“Where the heck is Kleve?”

Kleve? Never heard! That’s what many people say these days. Professor Alex Gerber helps to put the new campus on the map. Among others with prominent lectures on how science communication meets the current challenges.

Red & White: The old Kleve warehouse serves as a the new campus’ knowledge store with 3000 shelf metres of books © Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences
Red & White: The old Kleve warehouse serves as a the new Campus Knowledge Store with 3000 shelf metres of books © Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences

Alex Gerber has found a new home. In Kleve by the lower Rhine. The medieval town of 48.112 inhabitants with a grim castle has a very lively history. But then it sank into oblivion until it was rediscovered by the government of the German State of Nordrhein Westfalen. It built a campus of 19 white cubicles right next to the old harbor and put it back on the map.

“This is so much better than Berlin”,  Alex joyously says. Now he can walk everywhere, for example with his Irish wife and son Dylan to the movie theatre. Or go on a two kilometer stroll on the quayside promenade. After having lived and bustled in the German capital for years, Kleve is a truly idyllic place for him and his family.

And this despite the fact that his new job is a real challenge. At the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, he is an ordinary professor for science communication now. All subjects are taught in English, which has attracted 3000 students from 70 countries and makes the campus compatible with similar sites in the UK and USA. A sophisticated academic business model – with a lot of groundwork to do. Gerber has to invent most of the curriculum himself.

Geo and Alpha Galileo chiefs lecture at Rhine-Waal

Alex Gerber, new Professor Science Communication @Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (c)TELI/Goede
Alex Gerber, new Professor Science Communication@Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (c) TELI/Goede

Hard work but most inspiring, he says and points at a new series of public lectures on Science Journalism and Communication. Martin Meister, Editor in Chief of GEO International, for example will address the challenges facing science journalism particularly with regard to the international diversity in information behaviour and media formats in his presentation “Science Journalism on Global Media Markets” >>> Tuesday, 16 December.

Providing a closer look at the impact of tectonic shifts in the science communication landscape, Peter Green will discuss whether the research community presents a “Suitable Case for Public Relations”. Green is founder and CEO of AlphaGalileo, the world’s business to business service for the research and media communities >>> Tuesday, 18 November (complete program w/five international renowned personalities see link below)

Gerber has been around the international science communication community. The longtime member of the Euroscience Governing Board and the ESOF Supervisory Board (and board member of the German Science Writers TELI) is well-known for his commitment to the cause. So further new impulses and formats can be expected from him in a well-orchestrated effort to enhance the new campus and its engagement in the field of science communication and journalism.

Studies & Research embedded in Nature, Water, History

Currently though, many colleagues he tries to draw into his projects exclaim: “Where the heck is Kleve?” Then he patiently explains the beauty of the place and lures them with its unique central location:

Campus greenhouse reveals unknown potatoe wonders (c) Prof. Dr Jens Gebauer/Rhine-Waal Univ.
Campus greenhouse reveals unknown potatoe wonders (c) Prof. Dr Jens Gebauer/Rhine-Waal Univ.

The university campus is easily reached via the nearby airport of Weeze. Other major airports in Amsterdam, Dusseldorf, Cologne and are all located within an hour and a half of Kleve. Its train station is within walking distance of the campus. Buses frequently run to nearby celebrities such as Nijmegen. The 2000 years old Dutch city at the Waal is 20 minutes away.

Indeed, hard to beat for Berliners –and many others!

 Rhine-Waal current lecture series
http://www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de/en/news/news-article/article/ringvorlesung-wissenschaftskommunikation.html

 Lecture Flyer
http://www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de/index.php?id=1&L=1

More Info Rhine-Waal Campus
http://www.hochschule-rhein-waal.de/en