Skip to content
  • TUM Global Week
  • EuroTeQ courses
  • Partnerships
  • Study abroad
  • Training abroad
  • TUM Global Network
  • Thinking green
  • de
  • en
  • TUM Global & Alumni Office
  • Technical University of Munich
Technical University of Munich
  • Home
  • About us
  • TUM Global News
  • Partnerships & Initiatives
    • EuroTech
    • EuroTeQ
    • Imperial College London
      • Imperial-TUM Zero Pollution Seed Fund
    • NTU
    • Tsinghua University
    • The University of Queensland
    • KNUST
    • Indo-German Partnership
    • Politecnico di Milano
    • UNESP
    • Global South Initiative
  • Worldwide locations
    • TUM Beijing
    • TUM Brussels
      • European Talent Academy
    • TUM Mumbai
    • TUM San Francisco
    • TUM São Paulo
    • TUM Campus Singapore
  • Going abroad
    • Study
      • Studying within the EU through Erasmus
      • Studying within the EuroTeQ network
      • Studying in Switzerland
      • Short-term stays in Europe with ATHENS
      • Study stays worldwide with TUMexchange
      • Scholarships for stays abroad
      • Stays abroad via School Programs
      • Double degree programs
      • International summer schools
      • Entry of your freemover stay
    • Internships
      • Internships with Erasmus+
      • Tips for finding an internship
    • Research and Teaching
      • Teaching opportunities through the EuroTeQ Course Catalogue
      • Teaching in Europe with Erasmus+
      • TUM Global Incentive Fund
        • FAQ on the TUM Global Incentive Fund
      • Further funding options
    • Training
      • Further education and training within Europe with Erasmus+ and EuroTeQ
      • International administrative practice with the Montgelas Program
        • Montgelas Fellowships
    • Thinking green
      • Thinking Green Travel Stories
    • Promoting equity!
    • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs)
    • TUM Without Borders
  • Coming to TUM
    • Study stays
      • General information for international students
      • Exchange programs at TUM
      • Study at TUM through EuroTeQ
      • Short-term stays with ATHENS
      • International Campus Life
      • Disabilities & Chronic illnesses
      • Accommodation service
    • Research stays for students
      • Practical Project Students
      • TUM PREP
        • Guideline for project database
    • Research and teaching stays
      • Teaching stays at TUM with Erasmus+
      • Erasmus+ worldwide
      • TUM Global Visiting Professor Program
        • Information for Visiting Researchers
      • Welcome Services for international researchers
        • Informationen for hosts
    • Continuing education stays
      • Invited Experts in Administration
      • Training mobilities at TUM with Erasmus+
      • Erasmus+ worldwide
    • Thinking green
      • Thinking Green Travel Stories
    • Promoting equity!
  • Events
    • TUM Global Week
    • TUM Global Experiences Festival
    • Cultural Program
    • TUM Global Dialogue Series
    • TUM Community Events
  • Alumni worldwide
  • International career
  • Mentoring programs
  • Contacts
    • TUM Global & Alumni Office Team
    • Contacts at the Schools
  1. Home
  2. TUM Global News

"An unforgettable and enriching experience" – As a Montgelas Fellow in Brazil

TUM Global, News | 07.03.2025

For two weeks, Dr. Melanie Frank from the TUM Graduate School was a Montgelas Fellow at a partner university in São Paulo. Her goal was to learn about the local administrative structures and processes while engaging as much as possible with her colleagues. She returned with an expanded understanding of international collaboration, detailed insights, and fond memories of the openness and kindness she experienced in Brazil.

Dr. Melanie Frank together with Sören Metz, Laura Redondo de Campos, Jamie Snow from the TUM Global & Alumni Office and Marcio Weichert im DWIH. Image: Dr. Melanie Frank / TUM

There were many reasons of connection for a stay in São Paulo. The Universidade Estadual Paulista "Júlio de Mesquita Filho" (UNESP) is an important strategic partner of TUM; together with the University of Queensland in Brisbane and TUM, it is also a founding member of the Global Bioeconomy Alliance. Additionally, TUM maintains a liaison office in São Paulo to facilitate scientific exchange with Latin America.

Insights into academic collaboration

Melanie Frank’s role at the TUM Graduate School is to support doctoral candidates in internationalizing their research, for example, through a joint Summer/Winter School from TUM and UNESP, which took place for the first time in 2024.

Melanie Frank's stay was organized so that she could accompany the joint TUM/UNESP Summer School at UNESP on-site, allowing her to gain valuable insights into the design of interdisciplinary programs for doctoral candidates as well as the organization of academic events. "The exchange with my UNESP colleagues about different approaches to evaluating our joint event was particularly helpful in planning the Winter School, which later that year took place at TUM", says Melanie Frank.

Meeting with colleagues from UNESP in São José dos Campos. Image: Bruno Tanaka/UNESP

UNESP campus in Rio Claro. Image: Dr. Melanie Frank / TUM

Participants of the TUM/UNESP Summer School at the São Martinho Bioethanol Production Plant. Image: UNESP

Slide 1 of 3

Networking events and future projects

In addition to the Summer School, Melanie Frank participated in networking meetings and workshops, which included discussions on different doctoral models in Germany and Brazil. She also took the opportunity to learn about the work of TUM Liaison Officer Sören Metz, whose office is based at the German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH) in São Paulo. The DWIH brings together various stakeholders from the German research landscape. 

Melanie Frank also met Dr. Christina Peters, Head of the DFG Office, Laura Redondo de Campos, Head of the Liaison Office of the University of Münster, and Marcio Weichert, Head of Programme at the DWIH. "I learned a lot about the immense potential of collaboration with Brazil," says Melanie Frank. "It is crucial to understand both the administrative and cultural differences between the two countries. This will be very beneficial for my future work."

The Montgelas Program: International experience for TUM staff

The Maximilian Graf Montgelas Program enables all TUM employees from administrative and service units to gain experience working at international partner institutions. Since 2022, fellows have visited more than 30 universities worldwide. Interested candidates can submit applications by March 15, as well as in June and October.

Further information and links

More about the Montgelas Program

TUM-UNESP Doctoral Summer/Winter School

More about the partnership with UNESP

TUM São Paulo

 


◄ Back to: TUM Global News
To top

TUM Global & Alumni Office

Technical University of Munich
Arcisstr. 21
80333 Munich
Germany

TUM Global Opportunities

Screenshot of the TUM Global Opportunities newsletter

International exchange, funding programs, partnerships, events and more: TUM students, employees and researchers as well as external interested parties can keep up to date on the latest news via the TUM Global Opportunities newsletter. We appreciate your interest!

Subscribe to the TUM Global Opportunities newsletter

Global memories

TUM students next to the ice sculpture of the TUM logo they created

Our students and employees inspire us again and again with impressive moments that they captured on camera during their stay abroad. Join in the fun, too, and send us your favorite pictures of study- or work-related staycations

21.05.2025

Sustainable travel: Study trip to Sweden


09.05.2025

Zero Waste EU Simulation: Experience environmental policy in action


05.05.2025

Intercultural Training Days at CTU in Prague: A best practice in staff development

  • Privacy
  • Imprint
  • Accessibility