Pivot Park brings HAN research group Drug Discovery to Oss
Pivot Park will collaborate intensively with the university of applied sciences of Arnhem and Nijmegen (HAN). On December 18, the Oss life sciences campus and the university of applied sciences signed an agreement to house the Drug Discovery research group. Pivot Park and the HAN School of Applied Biosciences and Chemistry thus lay a physical foundation for a fruitful interaction between science, education and medicine practice.
Pivot Park and HAN have been working together for some time. With a research group on campus, a long-cherished wish is coming true for both parties. With the arrival of the research group, Pivot Park wants to solve common issues in the field of drug research. Conversely, the research group offers students and lecturers at HAN a “hybrid learning environment”, a place where they can learn and research in the middle of practice. This gives shape to what HAN calls “cooperation in the triangle”; a way of learning and working where education, research and professional practice come together in a constructive manner and reinforce each other.
Employees of the future
According to Brigitte Drees, director of Pivot Park, a research group on campus is taking collaboration with education to a new level. “As a campus, we connect companies and knowledge institutes that focus on innovations in the development of medicines. With a research group we narrow the gap between education and practice in two ways. On the one hand, we ensure that HAN students and teachers can make use of the knowledge of the companies on our campus and vice versa. On the other hand, as a campus, we come into the picture with our employees of the future earlier. ”
Hybrid learning environment
For HAN, the lectorate makes it possible to organize learning processes in a new way, says professor Pedro Hermkens. “We will have a laboratory and an office at our disposal on campus. In a hybrid learning environment, students and teachers will soon be in daily contact with current issues, knowledge and facilities in the pharmaceutical practice. Such an environment adds a lot to the quality of our education. Developments in our profession are going so fast these days that they can hardly be kept up with in a traditional educational setting. That is why we are happy with this agreement. ”
Minor and internships on the way
The parties signed the agreement on Friday, December 18. HAN students and teachers will be taking up the spaces on campus in early 2021. There are also far-reaching plans for a Summer School and a minor Drug Discovery at Pivot Park. In addition, the collaboration between HAN, Pivot Park and the companies present there offers students the opportunity to do an internship, which is very important at a time when it is difficult to find internships.