II Travelling School of the Doctoral Studies Support Programme (DSSP)

Changing territories: Sharing ecological, socioeconomic and cultural SSN perspectives

National University of Colombia, Campus La Paz

17 to 28 June 2024

Background and objectives

The II Travelling School (TS) for master’s students from the different campuses of the National University arises within the framework of the Doctoral Studies Support Programme (DSSP), a specific cooperation agreement between the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Institute for Environmental Studies (IDEA). In 2021, DSSP began a second phase in which it was proposed, among other objectives, to develop an itinerant training programme for UNAL master’s students.

The first version of the so-called TS took place from 21 to 30 September 2022 at the Amazon UNAL Campus with the participation of the DSSP scholarship holders of the master’s level together with more than ten participants from postgraduate and undergraduate programmes at the Amazon Campus. The main objective of the TS is to generate an intercultural space for exchange between students, teachers and communities through an interdisciplinary work experience on topics related to the joint research agenda of the DSSP and focused on a specific territorial reality in Colombia.

For 2024, it was agreed that the second version of the activity would be carried out on the La Paz Campus, in collaboration with the West African Center for Sustainable Rural Transformation (WAC-SRT), a cooperation programme between ZEF and the University of Development Studies (UDS) in Ghana. This TS is within the framework of the cooperation agreement recently signed between UNAL and UDS.

On this occasion, the TS seeks a deep immersion in the continental Caribbean region, intending to explore its spatial, social and environmental characteristics and problems, providing elements to understand its contemporary reality in the light of global dynamics that affect the forms of its territorial configuration. The aim is to explore strategic themes that allow for comparative perspectives between the current experiences and problems in the Colombian continental Caribbean region and other regions in different parts of the world with similar characteristics, giving priority to south-south reflection and analysis.

Methodology and logistics

The academic activities are scheduled for two weeks between the 17 and 28 June, and will include the participation of ten (10) master’s students from different UNAL campuses who are DSSP scholarship holders, 5 graduate students from the UDS and 10 students from the La Paz Campus.

The modules will be taught by lecturers from the three participating institutions, who will develop the specific content in their charge, provide the students with bibliographic reference material and coordinate the complementary activities in the field. Likewise, the participating students will play an active role in the sessions, for which they will prepare, before their trip, a presentation on a topic of the academic programme.

Finally, as a transversal activity and to encourage intercultural and interdisciplinary work, mixed groups of students will be formed to develop a reflective-creative proposal related to the topic of each module with a comparative perspective between Ghana and Colombia. The final preparation and results presentation will be shared with the whole group in the last session.

See the detailed program here