by ndw5072 | Dec 16, 2024 | Events, News
Call for Applications for the 2025 Collaborative Learning School in Nigeria
The Sustainfood project is pleased to announce a call for applications for a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Collaborative Learning School in Nigeria, May 5-16, 2025. The Collaborative Learning School (CLS) is a field-based workshop led by U.S., European and African scientists and practitioners. The CLS connects participants with farmers, policymakers, and other stakeholders at the community level to assess food security challenges and identify innovative solutions using the water-energy-food (WEF) nexus framework.
For more information see
by ndw5072 | Dec 16, 2024 | News
Penn State water-energy-food nexus project takes a global approach
News Article can be found below
Article
by ndw5072 | Nov 12, 2024 | Events, News
Global Entrepreneurship Week
SustainFood Entrepreneurship Conversations:
Building a Culture of Innovation & Entrepreneurship: A Multi-Level Approach
Thursday 21st November 2024, 9 AM (Webinar)
Synopsis:
A university culture of innovation and entrepreneurship benefits students, faculty, and the
institution. However, building such a culture can be difficult, given limited resources and varied
stakeholders. We propose a multi-level approach, ranging from one-off workshops to multi-day
events to course projects to curricular structures. We describe our experiences in a variety of
contexts, and share lessons learned and ideas for future directions.
Presenters:
Dr. Clif Kussmaul
Clif Kussmaul, PhD, is Principal Consultant at Green Mango Associates, which focuses on software development, and
helping college and high school faculty to implement research-based learning practices. Formerly, he was Associate
Professor at Muhlenberg College, Chief Technology Officer at Elegance Technologies, Senior Member of Technical Staff at
NeST Technologies, and Assistant Professor at Moravian College. He has led workshops and worked with faculty around
the world, and was a Fulbright Specialist in Vietnam and Ghana and a Fulbright-Nehru Scholar in India.
Dr. Peter Carlos Okantey
Peter is the founder and president of the Palm University Foundation, Portland, Oregon, USA, and Palm University, Accra,
Ghana. He has over twenty (20) years of professional work experience, including founding and managing a consulting
business and non-profit organization, working within the private and non-profit sectors in leadership positions in Ghana
and the United States. Peter holds a Doctorate and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Strategic Leadership
from Regent University’s School of Business and Leadership, Virginia, USA. He holds a Master of Science degree (MSc.) in
Management and Organizational Leadership and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration both from
Warner Pacific University, Portland, Oregon. He taught at Portland State University’s School of Business in Portland,
Oregon, in the United States for a couple of years. He acted as Director and taught as a full-time faculty at the William
Ofori-Atta Institute of Integrity at Central University, Miotso, Ghana. He has been teaching at Palm University for 12 years,
since its inception. Peter is the founder and president of the Palm University in Accra, Ghana.
by ndw5072 | Oct 31, 2024 | Events, News
Nexus Implementation: Potential and Opportunities
This two-day online workshop, organized by United Nations University Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and of Resources (UNU-FLORES), SustainFood, NexusNet, PRIMA, and GIZ, advances technical and policy-oriented research skills related to nexus topics. Through 20 sessions with expert speakers, including from the CGIAR Initiative on NEXUS Gains, participants will gain valuable insights and practical guidelines for effectively integrating nexus approaches into their case studies – strengthening their research’s impact and rigor. The sessions cover:
- A selection of case studies: The workshop will explore methodologies for the selection and design of case studies pertinent to nexus research on different environmental resources, including water, energy, food, climate, ecosystems, soil, material, and space.
- Data integration: The session will address the complexities of accessing and integrating data from diverse sources to enhance the robustness of research outcomes.
- Stakeholder involvement: Participants will discuss criteria for the selection and commitment of stakeholders to ensure meaningful and impactful research collaborations.
- Application of practical tools: The workshop will evaluate the use of practical tools and knowledge derived from real-world applications to strengthen case study research.
View the full programme here
Register Here
Speakers
- Assist. Prof Giannis Adamos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
- Prof Alexey Alekseenko, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Dr Muzna Alvi, International Food Policy Research Institute, Delhi
- Ghada Amin, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Dr Saroj Kumar Chapagain, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Admore Chiumia, Innovator Speaker Green Impact Technology, Malawi
- Prof Serena Coetzee, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Dr Bassel Daher, Texas A&M University, United States
- Prof Edeltraud Günther, Director UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Prof Michael Jacobson, SustainFood, Penn State University, Pennsylvania, United States
- Dr Riina Jalonen, Alliance of Bioversity international and CIAT
- Prof Daniel Karthe, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Sabina Khan, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
- Dr Dimitris Kofinas, University of Thessaly, Greece
- Robert Kranefeld, German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), Bonn, Germany
- Prof Chrysi Laspidou, NexusNet, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece
- Acacia Leakey, Innovator Speaker Turkana Basin Institute, Kenya
- Taha Loghmani, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Dr Mir Matin, UNU-INWEH, Richmond Hill, Canada
- Caro Mooren, KWR Water Research Institute, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands
- Dr Natalia Ruiz Morato, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
- Dr Lamnganbi Mutum, International Water Management Institute, India
- Dr Giulio Pattanaro, European Research Executive Agency, Brussels, Belgium
- Dr Mirela Sertić Perić, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
- Prof Ali Rhouma, PRIMA Foundation, Spain
- Dieter Rothenberger, Cluster Coordinator Water, GIZ, Bonn, Germany
- Dr Shisher Shresta, International Water Management Institute, Nepal
- Dr Ana Sopina, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Dr Octavi Quintana Trias, Director of PRIMA Foundation, Barcelona, Spain
- Cecilia Vey, GIZ, Bonn, Germany
- Dr Tamara Zaninović, University of Zagreb, Croatia
- Dr Azin Zarei, UNU-FLORES, Dresden, Germany
by ndw5072 | Aug 1, 2024 | News
Networking and Learning Across the Chesapeake Bay
By: Michael Jacobson
In early June, fourteen early career researchers (ECRs) arrived at Dickinson College Farm in Carlisle, in bucolic central Pennsylvania for a 2-week Collaborative Learning School (CLS) . The aim of the CLS was for these scholars to expand their knowledge and to share and learn from each other and facilitators on the broad theme of water energy food Nexus in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The CLS is part of a SustainFood project funded by the National Science Foundation program for Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet). AccelNet’s objective is creating a network of networks to advance science and encourage collaboration across researchers and countries. SustainFood focuses on US, Africa, and EU collaboration across water energy food systems. The ECRs represented fourteen countries from five continents.
During the first week spent at Dickinson Farm, four teams examined broad topical issues facing the Chesapeake Bay watershed, namely soil health, waste management, biogas, and livestock/water quality. Topics covered by the soil health group specifically included the importance of microbes and earthworms, farm collectives for sharing equipment, drones for more precise data collection, diversification using cover crops and hedgerows with native species (agroforestry) and engaging in citizen science. Dickinson Farm had recently installed a biodigester, so the biogas group looked at tradeoffs for use of waste to energy from both livestock manure and food waste generated by the Dickinson college community. Affordability, citizen and farmer education and policy incentives for biogas electricity were central topics in that group. The waste management group looked at the controversial food residual waste being land applied to agricultural fields as a soil amendment. Major concerns include odor faced by neighboring residence. and nutrient management. Legislation, technologies, and ways to compromise between farmers’ rights and community interest (e.g., nuisance laws) were discussed. The livestock and water quality group focused on several solutions such as buffer zones between livestock and water bodies, water quality monitoring in livestock areas: implement regular and wetlands creation for effluent treatment. Education and training for sustainable best management practices wa common solution proposed across all groups.
The second week of the CLS kicked off with a meeting at the Pennsylvania state capital in Harrisburg with policy makers. The groups each present posters and policy recommendations to a group of various agencies. The interactions with policy makers focused on understanding the larger challenges for Chesapeake Bay and opportunities for testing solutions developed by the ECRs. The remainder of the week was spent at the Chesapeake Bay itself in Maryland with the aim of linking the upstream farm issues exposed to during the first week, especially nutrient runoff, affecting downstream affecting the Bay’s water quality. In 2023, agriculture accounted for roughly 45% of total nitrogen pollution, 27% of the total phosphorus pollution, and 8% of the total sediment pollution to the Chesapeake Bay (CBF). The second week included visits to an oyster farm, and a wastewater treatment plant. The ECRs also interacted with ECRs from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore University where they all shared project activities. Finally, the CLS culminated with a network-to-network workshop at the Smithsonian Institute in Annapolis bringing together other related networks working the water energy food nexus space. As one ECR noted about the experience: “The most valuable aspect of the CLS was the element of collaboration between ECRs and facilitators from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. Working together in such a diverse group can sometimes be challenging but also quite rewarding and for me it was a remarkable experience. I have made good professional friendships during the CLS with the ECRs and the facilitators and I am eager to have an opportunity to work with these professionals on some of the ideas we discussed during the CLS”.
