'We hope that this funding support will lead to the creation of long-term international research partnerships in the fields of environmental transformation, ethnicity and gender in Central Kalimantan,' explained the chair holder, Professor Martina Padmanabhan, who heads the project together with Dr Kristina Großmann (University of Passau) and Dr Suraya A. Afiff (University of Indonesia). 'At the same time, it is hoped that our initiative will contribute towards stronger collaboration across scientific communities in the German academic arena.' The bilateral workshop is set to take place from 10 to 12 June at the University of Passau and numerous leading German and Indonesian scholars are expected to attend.
The workshop is the first of three activities – the other two being a research visit to Indonesia and a reciprocal visit to Passau – intended to pave the way for long-term co-operation and finalise plans for joint German and Indonesian research projects within the FUTURE EARTH framework for sustainability research, which is administered by the German Research Foundation. The ' Kalimantan Contested' research is aligned with the intentions of FUTURE EARTH, not least because it involves researchers from state-run and non-governmental organisations as well as academic institutions, right from the start.
'We will kick off with the bilateral workshop and work out the details of the collaborative partnerships initiated by this event during the research stays in Indonesia and Passau,' said Martina Padmanabhan. The international partnership brings together socio-ecological experts on natural resource management, ethnologists with specific local knowledge of Indonesia and gender experts from well-respected social science institutions for conceptual work.
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