On the morning of 15 Sep, the opening ceremony of 2014 ProSPER.Net Young Researchers’ School was held in UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD). Prof. Wu Jiang, Vice President of Tongji University, Dr. Kazuhiko Takemoto, Director of United Nations University-Institute for Advanced Study on Sustainability, Dr. Wang Xin, Vice Dean of IESD and 17 Young Researchers from 11 countries and postgraduates from IESD attended this ceremony.

The official opening ceremony started by the address from Prof. WU Jiang, Vice President of Tongji University, he expressed his welcome to all the participants and shared Tongji’s sustainability-oriented university construction and achievements of IESD on Sustainability education and research. Then Dr. Kazuhiko Takemoto, Director of UNU-IAS gave his welcome remarks and on the opening day, Prof. WU Jiang and Dr. Kazuhiko Takemoto also gave keynote speeches titled on “Integrated Urban Planning for Sustainable Development” and “Global Perspective for Sustainable Future- Water and Ecosystem Management”. After that the green campus tour was held guided by the Green Road Association.

Aimed to offer an opportunity for students to be exposed to sustainability issues, while develop research skills, and to further encourage a network of students/future professionals and academics working on sustainable development, This year, UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD), with UNU-IAS’s support, will host the Young Researchers’ School, the fifth regional YRS programme on sustainable development for PhD students in the Asia-Pacific region from 15-26 Sep.2014.

The theme of 2014 ProSPER.Net Young Researchers’ School is ‘Urban Planning for Sustainable Development: Water Resources and Ecosystem Management’. The enclosed programme outlined the ways in which you would be exposed to issues related to urban planning for sustainable development, and began developing research responses to several challenges that provide integrative solutions as considering water resources and ecosystem management.

In the following two weeks, ProSPER.Net (Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research Network) will bring us together to share the knowledge and experiences in sustainability research. A series of lectures on the concepts of introductory and methodological themes, as well as specific knowledge related to the fieldtrips to aid the students in the development of their research proposal will be arranged. Besides the major classroom teaching there were also three divergent field trips arranged as a complement on urban planning, water resources and ecosystem management.

Agenda for 2014 YRS

 2014 YRS_Agenda