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- Educational activities for Intercoast PhDs during the Postdocs visit to the University of Waikato
Educational activities for Intercoast PhDs during the Postdocs visit to the University of Waikato
As a part of keeping the multi-disciplinary scientific discussions among the Intercoast PhD students, the two Postdocs Dr. Ella Meilianda and Dr. Silja Klepp were entitled to do a research stay at the University of Waikato for a month. This was done to organise the educational activities for all the PhD students who are currently staying at the University of Waikato, New Zealand, for their research. In May 2011 the Postdocs organized two meetings for all the PhD students while actively furthering their own research. The meetings were set up according to the IC educational tradition; IC Learn & Lunch on the 4th of May and IC Colloquium on the 11th of May.
1. Learn & Lunch meeting on 4th May 2011
This was the first time that the PhDs from the University of Waikato and the University of Bremen conjointly participated in a PhD students meeting. Most of Bremen’s PhDs are currently doing their research stay in Waikato, during which they are conducting fieldwork and receiving intensive supervision from their Waikato supervisors, while some of the new PhD students of Waikato have just started their PhD program. The meetings were a good opportunity for them to get to know their colleagues and their research topics. During the meeting, the Postdocs introduced the educational activities organized for the PhD students. This is to encourage the PhD students to be able to communicate their research ideas or questions to each other in the relevance of, for instance, their similar interests on some particular coastal processes, fieldwork location or even to expand their horizon on problems regarding the coastal region and discuss such matters from different discipline’s perspectives. The whole introductory part was given in a relaxed and friendly, yet enthusiastic atmosphere (Fig. 1)
It was a pleasure to have Prof. Chris Battershill, the new IC Speaker of Waikato, at the IC Learn & Lunch meeting. He encouraged such educational activities to be also implemented on a regular basis for those PhDs who are staying at the University of Waikato. During this occasion, an issue was raised by one of the PhDs, Friederike Gesing (IC13), on the initiative to get involved in one of the many programs of coastal care, organized regularly by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. This opportunity came as an offer from the coastal care coordinator of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council while she was doing her fieldwork in Tauranga. One of the main activities is adopting a little patch of coastal dunes and weeding them in preparation for planting. Along with the enthusiasm shown by the PhDs about this idea, Prof. Battershill indicated the possibility to have the essential facilities including transport and accommodation during this event provided by the University of Waikato.
Coincidently, within this period there was a serial hearing at the Environment Court in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, regarding the case of Port of Tauranga dredging. Lisa Marquardt (IC11), one of the PhDs, actively attended some of the hearings as her research is closely related to such legal action in coastal matters. She presented a report on this during one of the L&L meeting sessions. The report gave an insight of the real issue on the problematic conflict of interest between the two opposing parties. The case was issued by the Maoris who plead for preservation of their spiritual values by protection of the of the seabed habitat. Some experts of coastal and port developments, including scientists from the University of Waikato, presented expert argumentation of the importance of the regular dredging activities for the sustainability of the port activities, which is the socio-economic importance of the Bay of Plenty region.
2. Colloquium meeting on 11th May 2011: Localizing Climate Change - A Multi-sited Approach
The aim of the colloquium was to challenge the boundaries of our disciplines and figure out where the common grounds and possible difficulties to work together as natural and social scientists are. Based on the text of Werner Krauss (2009) Localizing Climate Change: A Multi-sited Approach” we discussed different questions, such as:
This was the first time that the PhDs from the University of Waikato and the University of Bremen conjointly participated in a PhD students meeting. Most of Bremen’s PhDs are currently doing their research stay in Waikato, during which they are conducting fieldwork and receiving intensive supervision from their Waikato supervisors, while some of the new PhD students of Waikato have just started their PhD program. The meetings were a good opportunity for them to get to know their colleagues and their research topics. During the meeting, the Postdocs introduced the educational activities organized for the PhD students. This is to encourage the PhD students to be able to communicate their research ideas or questions to each other in the relevance of, for instance, their similar interests on some particular coastal processes, fieldwork location or even to expand their horizon on problems regarding the coastal region and discuss such matters from different discipline’s perspectives. The whole introductory part was given in a relaxed and friendly, yet enthusiastic atmosphere (Fig. 1)
It was a pleasure to have Prof. Chris Battershill, the new IC Speaker of Waikato, at the IC Learn & Lunch meeting. He encouraged such educational activities to be also implemented on a regular basis for those PhDs who are staying at the University of Waikato. During this occasion, an issue was raised by one of the PhDs, Friederike Gesing (IC13), on the initiative to get involved in one of the many programs of coastal care, organized regularly by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. This opportunity came as an offer from the coastal care coordinator of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council while she was doing her fieldwork in Tauranga. One of the main activities is adopting a little patch of coastal dunes and weeding them in preparation for planting. Along with the enthusiasm shown by the PhDs about this idea, Prof. Battershill indicated the possibility to have the essential facilities including transport and accommodation during this event provided by the University of Waikato.
Coincidently, within this period there was a serial hearing at the Environment Court in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, regarding the case of Port of Tauranga dredging. Lisa Marquardt (IC11), one of the PhDs, actively attended some of the hearings as her research is closely related to such legal action in coastal matters. She presented a report on this during one of the L&L meeting sessions. The report gave an insight of the real issue on the problematic conflict of interest between the two opposing parties. The case was issued by the Maoris who plead for preservation of their spiritual values by protection of the of the seabed habitat. Some experts of coastal and port developments, including scientists from the University of Waikato, presented expert argumentation of the importance of the regular dredging activities for the sustainability of the port activities, which is the socio-economic importance of the Bay of Plenty region.
2. Colloquium meeting on 11th May 2011: Localizing Climate Change - A Multi-sited Approach
The aim of the colloquium was to challenge the boundaries of our disciplines and figure out where the common grounds and possible difficulties to work together as natural and social scientists are. Based on the text of Werner Krauss (2009) Localizing Climate Change: A Multi-sited Approach” we discussed different questions, such as:
- How can we generalize localized knowledge that refers to a restricted study area? How can we do this without simplifying our research results?
- Thinking of the example of Al Gore and his movie “The inconvenient truth”: Which role does science have in this movie? In your opinion, are scientists being misused?
- Which restrictions and pressures are influencing research? How can they influence research output?
Finally, we underlined in the discussion that social and natural science are no opposites but both part of and not above society. The scientific questions we pose are culturally, politically and historically embedded. In this way, science on the one hand is influenced by society and on the other hand influences society. The role of the scientist in society could be that of an “honest broker”, researching topics of relevance for society and presenting different options of how to deal with challenges that we are facing.
