TU Delft and TU Braunschweig Join Forces

News - 07 February 2020

The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft and the Aeronautics Research Centre Niedersachsen (NFL) in Braunschweig, Germany, are signing a strategic partnership today to collaborate on sustainable aviation. Prof. Henri Werij, Dean of the faculty at TU Delft: "We are both leading institutes of technology in aerospace research in Europe and we share a very strong drive and extremely ambition goals to make aviation truly sustainable.  The fact that we have the same vision and speak the same language will make our partnership extremely powerful and fun at the same time.”

Picture description: Professor Henri Werij, Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft, and Professor Rolf Radespiel, Chairman of NFL, sign the agreement for the future cooperation between TU Delft and TU Braunschweig. In picture: Professor Anke Kaysser-Pyzalla, President of TU Braunschweig with Vice-President Professor Peter Hecker and Ingrid Houthuysen, External Relations Officer of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, TU Delft. Credit: Markus Hörster/TU Braunschweig

On 7 February 2020, Professor Henri Werij, Dean of the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft, and Professor Rolf Radespiel, Chairman of the NFL, signed a joint declaration in Braunschweig. This defines common goals for their basic research, geared towards sustainability in aviation. NFL is an alliance of the aerospace engineering institutes of the TU Braunschweig, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the Leibniz University Hannover (LUH). Both universities, TU Delft and TU Braunschweig, carry out excellent research in aeronautics with a focus on sustainable flying. The agreement on a strategic partnership adds a new, far-reaching dimension to the existing cooperation. 

What is special about the agreement between the two universities is its quality: It goes far beyond customary university agreements, and establishes a particularly close cooperation. Both universities have agreed to share their research facilities and unpublished research data. The Memorandum of Understanding also introduces so-called cross-supervising, i.e. the scientific lead of research projects and the supervision of doctoral students at the partner university. In addition, the two parties will work together on student exchange, aimed in particular at Honours Students and interns. 

"This is a special alliance of international partners at eye level: TU Delft has one of Europe's leading faculties in aviation research. At TU Braunschweig, we are internationally visible and recognised with our top-level research in the Cluster of Excellence "Sustainable and Energy-efficient Aviation" (SE2A) and our collaborative research with DLR and LUH", says Professor Radespiel. 

Professor Werij: "These two universities are partners, because they both have a very strong drive to make aviation truly sustainable and recognize the need for collaboration to reach extremely ambitious goals. The fact that we have the same vision and speak the same language will make our partnership extremely powerful and fun at the same time.”

Below you can watch an interview with Henri Werij where he explains why working together is essential, why TU Braunschweig and TU Delft are a good match and what his vision is on making aviation truly sustainable: 

More information: 

Ineke Boneschansker, media relations Aerospace Engineering TU Delft: +31 (0) 15 278 5361.

More information about TU Braunschweig: 

www.tu-braunschweig.de/ism

www.tu-braunschweig.de/nfl