NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

Colloquium “Selected aspects of
sustainable development”
The annual colloquium “Selected aspects of sustainable
development” of the North-South Centre brings together
scientists with different backgrounds working on development-related
topics. It is the aim of the colloquium to allow
doctoral students to discuss their projects with an interdisciplinary
audience in order to hear new viewpoints and to
get – at times – surprising, unexpected feedbacks on their
research. In 2009, 14 young scientists exposed their projects
to a critical and interested public. As usual, the majority
of participants were doctoral students of the ETH Zurich.
In addition, this year participants from the University of
London and from the International Livestock Research Institute
in Kenya added another international touch to the
event – going beyond the exotic locations of the research
projects. The topics ranged from linking smallholders to vegetable
value chains in Tanzania to the impacts of biofuel
production in Brazil, and human zinc nutrition in Iran, giving
thereby evidence of the manifold aspects of development.
Despite the variety of topics, the participants could benefit
from the discussions – as one student put it: “Exchanging
views with different people coming from various backgrounds
is very interesting and productive.” One of the
common aspects was the challenge with which all projects
are ultimately confronted: How to render the obtained
results relevant for people in developing countries? This
topic is a constant companion for us at the North-South
Centre. With the internet platform “Howtopedia”, Maud
Châtelet presented a possible solution to this challenge. The
platform operates like Wikipedia, but for technologies and
research results. By publishing this information, the online
library aims at fostering technology and knowledge transfer.
The accessibility and easily understandable presentation
of this internet platform should facilitate the implementation
of research results into practical use in everyday life.
Thanks to the contributions of all participants, the colloquium
fulfilled its objective of being a forum for lively
exchange and discussion. It was so lively and constructive
that we decided to continue the debate at a monthly lunch
meeting. Every first Tuesday of the month, young scientists
interested in development issues meet for lunch in order to
discuss their research topics. All interested researchers are
very welcome to join.
89
Capacity development
Education
At one of the monthly lunch meetings (from left to right):
Sarah Sabry (University of London), Alessandro Palmoso (IHEID),
Saraly Andrade de Sa, Renata Saizaki, Nazanin Roohani,
Marc Zoss, Maud Châtelet (Howtopedia), Sascha Ismail,
Isabelle Gómez, Gabriela Landolt (University of Zurich)