On 25 and 26 March, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has organised a "Colombia Day". By this event, BMBF hopes to strengthen and to intensify the scientific cooperation between Germany and Colombia. 38 teams of researchers have submitted propoals for binational scientfic workshops. After an evaluation by BMBF, six finalists were invited to present their ideas to the audience of the "Colombia Day" and to subject their ideas to the critical appraisal by the audience. Among the three winners selected was also the concept for an urban drainage network proposed by ifak and Berlin Competence Centre of Water, presented by Dr Manfred Schütze and MSc. Catalina Vieira. His Excellence, the Ambassador of the Republic of Colombia, Hans-Peter Knudsen Queveda, and BMBF's Head of Division, Stefan Schneider, congratulated the winners. BMBF will support a workshop, planned for autumn 2019.
By this award, the scientifc excellence of ifak as well as its active involvement with Latin America, demonstrated also by research stays of several Latin American researchers at ifak and by formal cooperation agreements with two Colombian universities, is recognised and strenghtened.
The other two award-winners were Prof. Bernt Schnettler of Universität of Bayreuth ("The Peace as Laboratory") und M.Eng. Natalia Matiz Rubio of University of Stuttgart ("Bioeconomy in Gemany and Colombia").
