Activities
GCUA 2030 provides a range of courses and workshops designed to accommodate and be attractive to students from different educational systems.
Activities for sustainable development
In order to ensure sustainability of the investment in GCUA 2030 and to provide a basis for a continuation of the network beyond the time frame of the project, a set of open access online learning and information resources will be made available.
Climate action challenge
The GCUA 2030 Climate Action Challenge will develop the interdisciplinary teamwork skills and intercultural competence of the participants.
Students will engage in a case study activity as part of an international and interdisciplinary group, in which they will develop a Nature-based Solution (NbS) for a specific location and socio-ecological system to mitigate climate change and/or the effects of climate change. NbS use the capacity of natural processes and/or ecosystems to take up emitted carbon (e.g., tree planting, wetland restoration) and/or reduce negative impacts of climate change (e.g., flooding, fire).
Courses within GCUA 2030
GCUA 2030 will offer four PhD courses running from August to December 2024.
- Agenda 2030: Synergies, conflicts, and assessment tools
- Working and communicating across cultures
- Education for sustainable development: Teaching for sustainability
- Designing research with impact using the Theory of Change approach
GCUA 2030 Award
This award is a great opportunity for phd-students or recently graduated PhD students to communicate their research to a broad audience globally.Eligible candidates are PhD students or those who defended their thesis in 2024 at one of the GCUA 2030 member universities.
GCUA 2030 / STINT meeting
Conference in Sweden gathering the member universities to discuss the future of GCUA 2030 when the STINT funding comes to an end.
Course package within GCUA 2030
GCUA 2030 will offer four PhD courses running from August to December 2024.
- Agenda 2030: Synergies, conflicts, and assessment tools
- Working and communicating across cultures
- Education for sustainable development: Teaching for sustainability
- Designing research with impact using the Theory of Change approach
GCUA 2030 Award
This award is a great opportunity for phd-students or recently graduated PhD students to communicate their research to a broad audience globally.Eligible candidates are PhD students or those who defended their thesis in 2023 at one of the GCUA 2030 member universities.
Nanotechnology in Agriculture and the Environment
This course introduces nanotechnology with an overview of the methods used to synthesise nanoparticles and their physical characteristics. With this background, there will be a presentation of specific applications for nanotechnology in agriculture and the environment. Examples from the literature and (where available) examples from an applied context will be provided. The student will be expected to end this course with a good understanding of the expected benefits and challenges of using nanotechnology in the agricultural and environmental contexts.
Climate Action Challenge
The case study challenge will develop the interdisciplinary teamwork skills and intercultural competence of the participants. The groups will be presented with a case connected to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that the team should solve through online collaborative means.
The cases will be developed in collaboration between different GCUA 2030 partners and will be linked to the SDGs. The participants in the case study challenge will be invited to the GCUA 2030 final meeting, where they will get a chance to meet and interact, and where the best solutions to the cases will be recognised at an award ceremony.
Course package within GCUA 2030
GCUA 2030 offered four new PhD-courses running from May to November 2023. The courses can be taken as a full package or as individual courses.
- Agenda 2030: Synergies, conflicts, and assessment tools
- Working and communicating across cultures
- Education for sustainable development: Teaching for sustainability
- Designing research with impact using the Theory of Change approac
Mentorship programme
The second cohort of the GCUA 2030 mentorship programme.The programme was led by Dr. Katarina Billing who is a certified psychologist, coach and journalist with more than 20 years’ experience of working with people and leadership development.
GCUA 2030 Award
This award is a great opportunity for phd-students or recently graduated PhD-students to communicate their research to a broad audience globally.The prize sum is 3500 EUR for the winner, 1000 EUR for the second place and 500 EUR for third place. The prize winners will be given the opportunity to present their research in a GCUA 2030 webinar.
Eligible candidates are PhD students or those who defended their thesis in 2022 at one of the GCUA 2030 member universities.
GCUA 2030 course in Mexico
In January this year, Priscila Flores-Aguilar, Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico, hosted a short version of the GCUA 2030 -course "Sustainability in a globalized world" for researchers at her university. The course became a huge success among the participants as they learned more about sustainable development and Agenda 2030.
New course package within GCUA 2030
GCUA 2030 will offer four new PhD-courses running from May to November 2022. The courses can be taken as a full package or as individual courses.
- Agenda 2030: Synergies, conflicts, and assessment tools
- Working and communicating across cultures
- Education for sustainable development: Teaching for sustainability
- Designing research with impact using the Theory of Change approach
Mentorship programme
Welcome to the first cohort of the GCUA 2030 mentorship programme. Each member university nominates one mentor and one student to participate.The programme will be led by Dr. Katarina Billing who is a certified psychologist, coach and journalist with more than 20 years’ experience of working with people and leadership development.
Summer school hosted by University of Chile
The South Campus of the University of Chile is pleased to announce the next Postgraduate Summer School January 2022.Webinar:
”Why I wrote an impact CV” by Professor Katherine Andrews, Director Griffith Institute for Drug Discovery, Australia.
International network meeting
Krusenberg Herrgård, Sweden 2-3 May 2022
Participants from: Sweden, US, Chile, Rwanda, South Africa, Scotland and Ireland.
Workshop:
GCUA 2030 award 2022:
This award is a great opportunity for phd-students or recently graduated phd-students to communicate their research to a broad audience globally.The prize sum is 3500 EUR for the winner, 1000 EUR for the second place and 500 EUR for third place. The prize winners will be given the opportunity to present their research in a GCUA 2030 webinar.
Eligible candidates are PhD students or those who defended their thesis in 2021 at one of the GCUA 2030 member universities.
Webinar: SDG 4.7
Welcome to this digital event hosted by GCUA 2030 as part of the SDG Action & Awareness Week.
This discussion, hosted by GCUA 2030, will address the pivotal role of higher education institutions in providing not only with the knowledge they need in order to contribute to the implementation of Agenda 2030, but also with the skills and competencies necessary to make a meaningful contribution to future societies.
Using target 4.7 as a starting point, the presenters will highlight concrete examples from GCUA 2030 institutions, a global network of partners with a common vision of contributing to sustainable, global development.
Webinar: How to conduct a systematic review?
In this webinar, we talked about the basic concepts for systematic mapping or reviewing of available information. We also discussed methods for designing structured and exhaustive information searches, databases and other sources, and different types of syntheses and analyses.
Online workshop: Mentorship programme
We are developing a GCUA 2030 mentoring programme. In order to make it as relevant as possible for PhD students we invited the GCUA 2030 ambassadors to participate in a workshop to discuss what elements they would like to see in this mentoring programme.
This workshop included presentations by mentoring experts and small group discussions to develop key elements to be included in the programme!
Summer schools:
During January 2021, University of Chile hosted four summer schools for doctoral students.
- Nanotechnology ni Agriculture and the Environment
- Postharvest physiology of perisables plant products
- Reproductive and Regenerative biotechnology in domestic and wild animal
- Trends in food bioactives: Discovering research lines and international exchange opportunities
PhD-course: Sustainability in a globalized world – tools and concepts
By the year 2050 the world´s population will exceed nine billion people. We need to solve the equation of meeting a growing demand for food while reducing its environmental impacts – and it all needs to be done under a changing climate. Research and innovation, translated into relevant action on a global scale is essential to meet these global challenges.
The course was organised by SLU as part of the Global Challenges University Alliance (GCUA 2030).
Thesis of the year 2019
Presentation by the winner 2020 Maria Elisa Quinteros Caceres talking about her research on pregnant women and their infants.
GCUA 2030 award
GCUA 2030 is proud to announce the GCUA 2030 award. The award is established to encourage high quality research of relevance for sustainable global development. Each member university can nominate up to three candidates for the prize.
Summer school: Natural resources in Chile
42 postgraduate students, from national and foreign universities, were part of this course in which they learned about research related to the impact of greenhouse gases on different ecosystems, the management and contamination of water, and the potential changes in vegetative patterns in the south of the Chile. The activity lasted for almost three weeks at El Centro de Extensión Frutillar de la Facultad de Ciencias Agronómicas.
Four national parks in southern Chile were visited within the framework of this course initiative promoted by the Graduate School of the Faculty of Agronomic Sciences.
Biosphere - atmosphere interactions, Topics in Water Management and Vegetation Dynamics were the three themes that concentrated the development of the school in this opportunity.
View of the Osorno volcano from the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park, one of the areas visited by students and researchers within the framework of this school.
Representatives from Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Argentina and Chile participated in the second International School on Natural Resources of the University of Chile.
PhD-course: Sustainability in a globalized world – tools and concepts
By the year 2050 the world´s population will exceed nine billion people. We need to solve the equation of meeting a growing demand for food while reducing its environmental impacts – and it all needs to be done under a changing climate. Research and innovation, translated into relevant action on a global scale is essential to meet these global challenges.
The course was organised by SLU as part of the Global Challenges University Alliance (GCUA 2030).
GCUA 2030 - webinar: Applications of sustainable management approaches in human impacted ecosystems
Based on the “grand narrative” of the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this presentation shows one example of how a single scientist’s contribution can have an impact for a better life for all. These sections are based on selected research articles and contain teaching book chapters, written by Andreas Melcher, to summarise the lessons learnt and the knowledge synthesised for students and the public.
Science rests on three pillars research, teaching and as well the third mission a direct scientific benefit for society. For this 16 published articles provide evidence of a trans‐ and interdisciplinary work which, as a whole, focuses on sustainable ecosystem management (SEM), that brought science into practice to provide rigorous evidence and concepts to support SEM and the SDGs.
Speaker:
Dr. Andreas Melcher is a researcher and the head of the BOKU Institute for Development Research focusing on sustainable socio-ecological transformation of the Global South.
Other activities:
Seminar - Water resource sustainability in the Mekong River basin
Seminar - Water sustainability as an interdisciplinary imperative
Summer school: Oil palm & cattle integration
Food security & climate change summer school Malaysia 2018
Opportunity to learn in Malaysia about palm oil production and cattle integration as a potential sustainability transition.
Workshop: Global Challenges in Food, Nutrition & Environment Symposium
Themes: Nanomaterial, Organic Pollutants, Supplements and Pharmaceuticals, Food Security and Nutrition
This event, hosted by Hong Kong University, provided a public space for the direct engagement of academic and scientific experts in multiple fields related to food, nutrition and the environment.
Several sessions were discusing the crucial factor that water plays in achieving food security, including:
- Professor Bryan Brooks Environmental Science and Biomedical Studies, Baylor University, USA Title: “Perspectives on integrative urbanization, water, and food security”
- Professor Colin Barrow Chair in Biotechnology, Deakin University, Australia Title: “edingfor agriculture, water quality and food security”
- Dr. Terry Van Gevelt Politics & Public Administration and Civil Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Title: “Governing the water-energy-food nexus: Insights from new institutional economics”.
Workshop: Life science universities and the UN SDGs
The GCUA 2030 workshop: “Life Science Universities and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” was held 16 - 18 April 2018 at BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria.
The workshop was about opportunities for sharing best practice examples in addressing the SDGs in political and societal action, in teaching and in research, for discussing the specific role of life science Universities for contributing to reaching the SDGs by their integration of socio-economic, ecological and technical aspects of land use and food chains and for sketching a way forward in fulfilling the claims of society.
Workshop topics:
a) SDGs as societal and political mission for Universities
b) SDGs as mission for Universities in education for sustainable development in the future
c) SDGs as mission in research – address contradictions, identify knowledge gaps and pathways to sustainability
Contact Person: Margarita Calderón-Peter
Summerschool: Sustainability Transitions
This was the eight summer school organised in Java Indonesia by GCUA though BOKU. The focus was sustainability transitions in agriculture and natural resource management. Students from GCUA was joining with students from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Phillipines and Cambodia.
It combined training in development and innovation in research and practice; applied development research using participatory methods and tools; facilitating change processes with different stakeholders; intensive systems learning, focusing on agro-ecosystem and the sustainable management of natural resources.
The course was held in Java, Indonesia, during July 10-22, 2017.
Course leader was Lorenz Probst, BOKU.
Workshop: Food-energy-water nexus
Time: 14-16 November, 2018
Organiser: Michigan State University, East Lansing
Scope: SDG 6, 7, 12, 13
Contact Person: Norman Graham
Summer school: Why wildlife?
The GCUA Summer School on topic Why Wildlife was held at Lincoln University, New Zealand 30 January - 10 February 2016. A total of twelve students from four different universities from three continents attended.
Topics that were covered ranged from specifics about the New Zeeland wildlife, experiences from working together with indigenous communities, bioprotection/biosecurity issues and technical and statistical advancements in wildlife research and management, as well as general issues such as science communication and media experience.
The course included interactive sessions, workshops and also excursions.
Course leader was Dr James Ross
Summer school: Reducing antibiotic resistance in livestock farming
This summer school was arranged by the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria 5-13 September 2016. The topic follow the 'Challenging the Post Antibiotic Era’ workshop (for academic staff) held in Uppsala, Sweden in November/December 2015.
The course included challenges and specific problems within the topic of 'Reducing Antibiotic Resistance in Livestock Farming'. Lectures were held by experienced scientists, the course participants did group work and went on a memorable field trip to an Austrian farm and to research stations.
The course was led by Dr. Konrad Domig and Dr. Christine Leeb.
Workshop: Animal Welfare and the Sustainable Development Goals
18-20 June 2016, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden.
The workshop aimed at integrating animal welfare issues with their relevant sustainability development goals (SDGs) to identify knowledge-gaps and expand ideas of how to address them. Focus was on domesticated animals, mainly those kept for food production, draught and companion animals, but wild animals, whose natural environment is diminishing on account lf the increased global population and its need for natural resources will also be considered.
By using the methodology described in Nilsson, Griggs and Visbeck (2016, Nature, 534:320-322) links between animal welfare and the seventeen SDGs were first mapped, then prioritized and finally scored. Participants from SLU, BOKU, FAO, OIE, Michigan State University, University of Chile and the University of Rwanda engaged in this brain-twisting activity. A cross impact analysis following Weitz et al. (2018, Sustain Sci 13:531-548) was applied to identify knowledge gaps and future research areas to integrate animal welfare into broader sustainable goals and to monitor progress.
Summer school: The future of forests
This summer course took place 23 August - 4 September, 2015 at SLU campus Alnarp in Sweden.
The objectives of this summer school were to gather an international group of selected graduate students with strong background in forest sciences, forest ecology or natural resource economics. Students were introduced to the Swedish forestry model as a base line for critical discussions, also based upon the student´s experience from their home countries.
A Report on the GCUA Graduate Summer School “The Future of Forests – Managing Forests for People”
Prepared by Ismail Muhammad, Chai Ee Wen and Muhammad Aizat Abd Ghani
Phd Candidates, Faculty of Forestry, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
Summer school: Green and sustainable cities
– the Landscape Architecture Perspective on Global Urban Challenges
This summer course took place between the 10-22 August 2015 at Alnarpsgården, SLU Campus Alnarp in Sweden.
The objective of this summer school, Green and sustainable cities, was to gather an international group of selected graduate students of different disciplinary focus in the fields of Landscape architecture, Landscape Planning, Environmental Psychology, Sustainable Architecture as well as students in Urban design, Physical and Community Planning with a clear and focused interest in Green and Sustainable Cities.
Through lectures and excursion guiding from distinguished scientists/practitioners within the field, students was presented with tools to address challenges and specific problems within the subject area of Green and Sustainable Cities and got training in leadership and communication. The attendees was also provided with multiple opportunities to interact with invited scientists and learned from each other and built networks.
Summer school: Aquaculture - local solutions to a global challenge
22 June –1 July, 2015, Uppsala, Sweden
The GCUA 2030 aquaculture summer school, held at SLU campus Ultuna during 22 June –1 July 2015, gathered students from 9 universities representing 14 different countries covering all continents.
During the course challenges and opportunities within the area of aquaculture globally were discussed. Twenty lecturers from SLU and a number of other organisations, such as University of Stirling, Wageningen University, University of Queensland, Makerere University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Karolinska Institutet, University of Ghent and Worldfish contributed to the course. In addition to the aquaculture specific part of the course, aspects of communication and leadership were discussed and applied during workshops and group work.
Workshop: Livestock production in the post antibiotic era
In December 2015, 25 researchers from 15 different universities gathered for the 8th GCUA 2030 workshop "Livestock Production in the Post Antibiotic Era” in Uppsala, Sweden. Sustainable livestock production, e.g. basic food-protein production, is a challenge in general, of which the lowered dependence on antibiotics in the production is one of the major. Gradually, present antibiotics are loosing impact and functionality, and we need to look for alternatives, moderate our usage and prepare for an era where the usefulness of antibiotics will be limited.
The general ambition of the workshop was to (1) develop a research agenda, define relevant topics and suggest paths taken to approach them scientifically, (2) to generate one or several reflection papers, addressing the topic on a broader scale and (3) plan for a summer-school for PhD students within the GCUA 2030 network.
The workshop themes were as follows:
- Animal health – a holistic approach to improved production systems with less use of antibiotics
- On farm biosecurity – including external and internal biosecurity as well as biocontainment, to establish sufficient barriers to prevent transmission of infectious agents
- Alternatives to antibiotics – probiotics and vaccines, strategic disinfection or treatments
- Food chain biosecurity – a holistic approach to biosecurity addressing the challenges associated with infectious diseases from farm to fork.
Workshop: Why wildlife?
The 7th international Workshop "Why Wildlife? – Global Opportunities & Challenges" took place in Uppsala, Sweden, 26-29 April 2015.
Participating universities:
- University of Melbourne (Australia)
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU (Austria)
- University of Sao Paolo (Brazil)
- University of Bologna (Italy)
- University of Putra (Malaysia)
- Wageningen University (Netherlands)
- Lincoln University (New Zealand)
- University of Porto (Portugal)
- University of Pretoria (South Africa)
- Sokoine University of Agriculture (Tanzania)
- Makerere University (Uganda)
- University of California, Davis (USA)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden)
Summer school: The future of food – safety, quality and security
This summer school took place 1 – 10 September 2014 at Campus Ultuna in Uppsala, Sweden.
Workshop: Aquaculture
The 6th international GCUA 2030 workshop "Aquaculture - providing food for the future" took place 22-24 October, 2014, in Uppsala.
Participating universities:
- University of Queensland (Australia)
- University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU (Austria)
- University of Sao Paolo (Brazil)
- University of Guelph (Canada)
- Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Malawi)
- University of Putra (Malaysia)
- Wageningen University (Netherlands)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden)
- Makerere University (Uganda)
- University of Stirling (United Kingdom
Workshop: The future of forests
The 5th international GCUA 3020 workshop "The Future of Forests - To Manage Forests for People" took place in Uppsala at SLU 25-27 June 2014.
Participating universities:
- Murdoch University, Australia
- University of Melbourne, Australia
- Boku University, Austria
- University of British Columbia, Canada
- University of Florence, Italy
- University of Tokyo, Japan
- University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Sweden
- Makerere University, Uganda
Workshop: Green and sustainable cities
The 4th international GCUA 2030 workshop "Green and Sustainable cities - the Role of Landscape Architecture" took place at Ultuna in Uppsala, Sweden 12-14 March 2014.
Participating universities:
- University of Melbourne, Australia
- University of Queensland, Australia
- University of Tokyo, Japan
- University Putre, Malaysia
- Lincoln University, New Zealand
- National Agriculture University, Nicaragua
- St Petersburg State Forest Technical University, Russia
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Sweden
- Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
- Makerere University, Uganda
- Cornell University, USA
Summer school: Biofuels and Biorefineries
This summer school took place at Ultuna in Uppsala in November 2013.
The course provided the participating PhD students with an overview of how organic raw material is refined to solid, liquid or gaseous biofuel. The course covered the production of biofuel in solid form (chips, pellets), liquid fuel (bio ethanol, syngas fuel like methanol) and gaseous fuel like methane from anaerobic digestion of biomass.
Workshop: Environmental Monitoring and detection of invasive species
The 3rd international GCUA 2030 workshop "Environmental Monitoring and detection of invasive species" took place at SLU in Uppsala, 4-6 September 2013.
Participating universities:
- Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
- National Agriculture University, Nicaragua
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Sweden
- University of Tokyo, Japan
- University of Pretoria, South Africa
- Wageningen University, Netherlands
- Cornell University, USA
Workshop: The future of food; security, safety and quality
The workshop "The Future of Food; Security, Safety and Quality" took place at SLU in Uppsala 22-24 May, 2013.
Participating universities:
- University of Queensland, Australia
- University of Sao Paolo, Brazil
- University of Ouagado, UgoU, Burkina Faso
- University of British Columbia, Canada
- China Agricultural University, China
- Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
- Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia
- University of Tokyo, Japan
- Wageningen University, Netherlands
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU, Sweden
- Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
- Makerere University, Uganda
- Cornell University, USA
Workshop: Biofuels and Biorefineries
The 1st international GCUA workshop "Biofuels and Biorefineries", took place at SLU in Uppsala, September 26-28, 2012.
Participating universities:
- University of Pretoria, South Africa
- China Agricultural University, China
- University of Tokyo, Japan
- Swedish University of Agricultural Science, Sweden
- Cornell University, USA
- National University of Singapore, Singapore
- Makerere University, Uganda