'Ähnlichkeit in der Differenz – Kulturelle Schlüsselbegriffe im deutsch-französischen Kontext'
Professor Christoph Barmeyer of the Chair of Intercultural Communication organised a German-French conference on cultural key concepts (Programme) together with colleagues from the University of Aix-en-Provence – Dr Catherine Teissier and Professor Nicole Colin – from 8th–9th October 2015.

Key concepts that describe social phenomena refer to the historical and institutional characteristics of a society, its practices and its cultural values. While their complexity and ambiguity are not apparent in everyday use, they are becoming increasingly apparent in an intercultural context because word meaning can undergo change and lead to misinterpretation.
The interdisciplinary conference, which brought together renowned German and French scholars and contrasted and analysed key concepts from media, culture, literature, society and business, saw itself as an intercultural forum for exchange, understanding and further thinking. The German-French contrast is exemplary for Europe.
The conference, conceived by Professor Barmeyer and Sebastian Öttl and scheduled for June 2013, was originally meant to have been held at the University of Passau, but fell through due to the historic flood. Instead, it took place at the University of Aix-en-Provence, with which the University of Passau has had close connections for decades.
The conference was aimed not only at professors and postgraduate students, but also at students, in particular those from the German-French master's ICBS/LEA programme (Aix Marseille Université and University of Passau), which the conference organisers, Christoph Barmeyer and Catherine Teissier, have managed since 2012 together with Antje Jansen (Aix) and Sebastian Öttl (Passau). The students also actively contributed to the conference with several presentations.  In addition to other French organisations, the conference was supported by the Franco-Bavarian University Cooperation Centre in Munich. Final Report!

At the invitation of the Echanges Research Centre (Professor Florence Bancaud and Dr Catherine Teissier), Professor Barmeyer visited the Maison de la Recherche at the University of Aix-en-Provence from 23rd September until 10th October 2015. The visit had a variety of goals: first, to present and discuss the research projects on negotiated culture and constructive intercultural management and their results to a francophone audience. Secondly, the visit facilitated a variety of coordination meetings with students and professors of the double master's ICBS/LEA programme, funded by the German-French University with the University of Passau. Third, an international, interdisciplinary colloquium on German-French key concepts on the topic 'Ähnlichkeit in der Differenz – Kulturelle Schlüsselbegriffe im deutsch-französischen Kontext' was prepared and carried out from 8th–9th October 2015.
(The photo shows, from left to right: Christoph Barmeyer, Catherine Teissier, Sebastian Hüsch, Andreas Landes, Sebastian Öttl)

Université de Paris-Est) and Prof. Laurence Romani (Stockholm School of Economics), Prof. Christoph Barmeyer participated in the EGOS Conference 'Organisations and the Examined Life: Reason, Reflexivity and Responsibility' at the ALBA Graduate Business School in Athens from 2nd–4th July 2015. As a sociologically oriented academic association, EGOS – European Group for Organisational Studies – has been getting organisational researchers together every year for more than three decades. The topic of the section was 'When Reason is not Enough: Intercultural Competence Acquisition and Use'. The focus was on the forms – especially reflexive – that intercultural competence takes and which contexts, such as, for example, virtual teamwork or universities, promote reflexivity. The section was attended by over 20 participants from different countries and presented interesting questions and case studies.

Swiss National Science Foundation. He has been working at the Chair of Human Resource Management and Organisation (Professor Eric Davoine) at the University of Fribourg since 2012. His research topics include the integration of international employees and executives in Switzerland, cultural differences in the professional environment as well as gender issues in organisations and careers. His stay in Passau serves to complete his doctoral thesis, to complete a joint publication with Professors Davoine and Barmeyer, to gain teaching experience with a German-speaking student audience and to exchange views with the Chair’s Research Assistants and doctoral students.

10th February 2015. Thanks to Third Mayor Robert Grübl and his dedicated circle of helpers, they gained a deeper insight into volunteer work for refugees as well as moving insights into the life and flight stories of some of the young asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan. As part of the excursion, the students presented practical projects developed on the basis of the theoretical perspective of the contact hypothesis that could foster increasing and positive contact between asylum seekers and the population in return. In the future, further practical projects and internships will be created from this cooperation.

2nd February 2015 to get an idea of the management of international assignments in practice. The Goethe Institut Munich has a comprehensive secondment management division, since many employees work abroad as cultural ambassadors. The theoretical challenges of international assignments were contrasted with the practice in discussions with HR director Ms Walz-Jäger. After an invitation to lunch, the group returned having gained some interesting insights.