like the Visiting Professorship demonstrate how academic alliances can empower researchers, enrich student learning, and deepen transnational collaboration.