Interregional Prize for Research 2018 (L-R): Minister Claude Meisch; Helmut Schmidt, Technical University of Kaiserslautern; Minister Corinne Cahen; Thomas Hauet, winner; Edouard Jacqué, Conseiller régional Grand Est; Credit: Axel Kohlhaas

At the end of the Ministerial Conference for Higher Education and Research of the Greater Region held in Esch-Belval on 15 January 2019, the 7th edition of the award of the Interregional Research Prize of the Greater Region 2018 was held.

Awarded since 2003 by the Higher Education and Research Working Group of the Greater Region, this prize is intended to to honour and encourage the development of cross-border excellence research.

The winner of the first prize of €35,000 was the cross-border project "Network Magnetism of the Greater Region" conducted jointly by the University of Lorraine (Thomas HAUET / Stéphane MANGIN), the University of Saarland (Uwe HARTMANN) and the Technical University of Kaiserslautern (Burkard HILLEBRANDS / Philippe PIRRO / Martin AESCHLIMAN).

The 2nd prize worth €10,000, sponsored by the Franco-German regional bank SaarLB, was awarded to a cross-border project dedicated to the early detection and prognosis of Parkinson's disease at the University of Luxembourg (Rejko KRÜGER) and the University of Saarland (Andreas KELLER).

In her address, the Minister for the Greater Region, Corinne Cahen, emphasised that the Greater Region must invest in education, research and innovation in order to maintain its level of competitiveness and further develop its scientific potential. She also presented the UniGR as an example of good practice that has played a pioneering role in Europe since its creation in the field of cross-border academic and scientific cooperation. The minister finally congratulated the laureates, who through their commitment contribute to the influence of the Greater Region.

The Minister of Higher Education and Research, Claude Meisch, emphasised that the Interregional Research Prize is an excellent opportunity to recognise and highlight projects of scientific excellence in cross-border collaboration. In addition, the Minister welcomed the decision made by the partners at the ministerial conference, to want to strengthen their support for research in the Greater Region by the establishment of a new financial device.