Scientific Exchange in Almaty on Research "Between Europe and the Orient"
Junior and senior grantees of the Foundation’s initiative for research in/on Central Asia and the Caucasus met to present and discuss project results
The fourth status symposium of the Foundation’s funding initiative "Between Europe and the Orient - A Focus on Research and Higher Education in/on Central Asia and the Caucasus" provided an attractive opportunity both for junior and senior scholars from the region and Germany to take stock of project results, strengthen links between researchers, and stimulate new collaboration.
It was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on April 16 to 18, 2018 and brought together grantees from two previous calls for cooperative research projects in the fields of environmental and social sciences.
Keynote speeches by three eminent researchers from South Korea, Japan and Great Britain, synthesis talks from the 16 projects represented and nearly 60 poster presentations illustrated the breadth of research in the region, ranging from mobility and security in Central Asian cities over employment and education to agricultural research. Recurring themes were also sustainable land management in the region, and the conservation and restoration of depleted biodiversity. In addition, three workshops were offered to improve the capacity of doctoral students and young postdocs to write grant applications and research papers.
The symposium was jointly organized by Dr. Johannes Kamp, University of Münster, Department of Landscape Ecology, and Dr. Sergey Sklyarenko, Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity of Kazakhstan, Center for Conservation Science, Almaty.
Background on the Initiative
The funding initiative "Between Europe and the Orient - A Focus on Research and Higher Education in/on Central Asia and the Caucasus" was set up to support either projects that deal with current local developments or that are structurally anchored in the region.