Three universities across three continents come together for environmental research collaboration
Bengaluru : RV University, India’s new-age university for liberal education, has secured a grant of nearly 3 million Norwegian Kroner equivalent to Rs. 2.5 Crore for a global environmental humanities project. The project is led by the Arctic University of Norway in association with the University of Campinas, Brazil, RV University, Bengaluru and the Highland Institute, Kohima.
It will bring together scholars, students and researchers working in three of the most valuable, yet fragile ecosystems on our planet – the Arctic, the eastern Himalayas and the Amazon. The aim of the project is to create a multi-national, multi-institutional M.A. Programme for Global Environmental Humanities by providing learning opportunities by mutual student exchange programme to and from Norway, student participation in international research projects at all partnering institutions, four winter and summer schools, knowledge dissemination through audio-visual teaching materials, environmental artwork, publications such as papers and books and a major concluding conference.
Awarded by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills, this four year project will be executed by the Institute for Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology at the Arctic University, the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SoLAS), RV University along with other partners.
Commenting on the three country, three continent project, Vice Chancellor, RVU, Professor Y.S.R. Murthy said, “This is a fantastic development. The vision of RVU is to be a new age, global university for liberal education. Internationalization is at the core of our efforts. The proposed four-year project will take RVU’s national and international collaborations to the next level. It will lead to concrete outcomes like a Master’s programme in Environmental Humanities. It will also open up many interesting learning opportunities for our students and faculty members. The United Nations has warned that climate change can undo progress made in the last 50 years in poverty eradication, development, and progress in human rights. This project, therefore, addresses a key area which threatens our very survival. I wish our School of Liberal Arts and Humanities, its Dean, Dr Piyush Roy and Project Coordinator, Dr Meera Baindur and others every success in this endeavor.”
Welcoming the partnership, Dr. Piyush Roy, Dean, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, RV University said, “The EKOLOGOS project is the outcome of nearly two years of brainstorming between all the participating universities. It will bring together scholars, students and researchers working in three of the most valuable, yet fragile ecosystems on our planet – the Arctic, the eastern Himalayas and the Amazon. Though RV University is locationally far from the project’s Indian outpost, we will be collaborating with colleagues in The Kohima Institute, towards very specific outcomes like hosting a winter/ summer school at Bangalore, facilitating student and research exchange and contributing towards the creation of films, publications and allied documentation of the project for wider dissemination.
Project in-Charge, Prof. Meera Baindur, Associate Professor, SoLAS shared, “The project, aptly titled EKOLOGOS, is thematically found on four broad areas – pedagogy, research, documentation of ecological practice and dissemination of knowledge. Central to the project are creative and imaginative processes that are inherent in intercultural exchanges of wisdom and experiences between the member institutions situated in different parts of the globe. The project hopes to create a community of dedicated professionals and students who will speak for the environmental cause and discover the nuances of relationships between humans and nature. Such a community can be the source of a unique multi-national, multi-institutional master’s programme in Global Environmental Humanities. It can be said that it takes a world to educate environmental humanities scholars as they have to understand the issues in complex interactions between the local and the global.”
This project’s funding proposal was made under the leadership of Dr. Michael Heneise, Associate Professor, Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology. It was co-written by SoLAS faculty members, Dr. Meera Baindur, the project in-charge in India, and Dr. Soundarya Iyer and facilitated by Dean, SoLAS, Dr. Piyush Roy, who had begun ideation on the project concept with Dr. Heneise in February 2021.
The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences (SoLAS) at RV University offers dynamic programmes with a vision to cultivate a comprehensive knowledge base. The curriculum simultaneously develops requisite skills that will transform the students into future leaders, creators and influencers.