Enrhed Project Newsletter – June 2023
Dear,
May was a particularly busy month for the EnRHEd project staff: in fact, the University of Parma hosted a group of Rwandan teaching staff for training. The lecturers were specialized in three main fields of research, that is Food Science and Technology (FST), Civil Engineering (CE) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In this Newsletter, you will be able to discover the specific activities in which they have been involved and to better understand what an EnRHEd mobility consists of: teaching, research, laboratory and site visits!
Besides that, shortly after the departure of the Rwandan teachers, the EnRHEd staff immediately started to organize the final Project Workshop that will take place in Rwanda in August 2023. Delegates representing the 7 partner institutions, both from Europe and Rwanda, as well as all other staff, who have been involved in the project activities, will meet to share experiences and outcomes of the cooperation work.
Read more below!
9 RWANDAN LECTURERS IN ITALY TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT FST, CE & ICT
“In universities, teaching activity is inseparable from research activity so that teaching is simultaneously able to follow the evolving needs and demands of both society and scientific knowledge.”
In May 2023, 9 Rwandan lecturers spent at University of Parma a training period aimed to conduct several research and teaching activities together with their Italian colleagues.The lecturers, who came from the University of Rwanda, INES-Ruhengeri, and IPRC-Musanze, have been divided into three expert groups: a group experienced in the field of Civil Engineering, a group experienced in Food Science and Technology and a group experienced in the field of Information and Communication Technologies. The lecturers were warmly welcomed by Italian colleagues, who involved them in the daily activities at the University campus and introduced them to the research teams working in the various branches of research. Let’s look in more detail the activities:
1 – Civil Engineering (CE)
The Civil Engineering lecturers were accompanied by Prof. Roberto Valentino in the fulfilment of various academic activities, including laboratory visits, didactic lectures and professional meetings with local Civil Engineering and Earth Sciences teams. Several exchanges with students took place in classes as well. Technical visits included some construction sites, the valuable engineering infrastructures of Mediopadana high-speed train station, the cable-stayed bridge in Reggio Emilia, and the Vajont Dam, to study the engineering and hydraulic problems that led to the overflow of the reservoir causing the deaths of hundreds people in 1963.
2 – Food Science and Technology (FST)
Food Science and Technology lecturers were guided throughout their stay by Prof. Davide Barbanti. He constantly mentored the Rwandan team in both theoretical and practical activities, showing several procedural approaches to the matter and making them full participants in organized university activities. Prof. Barbanti also guided the Rwandan colleagues in different interesting visits: the first one was conducted at the “MacFrut” international exhibition in Rimini, the second one saw the group being involved in a visit to a dairy company, i.e. Dalter Food Group, and the third one at Mutti factory, which is specialized in tomato transformation. Finally, we would like to highlight how Rwandan teachers had the opportunity to deliver some lectures to Italian students and lecturers on research topics they carry out in Rwanda.
3 – Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
The Information and Communication Technology group was welcomed by Prof. Paolo Ciampolini, who introduced a series of trainings related to new renewable energies, with special reference to solar energy. These topics were declined in a very special way as the University of Parma has recently been awarded another Capacity Building project, called GREATER, which will focus on innovative technologies and research into new engineering and IT techniques and procedures (see this News for more). To find out more in detail about the topic the ICT team addressed during the mobility, we refer you to the news published a short while ago by University Center for International Cooperation (CUCI) of the University of Parma, which can be accessed by clicking here. Rwandan staff expert in ICT was also trained in E-learning, thanks to the support of Centro SELMA, which is the E-Learning and Multimedia Service Centre at the University of Parma.
This staff exchange was very important not only for Rwandan lecturers in Italy, but also for staff members of the University of Parma, who were able to think about different research projects from different perspectives and always with a truly international perspective.
SUMMER SCHOOL AND FINAL ENRHED WORKSHOP:
2 MILESTONES NOT TO BE MISSED
“Now the most important thing is teamwork.”
In agreement with the WP6 “Dissemination and Exploitation” of the EnRHEd Project, together with the EnRHEd steering committee members, we are planning the final international 1-day workshop of the EnRHEd project to take place at the University of Rwanda in Kigali on the August 30th, 2023.
During this final workshop, the EnRHEd team will be able to present to public international stakeholders the activities carried out over the past years and the goals we will achieve before the end of the project. The target audience will be academic staff members representing both European and African higher education institutions, agents from national Authorities and the interested public. Oral conferences from selected experts will be combined with discussion sessions. It will also be an opportunity for all of us to come together and to gather the many relationships built between the teams from the different partner institutions, in order to plan future cooperation activities.
In the week before the Workshop (21-26 August 2023), after the one-week Summer School organized at IPRC-Musanze successfully held last year, the EnRHEd team is planning a teaching staff training in the framework of a second Summer School edition on the topic of landslides and floods in Rwanda. The Summer School will be divided into two parts: part 1 (first 3 days) will be dedicated to the topic of landslides and part 2 (following 3 days) will be dedicated to the topic of floods. End-users of the Summer School will be teaching staff, civil engineers, technicians, who will be responsible of higher education courses related to territory management and land protection. They will be provided with analysis tools, which are useful in territory planning, in decisions during emergencies and in the planning of mitigation measures against hydrogeological hazards.
Still so many activities then to follow and participate in…
You are all invited to participate: we look forward to seeing you in attendance or live streaming!
THE ENRHED TEAM
