Events 2010

April 22nd, 2010

Topics and speakers:

Genetic erosion and degradation of ecosystem services of wetland rice fields: a case study from Western Ghats, India (availaible as a video: part 1, part 2, part 3)
Dr. Anil Kumar, M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai

BioDIVA – Transformation knowledge for gender-equitable and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity
Dr. habil. Martina Padmanabhan, Leibniz Universität Hannover

Integration in sustainaibility research
Dr. Matthias Bergmann, Institute for Social-Ecological Research, Frankfurt Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Institute for Advances Study, Berlin

Gender and agrobiodiversity
Prof. em Janet Momsen, Univeristy of California, Davis

The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity
Dr. Heidi Wittmer, Centre for Environmental Research UFZ, Leipzig

People and pixels – old gaps or new bridges? Linking empirical studies to a land use model
PD Dr. Sylvia Hermann/Dr. Karin Berkhoff, Leibniz Universität Hannover

Panel discussion: Transdisciplinarity – A paradigm shift in academia?
Chair: Dr. Anja Christinck, seed4change consulting

Start-Up Flyer

April 24th - May 15th, 2010

From April 24^th to May 15^th, the BioDIVA Germany team was in India on an explorative field trip. The objective of the journey was to get an overall idea of the research area on the one hand and to establish a firm working relationship with our Indian partners from the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation on the other. In addition, we travelled to various tribal villages to introduce ourselves to some female and male farmers who are engaged in traditional rice cultivation.

August 30th - November 17th, 2010

The ethnobotanical training by Dr. Gary Martin and Erin Smith, Global Diversity Foundation, offered a fruitful opportunity for the BioDIVA team to gain insights into methods and techniques used in ethnobotany research. We not only learned about the interactive, experimental and transformative aspects of learning processes but also about conducting cultural domain analysis, freelisting, clustering and pile sorting. Ethical issues of ‘doing’ ethnobotanical research were also discussed in-depth.

Intercultural encounters have been the focus of the intercultural training. This experience was a valuable opportunity to reflect critically upon cultural values and the ways in which these can be interpreted differently according to cultural contexts.

The SÖF-Network Meeting took place in Berlin at the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften in September 2010. This event was our first encounter with the other 11 research groups which are embedded in the social-ecological framework (SÖF/ FONA) funded by the Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

In September, the team travelled to Witzenhausen and visited the German Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture (DITSL) in order to attend a seminar by PD Dr. Brigitte Kaufmann. Her current focus is on transdisciplinary research and dialogue between knowledge systems. This research area fits well with the BioDIVA project, especially with regard to the development of transformation knowledge towards a gender-equitable and sustainable use of agrobiodiversity .