Lincoln University and ELLS partners forge stronger connections for future collaborations

In a landmark visit, Te Whare Wānaka o Aoraki Lincoln University welcomed a delegation from the Euroleague for Life Sciences (ELLS) to its campus in March, marking the alliance's first official visit to Aotearoa New Zealand. Lincoln University is the sole ELLS partner in New Zealand and one of the only two based outside Europe.

Representatives from the majority of member universities attended and the four-day meeting was significant in solidifying and strengthening Lincoln’s partnership with the ELLS alliance.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor Student Life, Damian Lodge, says it was wonderful to host ELLS partners and show them Lincoln University’s revitalised campus, research facilities and exciting new educational programmes.

“This was an opportunity for the specialised agricultural and life sciences universities from Europe to meet with our academic staff, build networks and discuss student mobility and potential future research collaborations,” says Damian.

ELLS TaskForce Chair Professor Arnold Bregt from Wageningen University in the Netherlands says he was impressed by the facilities at Lincoln University and enjoyed the welcoming environment.

“As a partner of ELLS, we were delighted to visit Lincoln University. We host meetings at a different member university annually. We have especially enjoyed visiting the University’s farms and research facilities and learning about the planned agrivoltaic installation.

“ELLS is an alliance of land-based universities, each focusing on areas including natural resource management, agricultural and forestry sciences, life sciences, animal sciences, food sciences, agricultural economics, environmental sciences and rural development. This cohesion allows ELLS to promote the global exchange of knowledge and innovation through student exchanges, Master’s programmes and summer school, offering students many amazing opportunities from undergraduate to post-graduate studies.”

Unique to ELLS is the annual Scientific Student Conference, established over a decade ago, to encourage students within the life sciences to engage with one another and share their research. This student-centric event is organised by ELLS’ Student Association (ELSA). One of the ELSA leadership team, Master’s student Tereza Otcova, was among the delegation visiting Lincoln University.

“Each member and partner university in ELLS has two student representatives on ELSA. I was excited to come to Lincoln and share what we do with Lincoln University Students’ Association and organise the appointment of two student representatives to ELSA.”

One of the 13 member universities, BOKU University in Vienna, has already established a student exchange with Lincoln to encourage student mobility and knowledge exchange as Professor Hermann Bürstmayr from BOKU University shares.

“The Master of Natural Resources Management and Ecological Engineering from Lincoln allows students to study for a semester at BOKU University in Vienna. There are many benefits to exchanges like this. Not only are students experiencing a different culture, but they are also expanding their skills and knowledge in new areas. Farm systems, for example, differ from country to country, so there is much that can be learnt, with the view of adopting new methods that can create more sustainable systems worldwide.”