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Luxembourg National Research Fund

Launch 3rd edition of Pairing Scheme – Politics meets Research

The FNR, in cooperation with the Parliament of Luxembourg, is organising the third edition of the exchange programme “Pairing Scheme”, where researchers and members of the Parliament of Luxembourg meet in their respective working environments, between November 2022 and May 2023. The launch of the 3rd edition, which features researcher-MP pairs, took place on 14 November 2022 in the Chambre des Députes.

About the Pairing Scheme 

Hear from MPs and researchers who took part in the first edition of the Pairing Scheme 

The goal of the Pairing Scheme is to enable researchers and Members of Parliament (MPs) to get to know each other and to get a better understanding of their respective working environments. 

How does the Pairing Scheme work? 

The concept of this project is to pair up researchers and MPs who visit each other at their respective workplaces. Over a period of half a year, there will be six different dates on which the following events will take place:  

Day 1 – Launch event at the Luxemburgish Parliament 

14 November 2022 – 09h30-16h00  

Programme:

9h30-12h00 Opening speeches, keynote talk by Prof. Dr. Paul Cairney from the University of Sterling about what is needed to enable an efficient and fruitful collaboration between politicians and researchers, followed by a discussion round (all the participating researchers and politicians)

12h30-14h00 Lunch (all the participating researchers and politicians)

14h00-16h00 Researchers visit the Luxemburgish Parliament (re-searchers only)

Day 2 – Researchers attending a public session of the Parliament  

7 December 2022 or 18 January 2023 – From 13h30-17h00 

You can choose between those two dates. If necessary, translation will be provided. 

Day 3 – Visit of the MPs to the Belval Campus 

24 February 2023  

Programme:

  • Morning: Visit of the MPs to the Belval Campus (MPs only) 
  • 12h30-14h00 Lunch at the 17th floor of Maison du Savoir at Belval (all the participating researchers and politicians) 

Day 4 – Researchers host the politicians at their institutions 

Between January and April 2023 

For a day (or half a day) the MP visits the researcher in their institution 

Note: This date does not need to be the same for each pair and will be arranged between the researchers and politicians – with support from the FNR, if needed.  

Day 5 and 6 – Closing event: Public conference 

4-5 May 2023 

Programme:

Public conference with representatives of research, policy making, policy advice and society. A more detailed program will be announced in the coming months. 

Note: Participating researchers’ presence is required for this event. Unfortunately, if you can’t be there, you can not participate in the Pairing Scheme. We will update as soon as possible the exact date of the conference.  

Who can participate? 

Eligible are only active researchers, working as Principal Investigators for a Luxembourg public research organisation for a few years. Note that your physical presence is required for the launch, the closing event and of course, the day where the MP visits your institution. Unfortunately, if you can’t be present on one of those days, you can’t participate in the Pairing Scheme. Participation is based on a call for participation.

What do I have to do to participate?  

If you are a Principal Investigator and want to participate, please fill out the participation form below by Thursday, 15 September, 10:00. In this form, you are asked to give us some information about you and tell us why you want to participate.   

If you have any technical questions, please contact Emily Iversen: emily.iversen@fnr.lu  

The content you provide will be published in a brochure that will be distributed to the MPs. The MPs then can choose “their” researcher. Unfortunately, only the researchers that have been chosen by a member of parliament can participate in the Pairing Scheme. If you are selected to participate, your content will also be published in the final brochure of the Pairing Scheme, which will be publicly available. 

Each MP will choose a researcher to pair up with based on the brochure that the FNR will distribute to the Parliament. Therefore, make sure that the information you provide is understandable and of interest for the politicians. 

If you have any questions about the pairing Scheme, please contact Jean-Paul Bertemes: jean-paul.bertemes@fnr.lu and Didier Goossens: didier.goossens@fnr.lu 


The 7 pairs of the 3rd edition

Nathalie Oberweis -> Javier Olivera Angulo (LISER)

Jessie Thill  ->Oona Freudenthal (LIST)

Stéphanie Empain -> Tomer Libal (University of Luxembourg)

Marc Spautz -> Franz Clément (LISER)

Paul Galles -> Alex Redinger (University of Luxembourg)

Sven Clement -> Nizamul Islam (LISER)

Charles Margue -> Magdalena Gorczynska-Angiulli (LISER)

More information