Bilateral collaborations and networks

Centres in Western Europe, partner groups in Southern and Eastern Europe

The increasing amount of Max Planck Centres and Partner Groups, the latter of which are mainly located in Southern and Eastern Europe, reflects the close bilateral collaboration between the Max Planck Society and its European partners.

A growing number of Max Planck Centres are fostering some impressive research synergies. Within Europe, the Centres are currently collaborating with Sciences Po (Paris), University College London, the Universities of Cambridge, Bristol and Cardiff, the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Lausanne and Zurich, as well as the University of Twente and Lund University. Through these Centres, the Max Planck Society is reinforcing strategic collaborations with productive and capable partner institutes throughout Europe, including in the UK, thereby counteracting the centrifugal forces of Brexit and the integration crisis.

Whilst the Centre Programme is helping to strengthen the European Research Area primarily in Western Europe, the Max Planck Society’s partner group format is providing support for the emergence of centres of excellence in Southern and Eastern Europe. Partner groups have currently been established in Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, and are fostering the formation of long-term networks of junior scientists who have previously completed a post-doctoral phase at one of the Max Planck Institutes. Other research groups have been established at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw, the Małopolska Centre of Biotechnology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.