European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS)

The European Centre for Advanced Studies (ECAS) is committed to strengthening scientific cooperation between higher education institutions, researchers, and other stakeholders in Lower Saxony and Scotland. Its activities focus on building sustainable networks and fostering the exchange of knowledge, expertise, and academic mobility.

Based at the International Center of Leuphana University Lüneburg, ECAS acts as a central interface within the transregional research landscape. Through close collaboration with strategic partners—including the Lower Saxony State University Conference (LHK), Universities Scotland, the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture (MWK), the VolkswagenStiftung, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE)—ECAS contributes to the structural development of the German–Scottish research ecosystem.

A key element of these activities is the Lower Saxony – Scotland Research and Innovation Scheme. This funding initiative supports both the development of new research projects and the targeted advancement of existing collaborations, with a view to competitive third-party funding formats, particularly within the European framework of Horizon Europe. In this context, ECAS assumes a coordinating role and contributes to enhancing the international visibility of the researchers involved.

In addition, ECAS organises the Lower Saxony – Scotland Joint Forum, an annual platform for dialogue between academia, politics, and civil society. The forum provides impulses for networking, project development, and the presentation of joint research approaches.

Through these activities, ECAS makes a sustainable contribution to strengthening academic collaboration between Lower Saxony and Scotland and supports researchers in initiating, deepening, and internationally positioning cross-border partnerships.