Project Name: SIAS – UoE Field Course, 2020
Project Leader: Kaustuv Raj Neupane
Partners and Collaborators: Southasia Institute of Advanced Studies (SIAS) and University of Edinburgh (UoE)
Duration: 20 April-1 May 2020
Brief Description of the Project:
This field course aims to provide a unique opportunity to MSc in Environment and Development students of the University of Edinburgh to experience and explore the interaction of environment and development issues within Nepal and the global South. The first batch of this course was organized in 2019 in Nepal. The second batch of the field course was hosted from 20 April to 1 May 2020. Due to the travel restriction and health security issues, second batch of field course was modified into the Nepal experience course due to the COVID -19 by adopting virtual modality.
Expert presentations followed by live question-answer sessions among students and faculties from UoE and Nepali researchers from SIAS on wide range of issues like disaster and urban resilience, natural resources and protected area management, rural risk and livelihood strategies, water security, gender and natural resource management etc have been held during the course. Student’s projects on different groups supported by SIAS researchers explored the different dimensions of ongoing researches at SIAS.
SIAS and the UoE are collaborating on different research projects, capacity building activities and joint writing and publication through a broader Memorandum of Understanding. The goal of this collaboration is to advance collaborative research and academic exchange in various aspects of social and environmental sciences, disaster studies and public policy.
Project Team at SIAS:
For reflections of the participants please read the blogs:
- Impacts of COVID-19 on Collaborative Fieldwork: A Toolkit for Global Engagement by Allison Wilkerson
- Students fieldtrip in a time of COVID-19 – Reflections on a remote ‘Nepal Experience’ and an Ethics of Care by Sam Staddon
