In December 2017, Dr. Aviv Gibalil from Braude College came to the University of Innsbruck as AIANI-Fellow. Dr. Gibali is Senior Lecturer at the Mathematics Department at Braude College and Research Associate at the Center for Computational Mathematics and Scientific Computation at the University of Haifa. He got his PhD from the Technion in Israel. He was invited by Prof. Markus Haltmeier from Applied Mathematics. During his stay in Innsbruck, both researchers worked on joint projects and developed new ideas for future collaborations, such as a joint event in Innsbruck or in Karmiel, in the spirit of a Modelling Week or an Industrial Workshop. Plans for such joint endeavors are being made for the next year. Dr. Gibali also gave a guest lecture on “Speedup of lexicographic Optimization by Superiorization and its Applications to Cancer Radiotherapy treatment” on December 7, 2017. Dr. Gibali invited Prof. Haltmeier to Braude College for the next step in the joint collaboration. His stay was made possible by a grant from the City of Innsbruck.

Dr. Rafal Zalas from the Technion in Israel came to the University of Innsbruck as “AIANI-Fellow” in November/December 2017 to work on joint research projects with Dipl. Ing. Dr. Christian Bargetz from the Department of Mathematics. The two scientists have known each other from previous stays of Dipl. Ing. Dr. Bargetz at the Technion and have started to work together on a joint research project with other collegues. Dr. Zalas studied Mathematics at the University of Zielona Gora in Poland and came as post-doctoral fellow to the Department of Mathematics at the Technion in Israel.

On December 5, 2017, Dr. Zalas gave a public guest lecture on “Projection methods in Feasibility” at the Department of Mathematics in Innsbruck. Students and colleagues enjoyed this interesting presentation. The stay of Dr. Zalas was supported by the City of Innsbruck.

In cooperation with the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) and several departments at the University of Innsbruck, AIANI organizes an interdisciplinary workshop/hackathon for students, entitled “Enabling Music”. The workshop will take place at HIT in Israel in March 2018 and aims at developing interactive music instruments for children with motor impairments. As preparation for the workshop, an innovative course project was launched at the University of Innsbruck for the winter semester 2017/2018. The project is supervised by Prof. Alexander Ostermann, head of the Research Area Scientific Computing. Faculty from different departments take part in the teaching of the course and the preparation of the workshop. These departments include Applied Mathematics, Computer Science and Psychology. Students will work on the topic of “Enabling Music” from different perspectives, learn about Music Therapy, Machine Learning, Recommendation Systems, Mathematical Models of Music, Sound Engineering etc.

They will then be matched with Israeli students from HIT to form joint teams of four people. The course project is supported by the Vice Rector for Student Affairs and Teaching. The workshop in Israel is made possible by a grant from the "1669 Wissenschafft Gesellschaft - Förderkreis der Universität Innsbruck". It will be the first such interdisciplinary project carried out between the University of Innsbruck and a partner institution from Israel. AIANI is supporting and coordinating both, the course and the workshop.

Prof. Amos Hofman, Vice President for Academic Affairs at Beit Berl College, Prof. Anat Stavans, former Director of Research Authority and professor of English, Prof. Nurit Buchweitz, Dean of the Faculty of Society and Culture at Beit Berl College as well as Anat Benson, Director of Academic International Relations and Head Librarian visited the University of Innsbruck from November 12-15, 2017. AIANI organized the visit to further strengthen academic and administrative ties and to promote new collaboration projects. The delegation met with Rektor Tilmann Märk, Vice Rektors Fügenschuh and Tanzer as well as many colleagues from different departments to discuss possibilities for cooperation. Mag. Ramminger showed the delegation the University Library and members of the “Brenner-Archiv” introduced the group to the Digital Humanities project. Interesting areas of collaboration and common fields of research were identified, such as Migration and Globalization, Digital Humanities, English, Multilingualism, Language and Literature etc. A visit from a delegation from Innsbruck at Beit Berl College will take place in the spring of 2018.

As a result of the visit of Prof. Samuel Gazit from Braude College in June 2017, the University of Innsbruck signed a Memorandum of Understanding with this institution in July 2017. Braude College, based in the city of Karmiel in Northern Israel, is a technical college specializing in engineering study programs. It was established in 1987 and has about 2.900 students, enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs, such as biotechnology, engineering, information systems, mechanical engineering, software engineering, applied mathematics and optical engineering. The memorandum of Understanding lays the foundation for future faculty and student exchange, joint research projects and conferences. Braude College offers a special spring semester, called “Jerusalem-Galilee Engineers Program”, where students can attend a two week “mini-semester” at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, designed to introduce students to Israeli society, culture and history. After that, the program continues for a semester at Braude College. AIANI offers in cooperation with Braude College special scholarships for this program. The University of Innsbruck also welcomes students from Braude College to spend a semester in Innsbruck.

After last year's success, we are very happy to announce that the "1669 Wissenschafft Gesellschaft - Förderkreis der Universität Innsbruck" is again providing two full scholarships to participate in the "Internationale Sommeruniversität" in Beer Sheva. Congratulations to Julia Scholati and Marco Steger who will spend together with three other students of the University of Innsbruck six weeks at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev! AIANI wishes all of them save travels, a successful summer school program and a great time in Israel.

Dr. Samuel Gazit, Director of the International Relations Office at Braude College, visited the University of Innsbruck in June. He met with Rektor Tilmann Märk, AIANI's Academic Director Prof. Ivo Hajnal, Dr. Barbara Tasser and Dr. Mathias Schennach from the International Services. Furthermore Dr. Gazit took a look at some research projects of students at the Tech Campus and discussed future collaboration possibilities with colleagues from various departments e.g. Applied Mathematics, Geometry and CAD, Mechatronics and Pharmaceutical Technology.