UDP Internacional

Tuesday April 7th, 2026

On Monday, April 6, a delegation from the German Research Foundation (DFG), Germany’s largest funding organization for the sciences and humanities, met with representatives from the Institute of Astrophysical Studies and the Office of International Relations at Diego Portales University (UDP) in the Manuel de Salas Hall at the Main Building.

Following the start of operations at the Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST) in Antofagasta, three DFG representatives traveled to Chile and visited UDP to strengthen their relationship with the country and the University. UDP has three faculty members who graduated from German institutions and maintain active ties with Germany.

The meeting focused on exploring more institutional and formal collaborations between the University and several German institutions, such as the Universities of Heidelberg, Cologne, and Bern. Discussions included the possibility of applying for DFG funding to organize activities such as meetings or workshops to develop joint lines of research and collaboration, and the available funding mechanisms for strengthening these partnerships were also explored in depth.

The delegation consisted of Dr. Achim Tieftrunk, Director of the Scientific Instrumentation and Information Technology Program at the DFG; Dr. Christina Peters, Director of the DFG for Latin America; and Dr. Gudrun Kausel, DFG Academic Representative in Chile. He met with Paula Jofré, Director of the PhD Program in Astrophysics at UDP; Anoek van den Berg, Director General of International Relations at UDP; and Carlos Ahumada, Coordinator of Cooperation and Global Training.

“These types of visits, which aim to strengthen cooperative ties that often begin at a personal-academic level but are relevant to the institution, and in this particular case to the Institute of Astrophysical Studies, benefit the entire University. We are pleased to see that UDP is a well-known institution in Germany and that we can learn more about collaboration mechanisms to expand the scope and types of partnerships, at the research, doctoral, and joint supervision levels, among others,” Van den Berg emphasized.