“Been in America”: DFG interviews German researchers in the USA and Canada

2022 07 Fooken DFG Labor © Jolande Fooken

Since November 2020, neuroscientist Dr. Jolande Fooken has been at Queens University, Kingston in the Canadian province of Ontario, where she is on a DFG research fellowship.  As a member of John Randall “Randy” Flanagan’s group, she is researching “Gaze and motor control – Patterns of Coordination.”

Her interview with the DFG’s North American office covered subjects such as her career progression – from studying physics in Aachen and taking a master’s degree in biomedical engineering to her current field of research – and her enthusiasm for the well-known German football club FC Cologne.

Link to the full interview on the DFG (German Research Foundation) website.

About the interview series

Through its research fellowship program, and since 2019 through the Walter Benjamin Program, the DFG supports junior scientists in their academic careers by funding an independent research project either abroad or in Germany. A large proportion of these fellowships are awarded in the USA and Canada, reflecting the belief still prevalent in many disciplines – and in the life sciences in particular – that for a career in research it is helpful to have “been in America.” In this series of talks, the DFG aims to give you an impression of the range its funding recipients.