The Young Scholars Spring School follows the 2nd Garden Route Interface Meeting (2-4 Oct 2018) and will build on the same theme of “science and practice colearning to navigate complex social-ecological issues”. The main aim will be to stimulate and capacitate young scholars (master to post-doc levels) interested in social-ecological systems (SES) and transdisciplinary research. Participants will be exposed to a broad spectrum of approaches and methods that can be used to design social-ecological studies as well as hands-on study design in collaboration with peers, managers, experienced academics and dedicated mentors. The school will help to strengthen the emerging network of social-ecological scientists interested in bridging knowledge silos and contributing to transformations towards sustainability.
The Garden Route Interface Meeting will serve as an “introductory module” for the Spring School, as many presentations and discussions will contribute to building capacity of the participants. The School per se will then commence on Friday 5 Oct with a combination of discussions (involving local managers to understand their needs, priorities and views of the SES they manage) and seminars on topics such as transdisciplinarity, knowledge co-creation, mixed-method research approaches, transformative learning and socialecological transformations. Depending on the number of participants, four to five groups will be formed with a manager and a senior researcher (acting as a mentor or facilitator) assigned to each group. Over the remainder of the course, each group will focus on a specific management issue for which they will have to design a transdisciplinary study. A discovery field trip is envisaged for the Sat 6 Oct 2018. The course will conclude on the afternoon of Wed 10 Oct 2018 with group presentations and associated discussions and questions related to approaches and the feasibility of proposed studies.
Benefits to participants: Exposure to state-of-the-art research topics and methods, open discussion with experienced and active inter- and trans-disciplinary researchers, concrete experience of codesigning a study, field experience with stakeholders and managers in the field (e.g. SANParks), facilitated group interactions on concrete themes embedded in a beautiful and very diverse environment with high societal stakes coupled with major ecosystem threats.
To register: (deadline 30th July) NB: 1. The School will be limited to 20 young scholars 2. School participants have an extended deadline (30th July) for submission of abstracts for poster presentations at the Garden Route Interface Meeting
Contact person – Jackey Deacon (dot@mpu.co.za)
Costs – ZAR 5000 for 5 days (This includes the accommodation during the school and the registration to the Garden Route Interface Meeting. It does not include the accommodation during the Garden Route Interface Meeting).
Sponsorships – Several sponsorship options are available, some dedicated to French LTSER participants, others to SADC or South African (please contact Herve Fritz: herve.fritz@univlyon1.fr)
