Category: News

IGCS Summer School 2022

Posted on by in Announcements, News

Sustainable Waste Management in the Nexus of Climate Change and Low Carbon Economy

Date: 18 July to 29 July 2022

Venue: Aachen, Germany

Objective

Achieving net-zero emissions and zero carbon footprint by the year 2050 are the major targets set by every nation to preclude the worst effects of climate change. Defossilization, switching to circular economy models to increase circularity per capita, adopting nature-based regenerative and resilient climate solutions, reducing our dependency on fossils, augmenting energy efficiency in production processes and waste prevention are the key interventions required to meet the net-zero goals. Sustainable waste management is central to the development and deployment of strategies to transition to a „low carbon circular economy“ in order to build a sustainable economic, natural and social capital.

Addressing sustainable waste and resource management requires an interdisciplinary and integrated approach that considers advances in research, technological implementations, waste prevention, reuse and recycling approaches, management and regulatory aspects, as well as the socio-economic and environmental considerations.

This edition of the IGCS Summer School aims to bring out the connections of sustainable waste management with clean energy, energy efficiency, reducing CO2 emissions, bio-based economy, and restoration of the ecosystem and its services. Topics that will be deliberated include best practices and emerging strategies in Germany and India, such as composting of biodegradable wastes, handling of construction debris, incineration of residual waste, and plastics upcycling methods, liquefaction of unsegregated municipal solid wastes and recycling of industrial wastes.  

It brings together Indian and German students who will jointly and interactively develop their skills with the following learning outcomes:

  1. Identifying measures and opportunities in the circular economy to contribute to climate protection
  2. Developing a fundamental and holistic understanding of different waste management systems and technologies
  3. Proposing innovative solutions to strengthen the circular economy
IGCS Summer School 2022 Information Flyer
IGCS Summer School 2022 Information Flyer

Schedule

This Summer School will run for twelve days from July 18th until July 29th 2022 and will have two major work streams. The mornings and afternoons will be reserved for lectures and talks given by German and Indian academics and practitioners. The second workstream is dedicated to project work (see below).

Format

The School will consist of lectures, group works, panel discussions, excursions and intercultural exchanges.

The Summer School will be a physical event in Aachen, Germany.

Participants

The course is open to German* and Indian Master’s and PhD. Students. Knowledge of sustainability topics is of advantage. The number of participants is limited to 30 (15 German /15 Indian).

Selected participants from German universities will receive a mobility scholarship of up to 50€ as well as a scholarship of 240€ to cover living expenses during School.

Selected participants from Indian universities will receive a mobility scholarship of 1.075€ as well as a scholarship of 240€ to cover living expenses during School. IGCS is covering the costs of stay.

*Non-German students and university graduates can apply if they are enrolled in the course of study at a German university to obtain a degree at a German university. For more Information check DAAD-Website: Bewerbungen um ein Stipendium (German only).

Application

Interested students may apply through the 2022 Application Form. The application deadline is 30. April 2022. Applications received after this date will not be considered.

The link is open from 01.04.2022 – 30.04.2022, 7 PM CET/11:30 PM IST. You will need to register first before you enter the actual form. You can switch between German and English. Please read the instructions carefully, including the help notes attached to many entry boxes.

Please prepare the following documents to be uploaded through the form:

  1. CV
  2. Transcript of records of last completed semester/graduation certificate
  3. Letter of recommendation from an academic supervisor. It should state your academic and personal qualifications for participation in the School.
  4. Enrolment certificate
  5. Passport Copy

Positive results will be announced by May 2022. We kindly ask you to refrain from inquiries about the application status in the meantime. Your data will be deleted if you are not accepted.

Contact

Please contact project coordinator Lisa van Aalst or Dr Anna Uffmann if you have any questions.

Organizers

IGCS Area Coordinators for Waste, Prof. Dr Vinu (IITM), Prof. Dr Martin Kranert (University of Stuttgart), and Dr Gabriela Garcés (University of Stuttgart).

Launch of the documentary on ‘Chennai – A Global South Metropolis in the Peri-Cene

Posted on by in Announcements, News

International conference: CHALLENGES TO DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND RESILIENT HABITAT
At the CENTRE FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT STUDIES, April 5-6, 2022

As the human population increases, so does the pressure for urbanization…. Around the world, metropolitan regions are haphazardly “sprawling” past their effective borders and into the sub-optimal peri-urban areas. The planet has entered the ‘Peri-cene’ phase – a new global human-environment system shaped by peri-urbanization.

The Indian city of Chennai shows many challenges, with a combination of climate risk, socio-economic divisions and disruptions, and sub-optimal governance. Here the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) at IIT Madras has focused on three critical areas – water, land use, and governance – in collaboration with the University of Manchester and KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm) on the global project Peri-cene.

Around the world peri-urban settlements suffer the impacts of climate-driven weather extremes – cyclones in South East Asia, wildfires in Australia, riverine flooding in China. On the positive side, there are many examples of peri-urban resilience, via novice solutions or “adaptive pathways”, with transformational agro-ecology, natural flood management or eco-tourism. With peri-urban land areas around the world now doubling every 24 years, there is an urgent need to steer the peri-urban towards resilience and sustainability. But this raises challenges both for science and for policy.

Program:

PERI-CENE: FILM SCREENING & ROUND TABLE: April 5th

  • 4.30-6.00 IST
    ‘Urbanization, Disaster Risk Reduction & Adaptive Pathways: Chennai in global context’


4.35: Introduction & global context: disaster management in the ‘peri-eco-urban Anthropocene (chair: Joe Ravetz, University of Manchester)


4.40: Introduction to the film & the Peri-urban Initiative (Christoph Woiwode, IGCS, IITM)


4.45: Screening: Chennai – a global south metropolis in the global peri-cene


5.20: panel responses: Dr Loraine Kennedy, French Institute Pondicherry: Prof. Ismu Rini Dwi Ari, University of Brawijaya: Dr Lakshmi Ragajendran, University College London:


5.35: open discussion – challenges & ways forward


5.55: wrapping up & next steps: (Prof. Chella Rajan, IGCS, IITM Chennai).
The film is also available on “Chennai – A Global South Metropolis in the Peri-Cene”
Any queries & comments: joe.ravetz@manchester.ac.uk

Cover Photo Credits: Chait Goli: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bird-s-eye-view-of-city-during-dawn-2093323/

Sustainability in Education: The Case of Katchipedu, Chennai

Posted on by in Lan Use / Rural and Urban Development, News

The Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS) conducts research on current sustainability challenges and disseminates the knowledge generated. Infact their work at Katchipdu community near Chennai in Tamil Nadu focuses on environmental protection regarding water resources, energy, land use, rural development and waste management, and aims to develop the capacity and capability to promote sustainable development.

We are happy to announce our newest Nook in Chennai (near Katchipedu) in collaboration with IGCS. Join us for a special FACEBOOK Live session with Dr. Christoph Woiwode, Urban Planner & Anthropologist, Visiting faculty with IGCS at IIT Madras; Ms. Uthra Radhakrishnan, Senior Project Officer with IGCS at IIT Madras and Dr. Christoph Neusiedl, Chairman, Initiative for New education as they examine sustainability in education from a research lens.

Date: Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Time: 6-7 PM IST

Where: @ProjectDefy on Facebook

IGCS Research Brief 01/2022 Published

Posted on by in Lan Use / Rural and Urban Development, News

Peter Volz and Christoph Woiwode conducted a study about the agro-food system of Chennai and its surrounding region in 2021 in order to see how it can be made more sustainable.
The outcome of this participatory research is published in this IGCS Research Brief 01/2022. They are hoping to continue this exciting process with an action-oriented workshop to reflect upon these recommendations and discuss with stakeholders the potential for an agroecological transformation of the Chennai region.

Volz & Woiwode (2022) Agroecology_food_system_transformation_ChennaiDownload

Featured Image on the post by Pixabay.

Landuse Area awarded a new three-year project in Sustainability Education

Posted on by in Lan Use / Rural and Urban Development, News

Dr. Christoph Woiwode, RWTH Aachen University and IGCS Visiting Faculty at IIT Madras, together with Bangalore-based non-profit organisation Project DEFY and the German-based association Initiative für Neue Bildung e.V. were awarded a three-year grant by the Hans Hermann Voss-Stiftung to create a “Nook” self-designed learning centre near Chennai. By building on IGCS’s Periurban Initiative and the ongoing Peri-Cene Project about Chennai’s periurbanization processes, the Chennai Nook incorporates an action research component to integrate sustainability with the learning process and learners-led projects such as community gardening, or repair and recycling. Read more here.

The following images are illustrations of the workings of the previous Nook location:

Photo Credits: DEFY Bangalore

Application Deadline Extensions

Posted on by in News

The IGCS Team has decided to extend the deadlines for our two upcoming events-

1. IGCS-motan Workshop

New deadline: 22 November 2021 for more information visit the link- https://www.igcs-chennai.org/igcs-motan-workshop-2021/

2. IGCS Winter School 2022

New deadline: 03 December 2021 for more information visit the link- https://www.igcs-chennai.org/teaching-2/igcs-winter-school/We look forward to reading your application!image: Freepik.com

Jugendkonferenz 2021

Posted on by in News

Goethe Institute Bangalore and the German School Board Abroad in New Delhi is organizing an online event Jugendkonferenz (Youth Conference) starting November 14th until November 20th, 2021 in the virtual rooms of the Goethe-Institut Bangalore. The theme of this year’s conference is “Future: We can do it.” The focus is on how we can enable every single person to live in dignity, freedom and peace in an intact and functional environment in the future.

IGCS’ postdocs: Dr Christoph Woiwode, Dr Khulud Alsouleman, Dr Daniel Rosado, and Dr Gabriela Garcés Sánchez will offer workshops at the event.

The objective of the workshop and lectures is to provide suggestions as to which sustainable measures one can take to shape our collective future together sustainably. In addition, participants will receive first-hand experiences in a practical exchange with fellow colleagues and find opportunities to act responsibly together.

For more information visit the website here.

IGCS Winter & Summer School 2021 Alumni Testimonial

Posted on by in Alumni & Community, News

-By Purnanjali Chandra

The water sector has always been intriguing, which eventually brought me to the Winter and later the Summer Schools in 2021 under the Indo-German Center for Sustainability (IGCS). Furthermore, having a postgraduate specialization in Water Policy and Governance from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, the courses at the IGCS added great value to my holistic and sub-sectoral understanding of the domain. It exposed me to discourses on inland water transportation (IWT), the complexities of converging ecosystems such as estuaries and mangroves formed due to saltwater-freshwater intrusion, their impacts on communities, and the challenges around ensuring sustainability and better governance. 

The design of the courses during both the schools was optimized to enable the best imparting of knowledge in a virtual medium. A comparative narrative through case studies and scenario analysis has been a key component of the learning modules. Speakers from both India and Germany shared their expertise on various topics under IWT and saltwater – freshwater ecosystem across both schools. They spoke about the sustainable practices, the evolving nature of research and the models that have been designed, such as under the Federal Institute of Hydrology, Germany, to detect the chain of deteriorating climate change impacts on the IWT sector. Furthermore, extensive panel discussions followed these lecture sessions, which created a vivacious space for exchanging ideas and knowledge among panellists and school participants. The discussions underlined the developments, challenges and potential scopes for both countries to learn from one another. Through these varieties of sessions, the learning hours were mindfully mapped to allow us to know and process and absorb the information shared. During both the schools, the courses were designed with an interdisciplinary approach where science, society and policies were extensively discussed, such as during lectures on IWT, Indian and German environmental policies were analyzed besides technology while in lectures on saltwater-freshwater intrusion, the importance of community participation in ecosystem management were highlighted. These lectures and concepts made the most relevant sense to me during the “working group” sessions. These being intensively peer-driven gave us enough space to research and explored different facets of the topic chosen for the school. 

Besides academics, a great part of the schools was the intercultural sessions on Zoom. Even during this pandemic, the session remarkably provided a great platform for making new friends and interacting with people of diverse cultures from different parts of the world.

Figure 1. Breakout rooms during Intercultural sessions

Additionally, the Wonderme sessions during the summer school enhanced this experience for me. It served more like a virtual “out of classroom” interaction space for us. We were also given weekend activities that we showcased in the initial hours of the school on Mondays, which certainly helped us beat the Monday blues!! Even the student lectures designed as a part of the school accentuated the culture of peer-learning where students got the opportunity to present their research work and drive interesting discussions and exchange of ideas.

Figure 2. IGCS Group Winter School 2021

Every day of the two weeks spent virtually during both summer and winter schools had been an enriching experience for me. It was a vibrant space of constant learning and unlearning of aspects of the water sector with people of diverse capacities and interests. The working group culture was also one of the key motivations for my application. The opportunity to learn about a subject in detail and then present the same through teamwork and guidance of supervisors indeed felt quite rewarding to me. Last but not least, IGCS and its schools provided me with immense scopes of networking and helped me plan for my higher education.