The Swiss Australian Academic Network (SAAN) is an open and highly interactive "grass-root" organistion, commited to develop and improve networking opportunities bewteen Swiss and Australian academics for the purpose of expanding collaborative research, increasing bilateral exchanges and lobbying government and the industry in both countries. SAAN is a not-for-profit organisation, incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and currently counts in excess of 500 members.

SAAN is seeking to establish and maintain connections between leading academics in Australia and Switzerland, and hosts events and lectures to facilitate, expand and nurture strong ties within academia. 

SAAN's focus projects for 2011/2012 include:

- to organise and initiate events such as lectures, symposia showcasing Swiss-Australian collaboration in higher education and research
- to finalise the negotiations of, and the subsequently administer, a bilateral agreement between the major Swiss universities and the Group of Eight (Go8) leading universities in Australia to establish and resource short-term exchange programmes for postdoctoral academics.
- to monitor existing and to forge new collaborations between Australian and Swiss academics   

SAAN is supported by its corporate sponsors, Novartis, Roche and Nestlé, and the Embassy of Switzerland in Australia, the Swiss Consulate-General in Sydney, the Swiss State Secretariat for Education and Research, the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Australian Embassy in Berlin, Austrade in Frankfurt, the Swiss Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) in Sydney and swissnex Singapore.

More information about SAAN can be found at the  SAAN website and in the SAAN Power Point presentation on the right of this page. 

Contact

SAAN President - Matthias Ernst, PhD, Interim Director Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Melbourne Parkville 
Email:  matthias.ernst@ludwig.edu.au 

SAAN General Manager - Christian Schneider
Email:  christian.schneider@eda.admin.ch

SAAN Email:  info@saan.id.au