April 1, 2019
In order to improve its ecological conditions, the river Erft will be moved into a new riverbed around Erftstadt-Gymnich. At this, the riverbed in this area will not be set but rather formed by the river itself. One part of the project is the long term observation of all changes in the river landscape by school and kindergarten children, students and interested adults. For this purpose the TH Köln and the ITT are part of the development of the citizen science project “Learning and Research Landscape New Erft” for the project leader Rheinland Nature Park where easy to understand and implement scientific methods will be developed and provided to explore the environment.
On 22.03.2019, the International World Water Day, the kick-off event of this project took place in the Nature Park Center Gymnicher Mühle in Erfstadt. In the next three years the project will be lead by the Rheinland Nature Park and is funded by the European Region and the state government as part of the ERDF funding program “Green Infrastructure NRW”. The project is part of an integrated action concept initiated and supported by the Zukunftsagentur Rheinisches Revier.
March 12, 2019
Scientists, policy makers and stakeholders from various sectors discuss the diverse facets of water security and its relation to climate variability and change.
The availability of water affects many of mankind’s social and economic actions and is an essential component of ecosystems. Hence, water security is one of the major challenges faced by society today, on both a global and local level. Additionally, impacts of climate change and water-related hazards are increasingly decisive for well-being, poverty, conflict or peace and have become a key component of social development.
Water security as well as climate change are cross-cutting elements of recent global agreements, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Science should and can play an important role in contributing to the achievement of these goals.
The Water Security and Climate Change Conference (WSCC) strives to go beyond science and build bridges between various disciplines and sectors as well as different groups of stakeholders. Serving as a platform for discussions about water secure societies, by providing a stimulating environment with the intention of yielding innovative ideas and grounds for implementation, the WSCC is continuing a series of successful conferences in Bangkok, Cologne and Nairobi.
In 2019, WSCC is convened by the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí on behalf of the Exceed network, which consists of more than 90 universities worldwide. More information in www.watersecurity.info
March 11, 2019
The ITT invites DAAD scholarship holders of the In-Region/ In-Country programme to apply for the attendance of a four-week summer school from August 26th to September 20th, 2019 at the TH Köln University of Applied Sciences (Technische Hochschule Köln) in Cologne, Germany.
The title of the four-week programme is “From Data to Decision: Assessment of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus”. The summer school will facilitate capacity building for future researchers and professionals in the cross sectoral field of sustainable resources management, with a focus on quantification and modelling of the interconnections between water, energy and food sectors, and on enhancing the ability to create information that is valuable to decision makers.
More information can be found here.
February 25, 2019
In Autumn 2018 four members of the ITT and the CIAD (Cologne Institute of Architectural Design, TH Köln) participated in the workshop „Resources Efficient and Resilient City San Luis Potosí” (REC²SLP) in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The activity was funded within the framework of the BMBF Mexico Day and jointly organized with the Agenda Ambiental of the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosi.
Urban Sprawl of San Luis Potosi – Industry and housing (Photo: Günther Straub)
Against the background of San Luis Potosi’s strong urbanization and the increasing growth of industrial areas in the outskirts of the city, the workshop aimed at setting up the stakeholder alliance “Resources Efficient and Resilient City San Luis Potosí”.
Participants from universities, public and private sectors entities identified potentials for a long-term, multilateral cooperation and shared ideas for a sustainable San Luis Potosí – the focus hereby was on the local industry, especially on transnational German companies.
Different ways of manufacturing (from manual work to industry 4.0) were presented to the participants in visits of the production sites of the automotive parts suppliers Cummins, Kipp, Bosch and Continental. An example of a corporate social responsibility strategy was demonstrated in the peri-urban marginal settlement ‘La Pila’ which is located in the direct vicinity of the SLP industrial zone. In La Pila, the US automotive supplier Cummins supports the local community and especially the elementary school in the implementation of a school garden, construction works, energy efficiency measures and on-site solar energy production.
Cummins social enterprise manual work: People with and without disabilities working in palett recycling. (Photo: Günther Straub)
Part of the workshop program was as well a meeting with the INEGI statistical office.
The workshop served to deepen and consolidate existing cooperation structures of the two universities with local stakeholders, to set up an agenda for future research projects and to create opportunities for a science-society-dialogue in the new Interdisciplinary Master Program “Resource Efficient Cities” (IMaREC) which is scheduled to start in the fall term 2019.
The consortium consists of Prof. Johannes Hamhaber, Prof. Jochen Siegemund (CIAD, Fakultät für Architektur), Günther Straub (ITT), Maren Krätzschmar (ITT / Faculty of Architecture).
January 15, 2019
Are you an international applicant applying to one of the masters – NRM, IWRM, REM – at ITT via Uni Assist (deadline 31.03.19)? On 6th February, 4-6pm German time, we invite you to join our Adobe Connect Chat for a Questions & Answers session!
Target group: International applicants with a foreign BA degree
You will be able to enter the chat room via the following link:
https://webconf.vc.dfn.de/itt_info_chat_06022019/
When: February/06/2019 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Time Zone: German time (GMT+02:00)
If you have never attended an Adobe Connect meeting before:
Test your connection: http://fh-koeln-cnrd.adobeconnect.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm
Get a quick overview: http://www.adobe.com/products/adobeconnect.html
