HUC-HKH

High-level symposium on the UN Sustainable Development Goals
2019-05-17 | Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal
Nations, cities, and communities all over the world have committed to work towards achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The SDGs, set by the United Nations General Assembly, aim at securing a sustainable future for all. They address several global challenges, including those related to poverty, good health, clean water, sustainable cities and communities, quality education, gender equality, climate and environmental degradation, and peace and justice.
SDG 17 emphasizes the need for collaboration among different facets of society for sustainable development. To deliberate on this in the context of the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region, specifically in relation to collaboration between Norway and Nepal, a high-level symposium will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal, on 17 May 2019. The symposium is being organized by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) – an initiative under the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). Experts from ICIMOD will participate in this event and deliberate on issues relevant to the HKH region.
Institutions in Nepal and Norway have for long closely collaborated on directly addressing several of the SDGs. This symposium will explore how strengthened collaboration between Norway and Nepal, NTNU and Nepalese partner universities, and the public and private sectors can form a sustainable development agenda and further contribute to the SDGs in general, specifically in the areas of social sustainability and hydropower.
A successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society, and it requires that the knowledge sector, in close collaboration with partners in public and private sector, develop knowledge and competencies that can contribute to sustainable development. HUC is mandated to develop an effective, sustainable network of universities in the HKH region in collaboration with academic, research and knowledge-generating, and exchange institutions both within and outside the region.

Introduction to Knowledge Management and Communication
2019-05-27 - 2019-06-02 | ICIMOD Headquarters, Kathmandu, Nepal
Background
The Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) is one of Bhutan’s esteemed education institutions that conducts research and promotes knowledge creation and dissemination for global impact. With over 600 academics employed and 10,000 students in more than 60 programmes at 10 different university campuses, the RUB contributes to research and shares its expertise in various international platforms. With the increasing number of academic papers being produced at the university, it has become necessary to systematically manage this knowledge through the use of information technology and effective repository systems. It is also important to develop tools and mechanisms to disseminate the knowledge through different knowledge products and mediums at national, regional, and international levels.
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) is a regional intergovernmental learning and knowledge-sharing centre serving the eight regional member countries of the Hindu Kush Himalaya – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. ICIMOD serves as an open house for knowledge initiatives on sustainable mountain development. The Knowledge Management and Communication (KMC) unit at ICIMOD helps produce, package, and communicate information and knowledge products in the form of publications, databases, multimedia, and web content, all of which are globally available online.
About the customized course
ICIMOD is a founding member and host of the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), a network of 80 higher education institutions within and outside the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. The HUC’s mandate is to strengthen capacity for and promote regional and global collaboration in research and education for sustainable mountain development among members. The Royal University of Bhutan has been an active member of the HUC since 2016.
Given the RUB’s need for knowledge management and ICIMOD’s capacity in the same, an introductory course on knowledge management and communications has been designed by professionals at ICIMOD for RUB staff members. The course is a part of efforts by the HUC and ICIMOD to strengthen institutional capacity for sustainable mountain development in the HKH. The course caters to staff members with more than 10 years’ experience in management and administration, responsible for coordinating and managing the dissemination of knowledge generated by the RUB to various stakeholders for a wide range of usage.
Expected outcomes
Participants are expected to obtain an overall understanding of knowledge and communication systems applicable in the higher education institution context. By the end of the course, they should be able to:

Manage university staff’s data and publications using information management systems, thereby contributing to quality classroom teaching
Engage in library management and explore sharing of a knowledge network with HUC Libraries through e-services
Disseminate publications through policy briefs and press releases for print, broadcast, and social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) to improve outreach

Participants will also be introduced to project management in the academic context. They will obtain a preliminary understanding of:

The importance of Theory of Change and Management-by-Result Framework in academic activities
Medium-term research project management cycle
The importance and practice of monitoring, evaluation, and learning
Networking and partnership building in the academic context

Participants will also have an opportunity to visit Kathmandu University’s campus to learn about good practices in management.

Asia-Pacific Water Leadership Programme
2019-08-08 - 2019-09-18 | Murray-Darling Basin, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Australia, Australia
Targeted Audience
The Water Leadership Programme (WLP) targets mid- and senior-level scholars and faculty members across disciplines of water studies and water resource management in the HKH, who have a track-record experience in conducting research, publishing, training, and engaging in policy dialogues on these topics.
Venues
The WLP will be held in the Murray-Darling Basin of Australia, along with classroom modules in Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide, and field visits along the Murray River.
Important Dates
Program Dates: 8 April – 19 April 2018
Deadline for application: 17:00 Nepal Standard Time, 5 February 2018
Notification of selection: 15 February 2018
Background
South Asia is home to about 21 percent of the global population, but only roughly eight percent of the world’s annual renewable water resources. Population growth and urbanization are major drivers of change and increasing water stress in the region. The rivers of South Asia bear the brunt of this new demand for fresh water. About one billion people live in the three large transboundary basins of the region: the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra. These rivers that emanate from the Himalaya are shared across borders between Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Climate change studies increasingly suggest that the effects of glacial melt, temperature variations, and erratic monsoon patterns will reduce the availability of water in the region and lead to a greater frequency of floods and drought. Despite the frequency and transboundary impacts of these extreme events, cooperation between countries remains limited.
A 12-day intensive programme, co-organized by ICIMOD and the International Centre of Excellence on Water Resources Management (ICE WaRM), aims at providing a unique opportunity for mid- and senior-level scholars from HUC full members to learn of Australian experiences in water policy reform and improved use and management of water resources. The Programme will focus on integrated river basin management (IRBM) and governance, including various aspects of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) approach, including gender, ecosystems, social inclusiveness and community engagement, public and private cooperation, and water sharing between sectors and across states.
Call For Applications
Applicants must have at least 15 years progressive experience in water research and/or water resource management. Inter- or trans-disciplinary and/or trans-boundary experience in collaborative research, training, and policy-science dialogue is highly desirable.
Age requirement: below 46 for men, and below 51 for women. Women and people of minority/indigenous backgrounds are strongly encouraged to apply.
Full funding to take part in the Programme will be provided to participants, to be selected on competitive basis.
Deadline for application is 5 February 2018

HUC Academy 2019 - Harnessing economic opportunities for transformative change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya
2019-09-23 - 2019-10-02 | Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal
The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) – an initiative under the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development’s (ICIMOD) Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks (MKAN) Regional Programme – provides a platform to enhance collaboration among universities in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region and promote centres of excellence on key topics relevant to the region. The aim is to foster research and learning by building a dynamic mountain knowledge partnership among universities, ICIMOD, and regional member country partners to promote research and learning. This network engages students and professionals capable of undertaking high-quality research, education, teaching, and knowledge dissemination in service of a mountain-specific, sustainable, fair, and inclusive development for HKH communities and adjoining mountainous areas.
The HUC Academy is the Consortium’s flagship annual programme that provides opportunities for young researchers to engage in cross-disciplinary scholarship. It aims to foster a new generation of transformational leaders committed to mountain research, capable of producing consequential knowledge, innovate policies, and environmentally responsible business practices to address mountain challenges in the HKH from transboundary perspectives. The four signature features of the HUC Academy are mountain focus, inter- and trans-disciplinarity, field research, and leadership.
Transformative change requires targeting the root causes that result in social, economic, political, and environmental problems and inequities. It is mainly accompanied by changes in economic structures and relations to enhance productivity in an environmentally sound manner and ensure equitable distribution of its benefits. The HUC Academy 2019 – under the theme “Harnessing economic opportunities for transformative change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya” – will take place in Kathmandu from 23 September to 2 October 2019. The programme aims to improve the knowledge of students and early-career professionals in identifying and analysing emerging economic opportunities and their relevance to transformative change in the HKH.
Objectives
The HUC Academy 2019 aims to:

Enhance applied knowledge on economic development and sustainability issues in the HKH region;
Improve skills to design and implement frameworks for harnessing economic opportunities to bring about transformative change in the HKH;
Identify a set of practical skills and competencies required by academics, practitioners, and future leaders and help them work on the same;
Create an interdisciplinary network of teaching faculty and scholars working on the economics–transformative change nexus.

Inception meeting - HUC TWG on Mountain Tourism and Cultural Heritage and launch of Mount Kailash Heritage Route Project
2019-10-03 - 2019-10-04 | Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal
Background
Tourism destinations within the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region are areas of great global geographical, natural, and cultural significance. With its towering peaks, majestic landscapes, and rich cultural heritage, the HKH region has long drawn fascinated visitors from around the world. Remoteness, inaccessibility, and limited alternative livelihood options are challenges dictating the socioeconomic wellbeing of mountain communities. The International Centre of Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) aims to promote sustainable mountain tourism to enhance the socioeconomy and wellbeing of mountain communities. Its Kailash Sacred Landscape (KSL) Initiative promotes sustainable mountain tourism in the KSL (shared by China, India, and Nepal) to ensure benefits to communities and partnering countries at the transnational level.
Mountain tourism in the context of the KSL is interlaced with heritage, culture, and identity. The KSL is a globally important heritage encompassing Mount Kailash and Mansarovar, an epicentre of cultural and religious significance. The landscape as a global heritage also has great historical significance, particularly given the ancient cross-border cultural, economic, and religious interactions that have underpinned the transnational exchange of goods, services, and knowledge.
Today, heritage tourism is rapidly growing across the world. Tourism economy, heritage preservation, and national and transnational level collaboration are expanding concomitantly. An increasing number of travellers are traversing the KSL, seeking experiential journeys for pilgrimage, festivals, traditions, and authentic cuisines and lifestyles. With this boom, mountain tourism has become an inextricable part of the landscape’s economy and collaboration. Heritage tourism in the KSL therefore needs to be understood in the context of its broad connotations and values at a transnational scale.
About the inception meeting
Every year, thousands of pilgrims and hundreds of tourists follow specific heritage routes to Mount Kailash. On one hand, the thriving tourism brings economic prosperity to the KSL; on the other, it poses dangers to the landscape and its local communities. Well-developed heritage routes could be a possible solution. Such routes are designed to preserve tangible and intangible cultural heritage and also generate benefits to the local communities. They integrate important elements for sustainable mountain tourism and cultural heritage preservation, such as political (planning and management); economic (jobs, employment, and enterprises); environmental (waste, carrying capacity); and social (human capital – knowledge, awareness, skills, capacity) agendas. Effective cooperation and collaboration is needed among diverse stakeholders directly or indirectly impacted by heritage route development in the KSL.
A critical area for cooperation and collaboration is applied knowledge generation to support science and policy decisions. Collaboration is essential for inter- and transdisciplinary research that integrates border/frontier regions, tourism management, heritage preservation, and sustainability in the KSL. To this end, ICIMOD’s Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) and Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative (KSLCDI) are jointly organizing an inception meeting on the HUC Thematic Working Groups (TWGs) on Mountain Tourism and Cultural Heritage, which were proposed at the HUC Annual Meeting in Chengdu in 2017. The launch of the Mount Kailash Heritage Route Project will also take place during the meeting.
The HUC is a growing network of 80 universities in eight HKH countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan – and selected countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Consortium aims to promote regional and global collaboration in research and higher education for meaningful and sustainable wellbeing of local communities. HUC’s TWGs are member-led, self-organizing clusters of scholars and institutions operating on resource-sharing basis.
A Sustainability Education Task Force has recently been established to promote inter- and trans-disciplinary, field-based, problem-based, and solution-driven approaches in research and education among members. The Consortium hopes to create a new generation of scholar-leaders in the HKH region, committed to inter- and trans- disciplinary research, and capable of producing consequential knowledge and innovative policies to address HKH mountain issues.
Purpose
The meeting aims to i) take stock of the existing availability of mountain-focused, HKH-specific research and higher education curricula in the field of cultural heritage and tourism studies among HUC full members in the region; and ii) explore the scope of a collaborative multidisciplinary research project on Mount Kailash as part of efforts to develop a transnational heritage tourism route in the KSL.
Objectives

Obtain preliminary understanding of the state-of-the-art of research and higher education training in cultural heritage and tourism studies, with special reference to mountains, among HUC full members in the eight HKH countries
Identify gaps in knowledge, methodology, and pedagogy for curriculum development in relevant fields
Consolidate governance structure of the two TWGs, or one merged TWG as per decision by participants
Discuss and initiate drafting a Strategy and Plan for Actions for both TWGs, or for one of the merged TWG as per decision by participants
Explore the potential for collaboration among members on the Mount Kailash Heritage Route Project Proposal and develop a Roadmap for Collaborative Actions

Expected outputs
Finalization of a consolidated governance structure of the thematic working groups, with specified lead, co-Leads, focal persons, etc.

Establishment of a strategy-drafting core group
Preparation of a draft Roadmap for Collaborative Actions of the Mount Kailash Heritage Route Project Proposal
Finalization of a consolidated governance structure of the thematic working groups, with specified lead, co-Leads, focal persons, etc.

Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities: Integrating Indigenous Mountain Knowledge, Modern Sciences, and Global Endeavours for a Sustainable Himalayan Region
2019-11-03 - 2019-11-05 | Kunming, China, China
Background
Science–policy initiatives undertaken by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Yunnan University have reaffirmed the critical importance of the world’s mountains in supporting the earth’s biodiversity and the need to protect the geo-ecological uniqueness of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH). In addition to fostering science–policy dialogue and alliances, ICIMOD, through its Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), has recently initiated a number of research projects driven by the social sciences and humanities on sustainability studies in the HKH.
The HUC Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities Thematic Working Group is one of these high-impact initiatives, working to widen the scope of Himalayan environmental studies with more inter-disciplinary approaches and policy engagement. “Interfacing Indigenous Knowledge, Modern Science, and Policymaking: Water and Climate Change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya,” the Working Group’s first project funded by the HUC, is a landmark research endeavour that has formally ushered environmental humanities into Himalayan studies. The project involves scholars from Bhutan, China, India, and the Netherlands.
Environmental humanities, an emerging interdisciplinary field of environmental studies, calls for diverse responses to locally manifested global environmental challenges and a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a human resident of earth (Rose et al 2012). By emphasising the relational nature of the earth with the world humans inhabit, environmental humanities draws attention to the values and applicability of indigenous ecological knowledge in building a sustainable future for the earth community. Its conceptual resonance with Himalayan scholars as well as policymakers across the world is becoming ever more evident
Objective
The Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities workshop in Kunming, China will showcase the latest thematic studies on water, climate change, and sustainable living in the greater Himalayan region in the context of the Anthropocene – the geological age of humans – in which most environmental changes are human-induced. Participants and facilitators will discuss how indigenous experiences of climate change relate to observations made by environmental scholars and how humans value the environments in which they live, including how these appreciations change over time and what kinds of factors influence such changes. This will be done at an interface where indigenous knowledge, modern science, and the global sustainability discourse come together. With environmental humanist approaches in mind, contributors to the workshop must address these interconnected themes in their respective case studies. Papers presented at the workshop will be compiled and published.
Application process and selection
The organizers are inviting scholars and researchers from HUC full member institutions in the HKH and associate member institutions outside the region to submit research abstracts on the topics indicated in the preceding paragraph, applicable in the HKH region. The authors of the selected abstracts will be expected to present a fully developed paper at the conference in November 2019. Submissions will be assessed based on their quality and thematic relevance. The conference particularly welcomes papers addressing the environmental sustainability of the HKH as a more-than-human world.
Selected authors from HUC full member institutions will receive partial funding from the organizers to attend the conference. This provision is not available to authors affiliated with HUC associate member institutions. Selected papers will undergo revisions and be published with a Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) or The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) journal, or a globally reputable academic publisher.
Interested scholars may submit their CV and abstract to huc@icimod.org. Please make sure to include the term ‘Abstract–Trans-Himalaya 2019‘ in your email subject line.
The submission deadline is 15 July 2019.

Writeshop on the Sustainable Mountain Education Task Force
2020-02-26 - 2020-02-28 | Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal
Background
The Sustainable Mountain Education Task Force (previously called the Sustainable Mountain Development Curriculum Building Task Force) was formed in 2018 to achieve the Himalayan University Consortium’s (HUC) “Regional collaboration in education and training for SMD in the HKH” strategic goal. HUC is accordingly hosting a two-day writeshop of the Task Force to develop and refine HUC’s Sustainable Mountain Education Strategy. The writeshop will lead to a detailed proposal for follow-up of the Task Force and/or SME Working Group for 2020–2021.
Expected outcomes

A refined draft of HUC’s Sustainable Mountain Education Strategy.
A proposal for continuation of the Task Force and/or SME Working Group for 2020–2021 with concrete action plans.

Organizer
The event is being organized by HUC and financed by ICIMOD. HUC – an initiative under ICIMOD’s Regional Programme on Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks (MKAN) – has its mandate in developing an effective, sustainable network of universities in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region in collaboration with academic, research, and knowledge-generating and exchange institutions both within and outside the HKH region. HUC currently consists of 76 full members from eight HKH countries and 17 associate members from other parts of the world.
Participants
Seven core members, two co-leads, and three invited scholars will participate in the writeshop.

Water–energy–food nexus: Adaptive response to regional Hindu Kush Himalayan challenges
2020-05-19 - 2020-06-04 | Zoom
Background
This online course provides participants with conceptual understanding and applied knowledge on water, energy, and food systems, with an emphasis on development in the Hindu Kush Himalaya. Drawing on the experience of the instructor Prof. Christopher Scott (Director of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona, USA; and ICIMOD Mountain Chair 2020–22) and globally recognized experts, the interactive course will showcase new insights into the water–energy–food nexus.
Programme focus
The seminar will address the following list of topics:

Energy futures to meet agricultural and urban water demand
Water resource needs for power generation using conventional fuels and renewables
Implications and role of water and agriculture in the emerging carbon-neutral economy
Comparative energy- and water-based perspectives on efficiency and conservation, and co-production of research and policy making on water, energy, and food

Thus, seminar participants will learn about physical and social science approaches to water management and policy.
Who is this course for?
The course is most suitable for the following audiences. However, if you don’t fit into any of the following categories but still feel you too can benefit from the course, please do apply and we will consider your application.

Advanced graduate students (Master’s or PhD) and faculty members from HUC universities
Mid-career government officials of water, irrigation, energy, electricity, food and agriculture departments, as well as regulatory bodies
Mid-career level staff of NGOs, INGOs, development agencies
Scientific attachés of relevant embassies and foreign ministries
Mid-career researchers and officers from research/consulting companies working on water-energy-food nexus related themes.

Programme schedule
The following is a list of provisional topics and speakers. All sessions will be held on Tuesdays or Thursdays at 10:00–11:00 am Nepal Standard Time (UTC+05:45).

Date
Programme

19 May 2020
Welcome, course overview, water–energy–food nexus concept and applications – Christopher Scott, University of Arizona, USA Water–energy–food nexus in the Hindu Kush Himalaya – Golam Rasul, ICIMOD, Nepal

21 May 2020
Managing groundwater in the Gangetic Plains requires a water–energy–food nexus approach – Aditi Mukherji, IWMI, India Feedback, Q&A with participants; identification of water–energy–food nexus cases

26 May 2020
Water–energy–food nexus in Africa – Michael Jacobson, Pennsylvania State University, USA River basin development in the Andes – Christopher Scott, University of Arizona, USA

28 May 2020
Water–energy–food nexus in Pakistan – Afreen Siddiqi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA The water-energy-food nexus: A systematic review of methods for nexus assessment (Arica Crootof, Montana Western Univ., USA; and Tamee Albrecht, Univ. Arizona, USA)

2 June 2020
Hydro-energy cooperation in the Bangladesh–Bhutan–India–Nepal region: Prospects for transboundary energy and water security in South Asia – Padmendra Shrestha, University of Arizona, USA, and Udisha Saklani, University of Cambridge, UK Regional connectivity and cross-border energy trade in the BBIN region: Implications for sustainable mountain development – Ramesh Vaidya, ICIMOD, Nepal

4 June 2020
Water-energy-food nexus and the Hindu Kush – Himalaya Monitoring and Assessment Programme – Philippus Wester, ICIMOD, Nepal Course synthesis and closing remarks – Christopher Scott, University of Arizona, USA

How to register
Please click on the ‘ENROLL’ button on this page to register your interest in the course and let us know about your motivation to join the course. If you face any difficulty accessing the form, please write to huc@icimod.org mentioning the nature of the problem. We will reach out only to shortlisted and selected participants through email with further instructions to join the course. Please note that enrolling into the course would require your commitment to attend at least 4 sessions from the schedule. Participants attending all 6 sessions will be eligible to receive a digital certificate.
Organizer
The event is being organized by HUC in partnership with Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona.
HUC – an initiative under ICIMOD’s Regional Programme on Mountain Knowledge and Action Networks (MKAN) – has a mandate to develop an effective, sustainable network of universities in the Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region in collaboration with academic, research, and knowledge-generating and exchange institutions both within and outside the HKH region. HUC currently consists of 76 full members from eight HKH countries and 17 associate members from other parts of the world.
DOWNLOAD FLYER
The registration for this event is now closed.

Storying the sustainable intelligence of the Earth in the new Himalaya: Symbiotic indigeneity and transboundary commons
2020-11-30 - 2020-12-12 | Online
Led by: Dan Smyer Yü (Yunnan University) and Erik de Maaker (Leiden University)
Co-organized by: HUC Thematic Working Group on Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities and National Centre for Borderlands Ethnic Studies in Southwest China at Yunnan University (NaCBES)
In partnership with: Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University; University of Warwick; and Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
The following two webinars are part of a two-week intensive virtual seminar/publishing workshop. These webinars are open to the public on a first-come-first-served basis.
PUBLIC LECTURE 1
30 November 2020, 12:45–14:15 NPT (UTC+05:45)
M?kua Valley on the island of O‘ahu is a place where snail conservation, the US Army, and K?naka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) claims to access land and cultural sites are brought into dynamic tension. Over roughly the past 100 years, the Army has used this valley for live-fire and other exercises, excluding people while also blowing up and burning the habitat of critically endangered land snails and other species. Snails and local people are drawn together here into a powerful multispecies solidarity centred on efforts to conserve the biological and cultural heritage of this place. Importantly, these efforts have also rippled out beyond the valley, through not only the Army’s subsequent investment in snail conservation in Hawaii but also its ongoing activities in other parts of the Pacific region that continue to threaten snails and their peoples, while also fostering their own dynamic forms of solidarity and resistance. This lecture will explore some of the complexities and compromises of conservation in the context of deep histories and ongoing realities of both colonization and militarization.
About the speaker
Thom van Dooren is Associate Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry and the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney, and Professor II in the Oslo School of Environmental Humanities, University of Oslo. His research and writing focus on some of the many philosophical, ethical, cultural, and political issues that arise in the context of species extinctions and human entanglements with threatened species and places.
He is the author of Flight Ways: Life and Loss at the Edge of Extinction (2014), The Wake of Crows: Living and Dying in Shared Worlds (2019), and co-editor of Extinction Studies: Stories of Time, Death, and Generations (2017), all published by Columbia University Press.
PUBLIC LECTURE 2
Learning from life stories
1 December 2020, 19:45–21:15 NPT (UTC+05:45)
Life stories provide unique insights into the everyday experiences, attitudes, and knowledge of people who are marginalized for political, social, economic, or cultural reasons. They can also reveal the intimate relationship between human and non-human domains and the impossibility of separating these interactions. Yet this approach raises many challenges and can be hard to implement at scale. The impact of detailed qualitative interviews on interviewers as well as on those being interviewed is sometimes underestimated, especially when dealing with socially and emotionally charged and traumatic experiences. The need to be aware of demographic and personality differences in addition to social norms relating to expressions of personal experience also requires sensitivity and reflection. However, the proven benefits of developing empathetic modes of communication embedded in life story approaches make this a valuable, but a highly complex and challenging tool for research as well as for community and individual empowerment. This talk will discuss examples from the broader Himalayan region of how and why life story research has been used to explore hidden histories and experiences, as well as some of the methodological questions that arise.
About the speaker
Mandy Sadan is Associate Professor and Academic Director of Distance Learning Postgraduate Programmes, School for Cross-faculty Studies – Global Sustainable Development; and Senior Research Fellow, Oxford School of Global and Area Studies. Sadan has been researching on and teaching about the borderlands of Myanmar for more than two decades and remains deeply committed to using her work to support the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals in these regions. She seeks to demonstrate the importance of historical and humanities-oriented research in supporting locally grounded sustainable development and peacebuilding, especially politically, educationally, and culturally marginalized borderland communities. For this reason, too, she is passionate about the role that life story and oral history research can play in supporting local people to have a stronger voice in development policy.
Her most recent collaborative projects, funded through the British Academy Sustainable Development Program and the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), include “Sustainable Lives in Scarred Landscapes: Heritage, Environment, and Violence in the China-Myanmar Jade Trade” and “Drugs and (Dis)order: Building Sustainable Peacetime Economies in the Aftermath of War”.
AGENDA
First webinar – Monday, 30 November 2020 | 12:45–14:45 NPT (UTC+05:45)

Date
Programme

12:35–12:45
Participants log-in on Microsoft Teams

12:45–12:55
Introduction – Chi H Truong (Shachi), Himalayan University Consortium, ICIMOD
Welcome remarks – Pema Gyamtsho, Director General, ICIMOD

Public lecture 1
Speaker: Thom van Dooren, University of Sydney and University of Oslo
Discussant: Dan Smyer Yü, Yunnan University

12:55–13:00
Introduction of the virtual seminar-workshop and speaker – Dan Smyer Yu

13:00–14:00
Military snails: Multispecies solidarity in Hawaii – Thom van Dooren

14:00–14:45
Discussion
End of day 1

Second webinar – Tuesday, 1 December 2020 | 19:45–21:15 NPT (UTC+05:45)

Date
Programme

19:35–19:45
Participants log-in on Microsoft Teams

Public lecture 2
Speaker: Mandy Sadan, University of Warwick
Discussant: Erik de Maaker, Leiden University

19:45–19:55
Introduction of the speaker – Erik de Maaker

19:55–20:55
Learning from life stories – Mandy Sadan

20:55–21:15
Discussion
End of day 2 and public keynote lectures

DOWNLOAD FLYER

Changes in the cryosphere: Building resilience to natural hazards in the HKH
2021-03-11 | Online via MS Teams
Background
This workshop is an initial activity to support the establishment of a Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) thematic working group on cryosphere and society. The workshop’s primary focus is on changes in the cryosphere, the increased risks and hazards resulting from these changes, and the ways in which communities can become resilient and cope with these risks. This is possible through the integration of social and physical science with local knowledge systems to design interventions that enhance resilience of communities. The workshop aims to provide a platform for University of Bristol (UoB) and HUC members to share their experiences on the topic and identify key areas for future collaboration.
Objectives

Facilitate exchange of knowledge and experience and between HUC members and University of Bristol on resilience in high mountain communities
Identify opportunities for collaboration on cryosphere and society
Identify areas and programmes where small-scale collaborative activities can be initiated between UoB and HUC members

Renewable energy transitions : A comparative assessment of the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Andes, and Alps
2021-04-07 - 2021-04-09 | Zoom
The workshop will be led by Christopher Scott (Udall Center, University of Arizona, USA) and jointly coordinated by Chi H Truong (Shachi, ICIMOD), and Carolina Adler (MRI, University of Bern, Switzerland).

Background
The impacts of climate change in mountain regions are accentuated by elevation-dependent warming and precipitation variability higher than in other regions, coupled with greater dependence of mountain communities on local sources of energy and other resources. Energy systems are central to climate change both as drivers and responses. The development and use of energy resources, particularly fossil fuels, are the principal causes of global warming. At the same time, climate-change impacts across a range of social and ecological systems require mitigation and adaptation in which less carbon-intensive energy uses play a central role. Climate-change dynamics are not uniformly distributed globally, with temperature rise occurring differentially higher in polar and mountain regions. Especially in mountain regions, energy-use alternatives can be constrained due to inadequate infrastructure, remoteness, and reliance on traditional forms of energy that may be difficult to diversify.
This workshop, jointly sponsored by ICIMOD’s Himalayan University Consortium and the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI), and coordinated by the University of Arizona’s Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, is a community-led activity bringing together experts including young professionals to connect and synthesize existing data, information, publications, and/or other forms of knowledge to provide new insights on the state of mountains and renewable energy transitions in a global context.
Objectives
This virtual workshop aims to synthesize current understanding and address future challenges related to energy transitions in mountain regions with an emphasis on renewable energy in the context of climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, Andes, and Alps.
Workshop participants will also address current challenges in mountain regions related to climate-change impacts on energy systems with an emphasis on renewables and transitions towards carbon neutrality as well as to present and discuss adaptation solutions by mountain communities and economic sectors.

Participants
The workshop will be limited to 50 registered participants, including 15 invited experts and 35 participants. Interested researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from the HKH countries should apply via the HUC Portal by 1 March 2021.
For applicants from Latin America and Europe, and for those who are based elsewhere but are working on relevant issues in the Andes and Alps, the deadline is 10 March 2021.
Notification of acceptance will be communicated by 16 March 2021.
Young and female professionals, those from under-represented communities, and graduate students are especially encouraged to apply.
Applications from past HUC fellows who successfully completed the Water Energy Food Nexus: Adaptive Response to Regional Hindu Kush Himalaya Challenges, 19 May – 4 June 2020 course will receive designated merit points in the selection process.

Agenda
Time: 19:45–22:15 (NPT), 16:00–18:30 (CEST), 07:00–09:30 (U.S. MST)
Day 1: 7 April 2021

Time(NPT)
Time(CEST)
Time(MST)
Topic
Speakers/Facilitators

19:45-19:55
16:00-16:10
7:00-7:10
Welcome remarks
Pema Gyamtsho, ICIMOD
Carolina Adler, Mountain Research Initiative (MRI)

19:55-20:15
16:10-16:30
7:10-7:30
Workshop overview, participants and regions represented
Christopher Scott, University of Arizona

20:15-20:30
16:30-16:45
7:30-7:45
Mountain regions and global headwaters
Daniel Viviroli, University of Zurich

20:30-20:45
16:45-17:00
7:45-8:00
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Padmendra Shrestha, University of Arizona

20:45-21:00
17:00-17:15
8:00-8:15
The role of hydropower in Switzerland’s energy strategy
Daniel Viviroli, University of Zurich

21:00-21:15
17:15-17:30
8:15-8:30
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Padmendra Shrestha, University of Arizona

21:15-21:30
17:30-17:45
8:30-8:45
Break

21:30-21:45
17:45-18:00
8:45-9:00
Energy ecosystem for the transition towards a low carbon society in HKH region: Opportunities and
Partnerships
Biraj Singh Thapa, Kathmandu University

21:45-21:55
18:00-18:10
9:00-9:10
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Sebastián Riera Yankeliovich,Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

21:55-22:10
18:10-18:25
9:10-9:25
Breakout group discussion, synthesis

22:10-22:15
18:25-18:30
9:25-9:30
Announcements for Day 2

22:15
18.30
9:30
Adjourn

Day 2: 8 April 2021

Time(NPT)
Time(CEST)
Time(MST)
Topic
Speakers/Facilitators

19:45-20:00
16:00-16:15
7:00-7:15
Energy transition in the Mendoza, Argentina Andes: Regional insights
Sebastián Riera Yankeliovich,Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

20:00-20:15
16:15-16:30
7:15-7:30
Discussion and Q&A
Fabian Drenkhan, Imperial College London

20:15-20:30
16:30-16:45
7:30-7:45
Governance of complex trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation in the Swiss Alps
Elke Kellner,Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

20:30-20:45
16:45-17:00
7:45-8:00
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Sarala Khaling,ATREE

20:45-21:00
17:00-17:15
8:00-8:15
The journey to renewable Energy: Narratives from Bhutan and HKH
Medha Bisht, South Asian University

21:00-21:15
17:15-17:30
8:15-8:30
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Elke Kellner, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape
Research WSL

21:15-21:30
17:30-17:45
8:30-8:45
Break

21:30-21:45
17:45-18:00
8:45-9:00
Water resource conflicts and hydropower in the tropical Andes: Governance and feasibility of
multi-purpose projects
Fabian Drenkhan, Imperial College London

21:45-21:55
18:00-18:10
9:00-9:10
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Padmendra Shrestha, University of Arizona

21:55-22:10
18:10-18:25
9:10-9:25
Breakout group discussion, synthesis

22:10-22:15
18:25-18:30
9:25-9:30
Announcements for Day 3

22:15
18:30
9:30
Adjourn

Day 3: 9 April 2021

Time(NPT)
Time(CEST)
Time(MST)
Topic
Speakers/Facilitators

19:45-20:00
16:00-16:15
7:00-7:15
Hydropower in the HKH: Threats and Opportunities in the Face of Climate Change
Kasvi Singh, TERI School of Advanced Studies

20:00-20:15
16:15-16:30
7:15-7:30
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Sebastián Vicuña, Pontificia Universidad, Católica de Chile

20:15-20:30
16:30-16:45
7:30-7:45
Challenges and opportunities of hydropower in the Chilean Andes in a climate change world
Sebastián Vicuña,Pontificia Universidad, Católica de Chile

20:30-20:45
16:45-17:00
7:45-8:00
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Biraj Singh Thapa, Kathmandu University

20:45-21:00
17:00-17:15
8:00-8:15
Himalayan floods raise questions on the sustainability of hydropower
Padmendra Shrestha, University of Arizona

21:00-21:15
17:15-17:30
8:15-8:30
Discussion and Q&A
Moderator: Daniel Viviroli, University of Zurich

21:15-21:30
17:30-17:45
8:30-8:45
Break

21:30-21:45
17:45-18:00
8:45-9:00
Workshop synthesis
Christopher Scott, University of Arizona

21:45-22:10
18:00-18:25
9:00-9:25
Plenary session: pathways of workshop proceedings

22:10-22:15
18:25-18:30
9:25-9:30
Closing remarks
Chi Huyen Truong (Shachi), ICIMOD

22:15
18:30
9:30
Adjourn

Speakers/Facilitators

Biraj Singh Thapa
Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University

Carolina Adler
Executive Director, Mountain Research Initiative (MRI)

Chi Huyen Truong (Shachi)
Program coordinator, Himalayan University Consortium (HUC)

Christopher Scott
Director, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and Professor, School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona

Daniel Viviroli
Research group leader, Mountain Hydrology in Hydrology & Climate unit, Department of Geography, University of Zurich

Elke Kellner
Postdoctoral researcher, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

Fabian Drenkhan
RAHU Project, Imperial College London

Kasvi Singh
Master’s student, Economics (specializing in Environmental and Resource Economics), TERI School of Advanced Studies

Medha Bisht
Senior Assistant Professor, Department of International Relations, South Asian University

Padmendra Shrestha
PhD student, School of Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona

Sarala Khaling
Regional Director, Eastern Himalaya/Northeast India, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology & the Environment (ATREE), India

Sebastian Riera Yankeliovich
Postdoctoral researcher AACREA-CONICET, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo

Sebastian Vicuna
Director, Centro de Cambio Global, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad, Catolica de Chile

Workshop proceedings
The workshops served to highlight lessons learned and ways forward, drawing on multiple perspectives of researchers, practitioners, agencies and NGOs in an effort to bridge the experiences and challenges of critical mountain regions globally.
Challenges include: supply diversification including carbon neutrality and beyond; demand management (including consumptive and productive energy uses and associated equity concerns); energy justice with equity in access and inclusive decision-making; climate resilience for carbon mitigation with transformative adaptation.
Hydropower in an energy system uniquely identified with mountain. How is this understood in transition terms (as bridge energy to low-impact renewables, or low/zero-carbon alternative to fossil fuels, or both, or other)? The scale of hydropower (and siting on smaller streams within a basin-wide perspective) vs. long-term feasibility of HP plants is critically important. Hydropower should not be thought of just as government projects but needs to include local control and ownership. The planning stage of hydropower development must move toward implementation, with special attention to operations and maintenance, rural power supply, environmental protection, relocation/resettlement with social equity and rural revitalization.
Governance of energy transitions involves, among other factors, decision-making, decentralization, risk impact and assessment. Overcoming energy poverty will require expanded access, localization, and community-centered development with emphasis on sustainable livelihoods and sustainable development frameworks.
SUMMARY PRESENTATION
DOWNLOAD FLYER

HUC at the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development
2021-05-17 - 2021-05-19 | Zoom
Objectives
Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) is participating at the UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development. This conference will be held virtually from 17 to 19 May 2021.
HUC will set up a virtual booth, “Building an impactful alliance for sustainable mountain education in the Hindu Kush Himalaya“, showcasing a dynamic and effective way to build impactful partnerships to make higher education a lever of change for sustainable mountain development in the Hindu Kush Himalaya, one of the regions most affected by climate change and other global processes. The booth will showcase printed media (posters and flyers) and a short video on the HUC journey.
The event will host a 30 minute live session on Tuesday, 18 May 2021 (13:00-13:30 CET), with panelists sharing inter-related stories about HUC and its role in Sustainable Mountain Education in the HKH region. The panelists are:
Chi H Truong, HUC Secretariat Lead, who will speak on building a strong lasting partnership through increasing ownership and shared leadership among the Consortium’s members
Anne Zimmermann, CDE University of Bern and SME Task Force member, who will speak on operating a task force linking global top-notch experts in ESD with senior educators and administrators of rich regional expertise
Brian Stout and Hayley Saul of Western Sydney University who will share their stories on HUC thematic working groups through a pre-recorded video
Yangka, Director of Academic Affairs, Royal University of Bhutan, who will speak on the imperative of mountain-focused, HKH-specific curriculum and regional cooperation in research and training
Sara Nowreen, Bangladesh University of Science and Technology, an HUC fellow, who will speak on empowering faculty through experiential learning and continued provision of support for ESD curriculum uptake

Modelling Surface Flow Hazards
2021-06-08
About the training
The Himalayan Universities Consortium (HUC) and University of Bristol are pleased to announce a series of interactive teleconference training sessions on the use of flow modelling for hazard assessment in mountain environments. This training is a part of HUC’s Thematic Working Group on Cryosphere and Society. The training will take place over four online sessions. The first one-hour ‘taster’ session will introduce the participants to common surface flow hazards including glacial lake outburst floods, debris flows, lahars (volcanic mudflows) and flash floods, and principles of modelling for hazard assessment. The next three sessions (2 hours each) will include: an introduction to the mathematical description of flow in shallow layers; the parameterisation of sediment flow processes into mathematical models; and interactive instructions on the use of LaharFlow, a freely available hazard modelling framework, including setting up simulations and post-processing results.

Key dates
8 June 2021(13:45-14:45 NST): One hour ‘taster’ session, open to public.
21–23 June 2021: Three 2-hour sessions for those who completed the ‘taster’ session. Limited seats are available.

Expected participants
The training is targeted towards those working in operational assessment of flow hazards or are conducting related academic research. A background in quantitative physical science to a degree level is required, along with a stable internet connection. Some experience with GIS (ideally QGIS) is helpful for the post-processing model output. Women and members of under-represented communities are strongly encouraged to take part. Interested participants are required to fill the form here.
About LaharFlow
LaharFlow is a modelling framework for hazard assessment that can be applied to shallow erosive surface flows of water and sediment, including glacial lake outburst floods, debris flows, lahars (volcanic mudflows), flash floods and wet landslides. LaharFlow solves the shallow layer equations including inertial terms (essential for energetic flows on steep topography) and incorporates processes of substrate erosion and particle deposition that are strong controls on the dynamics of energetic natural sediment flows. The LaharFlow webtools have in-built global 30 m SRTM topography, where experienced users can upload their own higher resolution topographic mapping.
Keynote speakers
Jeremy C Phillips
Reader in Physical Volcanology, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol
Jeremy C Phillips is a physical volcanologist with a physical science background in fluid dynamics and volcanic processes, including fundamental processes of explosive volcanic eruptions, and multiphase environmental flows. His broad interests include environmental hazards, risk, and resilience. Phillips’ main career focus has been the prediction of volcanic hazards and their impacts. He now works across disciplines to integrate hazard assessment with social and physical vulnerability, risk management structures and com-munity engagement, with social scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and statisticians. Phillips is currently involved in multidisciplinary projects on hazard assessment. These projects include the development of freely available hazard assessment tools for volcanic plumes and lahar hazard, and in-country workshops with communities and stakeholders.

Bringing meaning to statistical practice in climate science using R
2021-08-18 - 2021-08-26 | Online and in-person
Objective
The Himalayan University Consortium’s (HUC) intensive summer school programme aims to provide participants with an overview of key statistical concepts in environmental science, and hands-on experience in the use of statistical methods for weather and climate data analysis using R.
Participants will learn how to apply statistical methods and R to analyze weather and climate data of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
The Summer School will be held over seven days, punctuated by a self-study break. The programme is also expected to serve as a springboard for the HUC Thematic Working Group on My Climate Risk, as part of the WCRP’s Lighthouse Activity of the same name, in which HUC is a collaborating partner.
Expected participants
HUC’s Summer School caters to undergraduate students of advanced years or MSc/ME/MA students who have completed at least one course in statistics, and who are interested in pursuing study in climate science. The programme is also open for students and early-career faculty members who wish to sharpen their analytical and critical thinking skills and meaning-making in the use of statistics.
HUC’s Summer School caters to undergraduate students of advanced years or MSc/ME/MA students have completed at least one course in statistics, and who are interested in pursuing studies in climate science. The programme is also open for students and early-career faculty members who wish to sharpen their analytical and critical thinking statistical skills.
This training is open to students from Bhutan, Nepal, and Pakistan. From each country, fifteen participants will be selected on the basis of merit.
The summer school is free of charge for selected participants. Those who are willing to travel and stay at the in-person locations during the programme will be provided with modest logistics support.
Female students and faculty and members from under-represented communities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Platform and in-person sessions
The programme will adopt a hybrid modality – combining online lectures and in-person sessions at the co-hosting institutions. Ted Shepherd will be delivering virtual lectures. In-person sessions in Bhutan will be conducted by Dechen Lhamo Gyeltshen, supervised by Om Katel, Niraj Poudyal in Nepal, and Lubna Naz in Pakistan.
The in-person component will be organized with COVID-19 precautions in consideration of participants’ health and safety. We will implement social distancing norms during the programme and expect that participants will follow all public health guidelines and take personal safety precautions.

FLYER

Instructors/Facilitators

Theodore Shepherd FRS
Grantham Professor of Climate Science
University of Reading, UK
Theodore (Ted) Shepherd is a climate scientist who specializes in large-scale atmospheric dynamics, including atmospheric circulation regimes. In recent years, his interest has focused on how to characterize the uncertainty in this aspect of climate change, including extreme events, which led to the development of ‘storyline’ approaches. Shepherd is engaged in inter-disciplinary collaborations and the challenge of bringing meaning to climate information. He also co-leads the World Climate Research Programme’s new Lighthouse Activity ‘My Climate Risk’.

Dechen Lhamo Gyeltshen
University of Reading
(In charge at the CNR Campus, Bhutan)
Dechen Lhamo Gyeltshen is a third-year student, studying BSc Meteorology and Climate at the University of Reading, UK. She graduated from Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School (Thimphu, Bhutan) in 2017, with a focus on science and math. Following her passion for space weather and extra-terrestrial meteorology, Gyeltshen pursued Meteorology, while also picking up an interest in programming (Python and R) and climate change studies.
She will be a teaching assistant to Ted Shepherd for this summer programme.

Om Katel
Dean, Research and Industrial Linkages
College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan
Om Katel teaches courses on natural resources management, statistics, climate change adaptation and mitigation, integrated watershed management, and other related courses on environmental conservation. He is also a visiting researcher at the Nagoya University, Japan, and a fellow of HUC’s Asia Pacific Water Leadership Programme in April 2018, which was funded by South Asia Water Initiative II (The World Bank). Katel has a wide range of research interests and substantial experiences in conservation and management, climate change adaptation, and the dynamics of ecosystems linking climate change and development.

Niraj Poudyal
Assistant Professor of Econometrics,
Program Coordinator (Economics) Kathmandu University School of Arts
Niraj Poudyal teaches econometrics and macroeconomics at the graduate and undergraduate level. His research areas include statistical adequacy of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium, and dynamic models based on multivariate student’s t distribution and time series analysis. Poudyal also teaches R with econometrics and data visualization sessions and developed R packages for estimating models. He has extensive experience in running computationally heavy simulations in R for identification tests and risk forecasting in financial markets. He authored the book ‘Disability Atlas for Nepal’ with GIS mapping techniques within R. Poudyal is a PhD graduate from Virginia Tech, USA with a focus on econometrics.

Lubna Naz
Assistant Professor at Department of Economics
Institute of Business Administration Karachi, Pakistan
Lubna Naz teaches advanced economic statistics, applied economics, and development economics to undergraduate and graduate students. Naz set up the Interdisciplinary Research and Statistical Analysis Lab (KU-LISA) at the University of Karachi in collaboration with the University of Colorado Boulder, USA, and has conducted workshops on data visualization, research proposal writing, and survey data analysis at KU-LISA. She has published her research on environmental health, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission, child nutrition, and maternal healthcare in reputable international journals. Naz has a Ph.D. in Economics from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.

From global to local: Bringing meaning to climate change through storylines
2021-08-20 | Online via MS Teams
About the lecture
As part of his lecture series during the HUC Summer School – Bringing meaning to statistical practice in climate science using R, Professor Ted Shepherd FRS, will be speaking on climate change in local and global contexts, and discussing ways to bring meaning to climate change at the local scale in the form of “storylines”.
VIEW FLYER

From Ted Shepherd –
Climate change is a global phenomenon, driven by global forces. Yet for each of us, climate change manifests itself at a local scale, and is shaped by the particular and contingent nature of our local environment, including its human-managed aspects. As one proceeds from the global to the local scale, the physical principles that are so powerful for providing a scientific explanation of climate change at the global scale lose much of their explanatory power. The Indian scholar Sheila Jasanoff has argued that the process of abstraction in climate science “detaches knowledge from meaning”. The Indian writer Amitav Ghosh suggests that in order to represent the “uncanny” nature of climate change, we need to tell stories, which are a traditional form of meaning-making in particular and contingent situations. In this lecture I will describe some ways of bringing meaning to climate change at the local scale in the form of “storylines”.
Attendance is limited and by invitation only. If you are interested in attending, please register here.

About the speaker
Theodore Shepherd FRS
Grantham Professor of Climate Science, Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, UK
Theodore (Ted) Shepherd is a climate scientist who specializes in large-scale atmospheric dynamics, including atmospheric circulation regimes. In recent years, his interest has focused on how to characterize the uncertainty in this aspect of climate change, including extreme events, which led to the development of the ‘storyline’ approaches. Shepherd is engaged in inter-disciplinary collaborations and the challenge of bringing meaning to climate information. He also co-leads World Climate Research Programme’s new Lighthouse Activity ‘My Climate Risk’, in which HUC is a collaborating partner.
My Climate Risk
My Climate Risk is an activity that develops and mainstreams a ‘bottom-up’ approach to regional climate risk, starting from the decision context and enables relevant climate information to be brought into that context. The term ‘risk’ here refers to the combination of hazard, vulnerability and exposure that is particular to a given regional context. By developing a new framework for assessing and explaining regional climate risk using all the available sources of climate information, the activity aims to make climate information meaningful at the local scale. While the application of the framework will be specific and tailored to local concerns, it will also be generic, flexible and applicable across a number of region types and is intended to become a much-needed support for the development of climate services.

About the dicussant-and-moderator
Ulka Kelkar
Director, Climate Programme, World Resources Institute (WRI) India
Ulka Kelkar is an economist with two decades of experience in climate change research, capacity building and outreach. She leads WRI India’s work on climate policy which aims to support India’s pathway to a climate-resilient low-carbon economy through judicious national policies, carbon market mechanisms, and effective implementation in states and cities. Before joining WRI India, she worked as a consultant climate assessment specialist for the Asian Development Bank, and as a research fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE).

Agenda

Time
Programme
Speakers

13:45–13:50
Welcome and introduction
Chi H Truong (Shachi),
Programme Coordinator and Secretariat Lead, The Himalayan University Consortium, ICIMOD

13:50–14:50
From global to local: Bringing meaning to climate change through storylines
Ted Shepherd FRS,
Grantham Professor of Climate Science, University of Reading, UK

14:50–15:00
E-break

15:00–15:45
Roundtable discussion: Local perceptions of climate change in the Hindu Kush Himalaya
Moderated by:
Ulka Kelkar,
Director, Climate Programme, World Resources Institute (WRI) India
Panelists
Shahrin Mannan, Programme Coordinator-Resilience Programme, International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), Dhaka, Bangladesh
Om Katel, Dean, Research and Industrial Linkages, College of Natural Resources, Royal University of Bhutan
Santosh Nepal, Water and Climate Specialist, Water and Air, ICIMOD, Nepal

Storying climes of the Himalaya, Andes, and Arctic: Anthropogenic water bodies, multispecies vulnerability, and sustainable living
2021-10-09 - 2021-10-14 | Online via MS Teams
Organizers: Himalayan University Consortium; In partnership with My Climate Risk, a lighthouse activity of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP)
Co-hosted by Royal Thimphu College (Royal University of Bhutan) and Yunnan University
Himalayan University Consortium in partnership with My Climate Risk, a lighthouse activity of World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) organizes a publishing workshop – Storying climes of the Himalaya, Andes, and Arctic: Anthropogenic water bodies, multispecies vulnerability, and sustainable living. Details of the publishing workshop are given below.
Context
The Himalaya, the Andes, and the Arctic/tundra play a critical role in the hydrological cycle of the earth with their waters (in both solid and liquid forms), and in shaping multispecies habitats and cultural heritages within the biospheres fed by their waters. At the same time, they are experiencing new risks and degradation due to global climate change, such as melting ice, species extinction, and radical transformations of ecosystems and livelihoods. As a global outreach effort of the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) for comparative studies of climate change in the earth’s altitudinal and latitudinal highlands, this workshop invites social and natural scientists, humanities scholars, graduate students, and development specialists to share their interdisciplinary-intended documentations and discussions of historical and contemporary narratives of climate knowledge in habitat-specific life communities in these three world regions.
Workshop and publication formats
Consisting of 4-5 thematic sessions, the workshop is a combination of thematic keynote talks by prominent scientists and scholars, individual presentations of original research papers, and peer discussions. The workshop organizers are committed to co-exploring the multifaceted meanings of clime and climate change, and creatively co-producing comparative implications from the interdisciplinary thought-exchanges among participants in both theoretical and policy terms. At the conclusion of the workshop, the designated publishing editors will work closely with participants to revise their papers for publication as a journal special issue or an edited book. Please refer the event brochure for details on the keynote speakers and conveners.
Topical themes
Framed by the interconnected topical themes of water bodies (glaciers, lakes, and rivers), multispecies vulnerability (humans, animals, plants, culturally animated landforms, and traditionally revered deities and supernatural beings), and knowledge of sustainable living (local and global), we welcome papers addressing, but not limited to, the following topics contextualized in watery climes: indigenous histories of water, human affective consciousness of water, climate knowledge in indigenous meteorology, local memories as proxies of climate change, local climate knowledge absent the word “climate”, climate incarnate as seasons and weather, mountains as water bodies, the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau as a monsoon maker, geopoetics of glaciers, nonhuman nations/geographies, multispecies relational ontology, the Little Ice Age (1300s-1800s) and human/nonhuman migrations, modern hyperseparation of water and land, anthropogenic effects of modern borders, conservation values of indigenous animistic landforms and water bodies, water as an agent of environmental peacebuilding, and emerging new environmental ethics. CONCEPT NOTEAGENDA

Conveners

Dan Smyer Yu
Kuige Professor of Ethnology, Yunnan University
International Faculty Member, University of Cologne
Dan Smyer Yu is the Kuige Professor of Ethnology, School of Ethnology and Sociology and the National Centre for Borderlands Ethnic Studies in Southwest China at Yunnan University, and an international faculty member of the University of Cologne, Germany. He received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of California at Davis in 2006. Currently he is the co-lead of HUC’s Thematic Working Group on Himalayan Environmental Humanities, an elected board member of International Society for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, a member of the Advisory Board of Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, and the Series Editor of Routledge Environment, Multispecies Indigeneity and Borderland Series. He is the author of Mindscaping the Landscape of Tibet: Place, Memorability, Eco-aesthetics (De Gruyter 2015), and the co-editor of Trans-Himalayan Borderlands: Livelihoods, Territorialities, Modernities (Amsterdam University Press 2017), Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability (Routledge 2021), and Yunnan-Burma-Bengal Corridor Geographies: Protean Edging of Habitats and Empires (Routledge 2021).

Arupjoyoti Saikia
Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Arupjyoti Saikia is the Professor of History in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati. His teaching and research interests are in the field of Assam’s economic and environmental history. A post-doctoral fellow of Yale University, he has held visiting fellow positions at Cambridge University; University of London; Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla; and University of Calcutta.
His book The Unquiet River: An Environmental History of the Brahmaputra (Oxford University Press, 2019) was short-listed for Kamala Devi Chattopadhayay Book Award in 2020 and long listed for Atta Galatta– Bangalore Literature Festival Book Prize. This book got Honorable Mention for Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize in 2021 by the Association of Asian Studies. Saikia’s other published works include Forests and Ecological History of Assam, 1826-2000 (Oxford University Press, 2011) and A Century of Protests: Peasant Politics in Assam since 1900 (Rutledge, 2014).

Jelle J.P. Wouters
Associate Professor, Department of Social Sciences
Royal Thimphu College
Jelle J.P Wouters is a social anthropologist and the Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences, Royal Thimphu College, Bhutan. He holds an M.Pil. in social anthropology from the University of Oxford and a Ph.D. in anthropology from the NorthEastern Hill University, Shillong, where he was also a Wenner-Gren grantee. Prior to joining RTC in 2015, he taught at Sikkim Central University, India, and was a visiting faculty at Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, Germany, under the “Excellence Initiative” of the German Research Foundation. He is the author of In the shadows of Naga Insurgency (OUP 2018) and Nagas as a society against voting and other Essay (Highlander Books 2019), and the co-editor of Nagas in the 21st Century (Highlander Books 2017) and Democracy in Nagaland: Tribes, Traditions, and Tensions (Highlander Books 2018).
Keynote profiles

Sunil Amrith
Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History
Department of History, Yale University
Sunil Amrith is the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History, and current chair of the South Asian Studies Council. His research focuses on the movements of people and the ecological processes that have connected South and Southeast Asia. Amrith’s areas of interest include environmental history, the history of migration, and the history of public health. He is a 2017 MacArthur Fellow, and recipient of the 2016 Infosys Prize in Humanities. Amrith’s most recent book, Unruly Waters (Basic Books and Penguin UK, 2018), was shortlisted for the 2019 Cundill Prize, and was reviewed in Nature, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Review of Books. His previous book, Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants (Harvard University Press, 2013) was awarded the American Historical Association’s John F. Richards Prize in South Asian History in 2014, and was selected as an Editor’s Choice title by the New York Times Book Review. He is also the author of Migration and Diaspora in Modern Asia (Cambridge University Press, 2011), and Decolonizing International Health: South and Southeast Asia, 1930-1965 (Palgrave, 2006), as well as articles in journals including the American Historical Review, Past and Present, The Lancet and Economic and Political Weekly. Amrith serves on the editorial boards of the American Historical Review and Modern Asian Studies, and he is one of the series editors of the Princeton University Press book series, Histories of Economic Life.

Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen
Associate Professor of Techno Anthropology
Aalborg University, Denmark
Astrid Oberborbeck Andersen is the Associate Professor of techno-anthropology at Aalborg University. Her research centers on human environment relations and how to make anthropological perspectives matter in interdisciplinary research on ecosystems, environmental relations, and climatic crises, as well as in public life. Her research is based on detailed and critical ethnography, and she has extensive fieldwork experience in Peru and Greenland. She has published on themes such as water politics, wildlife and environmental management, technologies and controversies, and multispecies relations. She is a coeditor of the book Anthropology Inside Out. Fieldworkers taking note (Sean Kingston Publishing 2020) and the forthcoming anthology Rubber Boots Methods for the Anthropocene: Curiosity, Collaboration, and Critical Description in the Study of Multispecies Worlds (University of Minnesota Press, 2022). Since 2018, Astrid is chairing the board of Antropologforeningen i Danmark, the Danish Anthropology Association. Anderson holds a PhD in social anthropology from the University of Copenhagen.

Karsten Paerregaard
Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Karsten Paerregaard is the Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at School of Global Studies. University of Gothenburg, where he took up the position as chair Professor of Social Anthropology in 2012. He has previously worked at University of Copenhagen and the Danish Institute of International Studies. Paerregaard has been the principal investigator of several research projects and been granted research funding numerous times in Sweden and Denmark. He has also been research fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC and at Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Uppsala and has twice been visiting Professor at University of Florida. Paerregaard’s ethnographic field research has been centered in Peru where he has worked for almost 40 years.
It also includes multi-sited fieldwork among Peruvian migrants in North America, Southern Europe, Japan, and Argentina and Chile. Paerregaard’s research interests and publications cover such topics as ecology, water and irrigation, livelihoods, social organization, power and inequality, religious denominations, ritual activities, ethnicity and indigeneity, and cosmology and offering practices.
Currently, his research is focused on the intersection between migration, environment, climate and culture in the Peruvian Andes. His books include Linking Separate Worlds. Urban Migrants and Rural Lives in Peru, Berg (1997); Peruvians Dispersed. A Global Ethnography of Migration, Lexington (2008); and Return to Sender. The Moral Economy of Peru’s Migrant Remittances, UC Press(2015). He has recently completed a book manuscript titled Andean Meltdown. A Climate Ethnography of Water, Power and Culture in Peru, which examines the impact of climate change on water management and mountain worship in the Peruvian Andes and which currently is reviewed by an American university press. Paerregaard has also published extensively in international journals, recently in HAU. Journal of Ethnographic Research (2020), Environmental Communication (2020), Water International (2020), Water Alternatives (2019), Climate and Development (2018) and WIRE’s Water (2018).

Communicating indigenous and ancestral knowledge for climate actions in Amazonia, Andes and Hindu-Kush Himalaya
2021-11-05 | 3rd Capacity-building Hub within COP26 (Blue zone) Glasgow, UK, United Kingdom
Background
This learning café foregrounds the communication issues around indigenous and ancestral knowledge in the Andes, the Amazon, and the Himalaya to ensure that they are recognized and fully incorporated into state policies and actions in the fight against climate change. Through this session, we seek to bring greater recognition of the efforts of indigenous peoples towards sustainability, adaptation, co-existence with nature, stewardship, and conservation.

Objectives

Exchange successful experiences in climate change adaptation through the application of indigenous and ancestral knowledge, wisdom, science, and technology promoted in the Andes, Peruvian Amazon, and Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
Present common challenges of indigenous peoples and women in the face of climate change in Latin America as well as Asia.
Enhance awareness of the threats to the collective rights of indigenous peoples by the Peruvian state’s policies and norms, linked to the breakdown and dispossession of territories to prioritize activities that exacerbate the climate crisis. Propose the law of nature as a holder of rights and subject of protection.
Introduce communication needs and innovative methods in communicating indigenous and ancestral knowledge for climate action at the local level.

Session structure
The session will focus on two themes: (1) experiences, challenges, and threats concerning indigenous and ancestral knowledge and rights in the Amazon, Andes, and HKH and (2) communication methods to promote indigenous and ancestral knowledge for effective climate action and to address issues.
Three ONAMIAP women leaders will share interventions on adaptation and mitigation that are being carried out in their respective territories and in the national context. Two of the speakers will communicate with supporting media material in their native language. English subtitles will be available.
Additionally, the ONAMIAP’s legal advisor will share the experiences of indigenous women from the perspective of the Peruvian national legal framework on climate change.
The session will shed light on how indigenous women in the Andean and Amazonian areas of Peru have been using their knowledge, science, and ancestral technology for climate adaptation and mitigation. We will also reflect on the policies and the internal regulatory framework that the Peruvian state has been implementing to break and dispossess territories in favour of third parties, thereby increasing and accelerating the climate crisis. In this context, we seek to evaluate the progress and challenges by presenting proposals that seek to resolve conflicts from the perspective of indigenous rights, the theoretical contributions of indigenous peoples about nature as a right holder and subject of protection, and intercultural dialogue.
The session will introduce a local-level communication strategy for the effective dissemination of indigenous and ancestral knowledge and technology, with a focus on developing compelling programmes for local radios, appealing to young local broadcasters using local indigenous language.
This will be followed by an introduction to how photography or art can improve indigenous women’s communication skills at a graphic level so that they can transmit indigenous knowledge and their demands in an effective way to decision makers, and thus contribute to the mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
This participatory dynamic is attractive for the participants because they will be able to learn or improve their ways of communicating, creating greater margins of action for when there are situations of risk, and the ability to have the rest of society as an audience, especially the scientific community and the government. On the other hand, it is attractive to the public because after generating that base of empathy during the café, they will see the interaction and graphic work of the participating indigenous women, seeing their messages first-hand. The session will be delivered in English and Spanish.

Programme
Speakers

Name
Theme/title

Melania Canales, President, ONAMIAP
Political and social context of Peru and the work of ONAMIAP in the area of climate change

Mayra Macedo, OCIDMUSHI- ONAMIAP
Experiences of indigenous women to help mitigate and adapt to climate change

Karen Huere, OMIASEC- ONAMIAP
Experiences of indigenous women to help mitigate and adapt to climate change

Zulma Villa, Legal advisor, ONAMIAP
Threats to indigenous peoples rights and challenges for the states in the face of climate change

Suman Basnet, President, AMARC-Asia Pacific
Creative methods for communicating indigenous and ancestral knowledge through community radios

Udayan Mishra, Knowledge Management and Networking Officer, ICIMOD
Expressing indigenous and ancestral knowledge through art and photography

Moderators

Name/Organization
Role

Chi Huyen Truong, Himalayan University Consortium (HUC)
Co-facilitating the session and setting the scene

Binaya Raj Shivakoti, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES)
Co-facilitating the session and setting the scene

How can technology help improve climate adaptation and resilience?
2021-11-08 | UK Pavilion, COP26 Glasgow, United Kingdom
Background
The Walker Institute at the University of Reading, a Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) Associate Member, in partnership with Microsoft is organizing a side event at the UK Pavilion at COP26 Glasgow focusing on the role of technology in climate adaptation and resilience. Pema Gyamtsho, Director General of ICIMOD, and HUC Steering Committee chairpersons will highlight the use of technology in ICIMOD’s works for climate adaptation and resilience and HUC’s role in facilitating productive partnerships for climate action.

Name
Institutional affiliation

Alberto Arribas-Herranz
Microsoft Sustainability Science Lead for Europe

Rosalind Cornforth
Director, Walker Institute, University of Reading

Pema Gyamtsho
Director General, ICIMOD

Chair

Andrew Harper
Special Advisor on Climate Action, UNHCR

ICIMOD programmes make use of technology to improve climate adaptation and resilience in the Hindu Kush Himalayas

GeoKrishi
iHeritage
Koshi Basin Information System

Communicating science for policy making
2021-12-21 - 2021-12-22 | Dhulikhel, Nepal, Nepal
About the workshop
The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) is organizing a one-day workshop that will focus on repackaging scientific work into succinct, accessible, and understandable two-page policy briefs. The workshop will help participants – senior researchers and scholars in the natural and social sciences – understand policy formulation processes and effective means of reaching policy makers. Invited speakers – environmental journalists and policy makers – will share their experiences interacting with scientists and incorporating scientific findings in their work. Participants will learn how to synthesize research findings and recommendations to achieve desired outcomes at the policy level.
VIEW FLYER
Background
Policy making is a complex, interactive, and iterative process influenced by diverse factors and interests. The impact of evidence generated by scientists – crucial to policy making – can remain limited if the evidence is not packaged well or effectively communicated to policy makers. Good science feeds impactful policies, but given the vastly different mechanisms, languages, and mandates in the science and policy-making spheres, it is important to bridge the divide with targeted, effective communication. Scientific literature needs to be synthesized into accessible, focused communication materials and delivered using new platforms and media so that policy makers can easily use to navigate through pressing issues.
Agenda
Day 1 – Tuesday, 21 December 2021

Time (NPT)
Programme

14:00
Check-in at Himalaya Drishya Resort, Dhulikhel – Achala Sharma, ICIMOD

17:00
Registration

18:00-20:00
Orientation – Achala Sharma, ICIMOD
Reception dinner

20:00-21:00
Introduction of participants and speakers – Chi H Truong (Shachi), ICIMOD
Keynote presentation on challenges and prospects of communicating scientific knowledge to policy makers – Alok K Bohara, University of New Mexico

Day 2 – Wednesday, 22 December 2021

Time (NPT)
Programme

09:00-09:30
Transfer from hotel to Kathmandu University Dhulikhel campus

09:30–09:40
Opening remarks – Chi H Truong (Shachi), ICIMOD
bjectives of the workshop – Chandra Lal Pandey, Kathmandu University

09:40–10:00
Science, policy, and practice: Experiences in urban planning – Kriti Kusum Joshi, City Planning Commission, Kathmandu Metropolitan City

10:00–10:20
Media, scientific knowledge, and policy making: Reflections from Himalaya region – Ramesh Bhushal, The Third Pole

10:20–10:50
Group discussion

10:50–11:00
Group photo and coffee break

11:00–12:30
session 1
How to repackage scientific writing into a two-page policy brief – Chandra Lal Pandey, Kathmandu University, and Rachana Chettri, ICIMOD

12:30–13:30
Lunch break

13:30–14:30
session 2
Presenting your research findings and bringing scientific knowledge into politics and policy making – Chandra Lal Pandey, Kathmandu University, and Ramesh Bhushal, The Third Pole

Practical session 3
Writing desk and pairwise review – Chandra Lal Pandey, Kathmandu University, and Rachana Chettri, ICIMOD
Stakeholder Mapping – Simon Russell, Policy Associate, PolicyBristol, The University of Brisotl
Participants’ evaluation of the workshop
Closing remarks: Reflections on bridging science–policy–practice – Mani Nepal, ICIMOD

Himalayan University Consortium Nepal Country Chapter meeting
2021-12-22 - 2021-12-23 | Dhulikhel, Nepal, Nepal
About the meeting
The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) is a growing network of universities within and outside of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region, aiming to promote regional and global collaboration in research and education for sustainable mountain futures. In Nepal, two new members – Nepal Open University and Far Western University – have recently joined the Consortium, bringing the total number of university members to six (out of 12 universities in the country). An increasing number of Nepali researchers have taken part in HUC’s capacity building programmes in the past two years. Some Nepali scholars have co-led various thematic working groups and cross-cutting workgroups.
HUC’s previous country chapter meeting took place on 11-12 August 2018 in Pokhara, generously hosted by Pokhara University. This country chapter meeting on 23 December 2021, will be hosted by Kathmandu University at its Dhulikhel campus, and will bring together Vice Chancellors (VCs), Deans and focal persons to review recent activities of the Consortium in the region and in Nepal and deliberate on the future and sustainability of the network.
This meeting is convened by Prof. Bim Prasad Shrestha, HUC Steering Committee Member, Kathmandu University, and coordinated by the HUC Secretariat, ICIMOD.
View Flyer

Objectives

Review current activities by HUC members, Thematic Working Groups and fellows in Nepal
Discuss potential collaboration and synergy amongst HUC members in Nepal and between Nepal’s members and other Consortium’s members
Engage University Grants Commissions Nepal in pursuit of mountain-focused, HKH-specific higher education agenda of the Consortium
Handover of the Steering Committee membership by the current Steering Committee member, Prof. Bim Prasad Shrestha, to the incoming SCM, Prof. Tri Ratna Bajracharya, Tribhuvan University

Expected participants

VCs of HUC members and incoming members
Two representatives from each of HUC members
Representatives of HUC Thematic Working Groups and fellows
Invited guests from the University Grants Commissions and UNESCO Nepal

Agenda

Time (NPT)
Programme
Facilitators/ Resource persons

Wednesday, 22 December 2021

14:00
Check-in at Himalaya Drishya Resort, Dhulikhel
Achala Sharma, Programme Associate, HUC, ICIMOD

17:30
Registration
Achala Sharma

18:00–20:00
Orientation and reception dinner
Welcome remarks by Bim Prasad Shrestha,
Kathmandu University, HUC Steering Committee Member
Introduction and expectations of participants
HUC in Nepal through fellows’ perspectives

Biraj Singh Thapa, Kathmandu University, Co-lead, HUC Thematic Working Group on Energy
Rashila Deshar, Tribhuvan University, Fellow and Grantee

One participant from the workshop on Communicating science for policy making

Thursday, 23 December 2021

9:00
Transfer from hotel to Kathmandu University Dhulikhel campus
Achala Sharma, ICIMOD

9:30–9:40
Opening remarks – Bhola Thapa, Vice Chancellor, Kathmandu University
Uddhab Pyakurel, Associate Director, Global Engagement Division, Kathmandu University

9:40–10:00
The role of University Grants Commission in nurturing excellence in higher education for Nepal – Bhim Prasad Subedi, Chairperson, UGC Nepal (TBC)
UNESCO initiatives for SDG 4.7 – Balaram Timalsina, Chief of Education, UNESCO Nepal

Group photo

10:00 – 11:30
World Cafe: Exploring potential for collaborations amongst HUC members in Nepal
Participants will rotate across four stations sharing information about their university, focusing on thematic areas of research and training, resources, partnership, and potential synergy.
Coffee and refreshments will be served during the World Cafe
Singh Thapa, Kathmandu University;
Amina Maharjan, Senior Specialist Livelihoods & Migration, Livelihoods, ICIMOD;
Rajesh Bahadur Thapa, Remote Sensing and Geoinformation Specialist, Geospatial Solutions, ICIMOD;
Santosh Raj Pathak Partnership Officer, Strategic Cooperation, ICIMOD;
Sunita Chaudhary, Ecosystem Services Specialist, Ecosystem Services, ICIMOD

11:30–12:00
Summary of World Cafe
5 minutes for each station and 10 minutes for Q&A

12:00–13:00
Lunch break

13:00–14:30
Parallel workgroup
Group 1 – HUC Visioning Exercise
Vice Chancellors, Steering Committee Members and invited guests from UGC and UNESCO Nepal review half-way implementation of the HUC Strategy 2018-2025 and discuss medium future of the Consortium, including sustainability pathway.
Bim P Shrestha, Kathmandu University;
Tri Ratna Bajracharya, Professor, Tribhuvan University;
Madan Koirala, Professor, Tribhuvan University, and
Santosh R Pathak

Group 2 – Member consultation regarding higher education and graduate competency for sustainable mountain futures
Focal persons and fellows to share information about their university and knowledge and experience on current and future curricula
Ganga Gautam, Director, Open and Distance Education Center (ODEC), Tribhuvan University;
Amina Maharjan; Rajesh B Thapa; Sunita Chaudhary; Shachi Truong

14:30–15:00
Presentation of groupwork and discussion
Summary of key action points
Bim P Shrestha and Tri Ratna Bajracharya

15:00–15:30
Tea/coffee break

15:30–16:30
Global aspirations, leadership transition, and closing
Rethinking Global in Higher Education in Nepal – Ashok Gurung, Professor, Julien J. Studley Graduate Program of International Affairs at the New School, New York, and HUC Steering Committee Member
Revisit participants’ expectation of the meeting
Handover of Steering Committee membership
Closing remarks – Tri Ratna Bajracharya
Votes of thanks – Chi H Truong
Uddhab Pyakurel

Cryosphere hazards and society in Bhutan and Pakistan AND HUC’s TWG on Cryosphere and Society
2022-03-28 - 2022-03-29 | LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan
About the workshop and meeting
The workshop will review the work of stakeholders in the field of cryosphere science in Bhutan and Pakistan, particularly members of HUC. During this workshop, the HUC Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Cryosphere and Society will present their work, including an introduction to modelling and field methods and the potential for upscaling. The TWG will also share ongoing work in Bhutan and the Upper Indus basin on climate change impacts on livelihoods, ecosystems, hydrosphere, and cryosphere.
The first half of the workshop will focus on the ongoing project led by the University of Bristol. Our partners will then present their work, which will provide an overview of the ongoing challenges related to cryosphere hazards and society in the Hindu Kush Himalaya.
The first meeting of the core group of HUC’s TWG on Cryosphere and Society took place in March 2021. This follow-up meeting will update members of the progress and consolidate the Group’s governance structure and draft a concrete workplan for 2022.
The two events pay close attention to the diversity of stakeholders and unites academics and practitioners from across the region.

Expected outputs
In addition to a consolidated governance structure for HUC’s TWG on Cryosphere and Society, this workshop will contribute to the following three outputs:

A mapped potential partner landscape in cryosphere hazards and society for the UIB. This will be useful for ICIMOD and partners to navigate the field. HUC has already fostered several exchanges between partners in Pakistan, which has prepared the ground for future collaborations and strengthened our role as a knowledge broker.
A brief outline of the knowledge gaps and needs in the field of cryosphere, hazards, and society in the HKH and a draft roadmap for future research and action.
A tailored infrastructure risk assessment tool and its application in the region, which will be presented and discussed during the workshop.

Expected participants
In-person participants include social scientists from HUC and ICIMOD strategic knowledge partners in Pakistan: Karakoram International University (KIU); University of Punjab; LUMS, Lahore; Information Technology University, Lahore; University of Peshawar; University of Baltistan; COMSATS University Islamabad/Abbottabad; and Aga Khan Agency for Habitat’s (AKAH).
Virtual participants include members of HUC’s TWG on Cryosphere and Society in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, and HUC Associate Members in Europe, North America, and Central Asia. Selected representatives from fellow TWGs and cross-cutting workgroups will be attending as observers.

Background
The Upper Indus Basin is one of the most vulnerable basins when it comes to water and ice as a resource. It has been impacted by an exceptionally high number of hydrosphere-related disasters, including glacial lake outburst floods, debris flows, landslides, fluvial and pluvial floods, as well as rapid erosion and sedimentation. While a number of studies on hazards have looked into the physical processes associated with these disasters, investigations including impact assessments on both livelihoods and ecosystems, especially with the inclusion of local experiences and knowledge, are largely lacking. Under a completely different climate regime, Bhutan faces similar challenges in remoter headwaters. Multiple studies have documented devastating events and their impacts in the region; however, transdisciplinary approaches to address these are lacking.

Agenda
Arrival and orientation – Sunday, 27 March 2022

Time
Programme

17:00 – 17:30
Registration

18:00 – 20:00
Introduction and orientation
Reception dinner
Networking

Day 1 – Monday, 28 March 2022

Time
Programme
Speakers

12:30-13:30
Lunch

13:30–14:00
Welcome remarks
Opening remarks
Introduction to the program
Abubakr Muhammad, LUMS
Tahira Yasmin, PIASA
Amina Maharjan, ICIMOD

14:00–14:15
Presentation of the Cryosphere and Society TWG Project
Guy Howard, University of Bristol

14:15–14:45
Introduction to the social science methods (quantitative and qualitative) in exploring and understanding of cryosphere hazards
Rehmat Karim, KIU
Adian Flint, University of Bristol

14:45–15:15
Introduction to data collection from the physical side and presentation of preliminary findings
Garee Khan, KIU
Jeremy Phillips, University of Bristol

15:15–15:45
Presentation of the study in Bhutan
(Refreshments)
Deki Choden, Royal University of Bhutan
Chogyel Wangmo, Royal University of Bhutan

15:45–16:15
Presentation on previous cryo-hazard work in UIB – new developments, processes, and methods
Jakob Friedrich Steiner, ICIMOD

16:15–17:00
Discussion of synergies

17:00–17:20
HKH – Arctic connection: Experiences from linking research to indigenous knowledge
Jennifer Lukovich, University of Manitoba

Day 2 – Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Time
Programme
Speakers

10:00–10:20
Glacier-fed irrigation system vulnerabilities in UIB
Bashir Ahmad, PARC

10:20–10:40
Environmental and ecological implications of cryosphere changes and rapid development on species/habitats in HKH region in Pakistan
Zulfiqar Ali, Punjab University

10:40–11:00
The Cryosphere – Water Nexus in the Pamir
Roy Sidle, Mountain Societies Research Institute, University of Central Asia

11:00–11:20
Talk by AKAH
Refreshments
TBD, AKAH

11:20–11:40
TBD
Salar Ali, University of Baltistan

11:40–12:00
Snow research in the Upper Indus Basin
Jawairia Ashfaq Ahmad, LUMS

12:00–13:00
Review of tools to assess infrastructure risk to cryospheric hazards
Guy Howard, University of Bristol, and
Amina Maharjan, ICIMOD

13:00–14:00
Lunch break

14:00–15:00
Review of the LAHAR flow model
Jeremy Phillips, University of Bristol

15:00–16:00
Discussion around knowledge gaps and making science relevant for policy and practice
Amina Maharjan, ICIMOD

16:00-16:45
HUC’s TWGs and TWG on Cryosphere and Society
Chi Huyen Truong (Shachi), HUC-ICIMOD

16:45–17:00
Closing remarks
Vote of thanks
Philippus Wester, ICIMOD
Bhawana Syangden, ICIMOD

Climate risk and uncertainty in India
2022-05-12
About the webinar
Climate change is widely acknowledged as the single biggest threat to humanity. However, there is a large gap between the risks from climate change estimated by global models and how the risks are perceived by people at the local level, where climate change is one of the many factors involved in decision-making. My Climate Risk Hub for the Hindu Kush Himalaya under ICIMOD’s Himalayan University Consortium’s (HUC) is organizing a webinar to highlight this gap with a focus on the role of uncertainty across different spatio-temporal scales. The webinar is targeted at an interdisciplinary audience including scientists, social scientists, policymakers, and activists.
Speaker

Lyla Mehta
Professorial Fellow
Institute of Development Studies, UK
Lyla Mehta’s work focuses on climate change, uncertainty, and transformation. She uses the case of water and sanitation to focus on the politics of gender, scarcity, uncertainty, rights and access to resources, resource grabbing, and power and policy processes. Mehta leads the Belmont/Norface/EU/ISC project on ‘Transformations as praxis’ in South Asia and is also the co-editor of the journal Environment and Planning E. Her most recent books include Water for Food Security Nutrition and Social Justice and The Politics of Climate Change and Uncertainty in India.

Krishna Achutarao
Professor
Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Krishna Achutarao’s research focuses on using climate models to understand how the earth’s climate is affected by natural and anthropogenic factors. His current interests include attribution of extreme weather events, changing risk of extreme events under a warming climate. and adaptation to climate change. He has been associated with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2001 and was a lead author in the recently released Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) and the previous AR5 report.

Krishna Malakar
Assistant Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
Krishna Malakar’s research focuses on understanding the human dimensions of environmental and climate change such that it can inform policy and action. She is particularly interested in assessing the risk, vulnerability, and adaptation of communities to climate change. Malakar has presented her work in numerous conferences and published extensively in reputed journals. She holds a Ph.D. from the Interdisciplinary Programme in Climate Studies, IIT Bombay.

Somnath Baidya Roy
Professor
Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Somnath Roy uses regional climate models to study the interactions between land use/land cover and climate. His current research projects look at the carbon cycle over croplands of India and the effects of climate/climate change on forest fires. Roy is also the Chief Editor of Earth Systems Dynamics, an interdisciplinary journal of the European Geosciences Union.
Tentative agenda
Thursday, 12 May 2022 | 16:00-18:00 (IST)

Time (IST)
Programme
Speakers

16:00–16:05
Introduction to My Climate Risk in the Hindu Kush Himalaya
Somnath Roy, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

16:05–16:50
Panelists’ intervention
(15 minutes each)
Lyla Mehta, Professorial Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, UK
Krishna Achutarao, Professor, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
Krishna Malakar, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

16:50–17:05
Comments by the Chair
Somnath Baidya Roy, Professor, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

17:05–17:25
Roundtable

17:25–17:55
Q&A

17:55–18:00
Closing
Chi H Truong (Shachi), Programme Coordinator, Himalayan University Consortium, ICIMOD

The value of fermented ethnic foods and beverages
2022-06-04 - 2022-06-09 | Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal
About the lecture tour
Professor Jyoti Prakash Tamang, a world-renowned food scientist, and ICIMOD Mountain Chair (since 2019), is conducting a public lecture tour in Nepal from 4-9 June 2022. This lecture tour is focused on raising awareness, especially among the food and tourism sectors, on the importance of beneficial microorganisms in and the nutritional value of fermented ethnic foods and beverages. He will also be providing information about the various scholarships, fellowships, and grants provided by the Government of India for scientific collaboration with Nepal.
The lecture tour is hosted by Nepali Chaurasi Byanjan Pvt. Ltd., Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association, Kathmandu University, and ICIMOD.

Lecture tour dates

Date(NPT)
Location
Programme

5 June 2022
Jiri
Interact with homestay hosts and deliver a talk to the Ethnic Food Tourism ProgrammePresentation at the Food Technology College, Jiri

6 June 2022
Charikot
Interaction with local food producers

7 June 2022
Nepal Food Scientists and Technologists Association
Lecture on ‘Metataxonomic research in Himalayan fermented foods: New dimensions in research on disease and immunity boosters’, co-hosted by Kathmandu University

9 June 2022
All Nepal Chefs Conference, Kathmandu
Keynote address as chief guest

Teaching sustainability and localising the Sustainable Development Goals in the Hindu Kush Himalaya
2022-09-29 - 2022-12-23 | Online
About the training
The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), in partnership with Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, is organising a training that will introduce the key concepts of sustainability, sustainability science, sustainable development, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the context of the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region. Participants will be able to explore the interdisciplinary methods of inquiry and the transformative and experiential learning approaches to teaching these concepts at the university level.
The training will be delivered online, through a combination of synchronous lectures and asynchronous individual or pair/group learning activities. The training will commence in late September 2022 and conclude by late December 2022.
The programme is equivalent to three credits or 48 lecture hours, structured into two intertwining tracks – subject matters of sustainability and adult learning methodology.

Learning outcomes

Understand the key concepts of sustainability and sustainable development and basic principles of sustainability science in the HKH context
Learn about SDGs and understand why they must be translated or ‘localised’ in the mountain context
Understand the basic principles of adult learning
Acquire preliminary skills to facilitate transformative and experiential learning in universities

Eligibility
The following criteria must be met by applicants:

Applicants must have at least three years of continuous teaching experience at a university or college in the HKH region
Applicants must be teaching at least one subject concerning an aspect of sustainability
Applicants must have a concrete plan to apply the knowledge and skills from this training in their upcoming teaching at the home institution

25 participants will be selected from the eight HKH countries and adjunct or compatible regions through a competitive process.
Lecturers from HUC member universities, women, and members of under-represented communities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Eligible past HUC fellows can redeem their merit points, earlier accumulated in the HUC Online Portal, on the evaluation scale.
Interested in applying? Please fill this form by 19 September 2022.

Fees
USD 200
20 top-selected candidates based in the HKH countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Pakistan – will be offered a fee waiver.

Faculty
A team of core faculty members consisting of experienced educators and scholars in relevant fields will lead the planning for and execution of the training programme. Renowned speakers of a wide range of expertise in the region and beyond will be invited to selected sessions.

Award
An e-certificate will be conferred to participants who successfully complete the training and its requirements.
Fellows will be able to claim merit points in the HUC Online Portal and have subsequent access to the learning materials of and join the HUC fellow network with its academic exchange benefits.
Download The Flyer
For more information, please contact huc@icimod.org

Integrating gender and social inclusiveness in the curricula and governance of higher education institutions in Nepal
2022-11-13 - 2022-11-14 | Dhulikhel, Nepal, Nepal
About the workshop
The Himalayan University Consortium (HUC), Kathmandu Medical College (KMC), and KU School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS) are organising a workshop focusing on raising awareness of gender inequality and other forms of social exclusion among senior university administrators and healthcare professionals in Nepal. Participants will discuss practical pathways to integrate gender and social inclusiveness in the curricula and governance in higher education institutions in Nepal.
During the break-out sessions, healthcare professionals will be introduced to the current situation of gender inequality and social exclusion in the healthcare sector and will be discussing influencing factors, barriers, and challenges. Senior university administrators will be updated with key findings of a regional study on the state of gender and social inclusiveness in curricula among HUC members in the Hindu Kush Himalaya.

Outcomes
Upon completion of this workshop, participants will:

Achieve an understanding of the key concepts of gender, social inclusiveness, and intersectionality
Acquire preliminary skills to conduct a gender analysis applicable to their workplace and their professional practice
Explore practical pathways to address gender inequalities in their workplace, teaching, and practice
Identify the major needs and the process of planning and implementation of gender and social inclusiveness in institutional policy

Participants
Mid/senior scholars and administrators from HUC members in Nepal and healthcare professionals in Kathmandu University teaching hospitals will be participating in the workshop.

Organisers
The workshop is jointly organised by the HUC and KUSMS as part of the NOHRED-II Projects – ‘HydroHimalaya’ and ‘Strengthening academic capacity in physiotherapy education in Nepal’. A team of gender experts from the two organising institutions will lead the programme. Guest speakers include senior governmental officials, university administrators, and representatives from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) who will share experiences and best practices from Nepal and beyond.

Training on glacier modelling: Practical applications with the Open Global Glacier Model
2023-03-10 - 2023-03-16 | LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan, Pakistan
About the training
University of Innsbruck, University of Bremen, and Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) are co-organising a week-long training on glacier modelling and scientific programming using the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM). The training will focus on glaciers in High Mountain Asia and their roles in the hydrological system. The training has been organised by local and international experts in the fields of mountain glaciology and hydrology.
The Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM) is an open-source glacier modelling framework with the ability to simulate past and future mass balance, volume, and geometry of any glacier in the world. Applicable at the regional and global scales, it is used by several research groups around the world to better quantify and understand past and future glacier change. Its modular framework allows anyone to extend it with their own methods and ideas. By offering materials to teachers, its educational branch, OGGM-Edu, helps bring glacier science and glacier modelling closer to schools and universities.

Topics
The training will offer a balanced mix of lectures on the theory of glaciers and their modelling and practical sessions with the OGGM model. It will cover the following topics:

General introduction to glaciers
Climatic mass-balance: Processes and modelling

Practicals: Temperature index modelling with OGGM

Ice flow: Processes and modelling.

Practicals: Numerics of simple differential equations, flowline modelling with OGGM

Glacier system modelling: Glacier-climate interactions, coupling, uncertainties

Practicals: real glacier experiments with OGGM.

Regional hydrology with a focus on the Upper Indus Basin
Glaciers in the hydrosphere: Glacier runoff

Practicals: peak-water and runoff partitioning with OGGM

Scientific programming with the Python programming language and practising open-source software development on github
Excursion: Visit the LUMS campus and research facilities, outdoor field visit to relevant sites

Resource persons
Fabien Maussion (University of Innsbruck); Fahad Saeed (Climate Analytics Islamabad); Muhammad Abubakr (LUMS); Jakob Steiner and Anouk Vlug (University of Bremen); Jawairia Ashfaq (LUMS); Patrick Schmitt (University of Innsbruck); Muhammad Adnan Siddique (ITU Punjab); and Muhammad Shafeeque (University of Bremen)

Application procedure
Interested applicants should have (or be close to obtaining) a master’s degree in earth science, physics, mathematics, or equivalent. Previous knowledge of glaciers or programming is an advantage but is not required. However, we encourage you to have a basic knowledge of python programming before the training, if possible. Female researchers and practitioners and members of underrepresented communities are strongly encouraged to apply.
This call is for Pakistan-based applicants only.

Important dates
Application deadline: 07 February 2023
Announcement of selected participants: 22 February 2023

Workshop schedule

10 March 2023
Arrival of participants

11–15 March 2023
Classes, including a half day field visit excursion

16 March 2023
Departure

Costs
The programme is free of charge. For selected participants from organisations in Pakistan, the costs for domestic travel and lodging will be covered. Selected participants from international organisations based in Pakistan will need to request resources from their organisations.

Accommodation
LUMS guest houses on campus

Himalayan University Consortium Steering Committee meeting 2023
2023-04-26 | Lanzhou, China, China
Background
The Steering Committee is the Himalayan University Consortium’s (HUC) highest governing body. The committee’s meetings set the course of action for the consortium for the calendar year and track the progress of the implementation of HUC Strategy 2018–2025.
The 2023 meeting is critical for the committee to receive updates on ICIMOD’s Medium-Term Action Plan V (2023–2026) and the independent review commissioned by ICIMOD of its networks, including HUC. Apart from members’ business agenda items, the HUC Steering Committee will deliberate possible pathways for the sustainability of the consortium from 2025 onwards. This meeting will amplify across the HUC community the consortium’s vibrance and increased ownership.
The committee met in New Delhi in 2016, Canberra in 2017, and New York City in 2018. Following the key principle of HUC operation, all of the consortium’s activities will only take place on a resource-sharing basis. Lanzhou University has offered to host this Steering Committee meeting in April 2023, in conjunction with the International Forum of the Belt and Road University Alliance.

Objectives

HUC Steering Committee members will provide updates on the state of higher education for sustainability and the HUC Country Chapter formation process in their home country and post-COVID 19 challenges and opportunities for education for sustainable development
The HUC Secretariat will provide updates on the consortium’s collaborative capacity building, research, and publication
ICIMOD will provide updates on its Medium-Term Action Plan V (2023–2026) and the independent review it has commissioned of its networks
The Steering Committee will discuss major directions for the remaining two years of the HUC Strategy 2018–2025 and the pathway towards HUC’s sustainability from 2025 onwards

Proposed agenda
All timings are in China Standard Time (CST).
Tuesday, 25 April 2023

Wednesday, 26 April 2023
Chair: Pema Gyamtsho, Director General, ICIMOD
Rapporteur: Achala Sharma, Programme Associate, ICIMOD

Masterclass on food security assessment
2023-05-03 - 2023-06-16 | Online and in-person
About the masterclass
HUC is organising a masterclass on Food Security Assessment (FSA) with experts from the HKH region. This masterclass will introduce early career researchers and development workers from Bhutan, Nepal, and Northeast India to the concept and types of FSAs, equip them to develop and implement purposeful assessments, and communicate this effectively to various stakeholders. The training will take place online with field exposure. As part of this masterclass, participants will develop and conduct an assessment survey in their own locality/ community under the guidance of the masterclass trainers.

Objectives
The masterclass caters to early researchers, grassroots level workers (or developmental organisations), early or mid-career government officials from related departments. It is designed to:

Introduce the concepts and types of FSAs
Provide practical skills and knowledge to design and implement effective food security assessments in different contexts and settings
Build capacity on FSA data analysis and interpretation and effectively communicate the findings to various stakeholders, including policy makers and communities

Background
Communities across the world have been dependent on millets as a source of nutrition and sustenance for generations. Despite its potential to address food and nutritional security, the growth and consumption of millets have been declining. Of late, the value of millet has been recognised as critical in addressing food security, especially under current climate change scenarios. The UN FAO has designated 2023 as the International Year of Millets and various initiatives have been made by the national governments to promote this essential crop. For designing initiatives and formulating millet-related policies for long-term and meaningful impacts on the status of food security, it is important to understand the status of food security in any region, identify critical influencing factors, and understand how millets can supplement ongoing efforts in combating the issue of global food insecurity. In the HKH region, millet production although diminishing, has been an integral part of subsistence agriculture, ethnic culture, and livelihood.

Agenda
Session I (online)
Date: 3 May 2023
Duration: 1.5 hours
Session details: Introduction to FSA: FSA types, contextualising FSA, methodology for FSA
Home assignment for participants: Participants will reflect upon the learning from the session and identify the context and type of FSA to be conducted in their locality.

Session II (online) followed by fieldwork in the participants’ respective local areas
Date: 9 May 2023
Duration: 1.5 hours
Session details: Participants will make 5-minute presentations of the context and type of FSA they would like to conduct. This will be followed by an interactive session on designing of context-specific FSA tool.
Home assignment for participants: Participants will finalize the FSA tool in consultation with the trainer and conduct the FSA in their own locality. We will keep sample size small that is practical for completion in a one-week duration.
This will include regular follow-up with the participants during the week.

Session III
Date: 16 May 2023
Duration: 1.5 hours
Session details: Analysis and interpretation of the FSA survey. Participants will present the findings of the assessment, challenges, and experiences.
Home assignment for participants: Participants will develop the FSA report and submit it by 19 May 2023.

Himalayan policy writeshop
2023-05-23 - 2023-05-26 | Dhulikhel, Nepal, Nepal
About the event
Communities across the world have depended on millets, a group of cereal grains, as a source of nutrition and sustenance for generations. Despite the potential to address food and nutritional security, millet growth and consumption have been declining. Of late, the importance of millet has been recognised as critical in addressing food security, especially under the current climate change scenarios. The UN FAO has designated 2023 as the International Year of Millets and various initiatives have been made by national governments and development organisations to promote this important crop. In this context, the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC) is spearheading a campaign to help bring wider awareness about millet production and its significance in addressing food security among policymakers, the media, and the wider public. This writeshop is a follow up to the recently conducted masterclass on food security assessment and will bring together senior-level policymakers, academics, and other stakeholders from the Eastern Himalayan region (Northeast India, Bhutan, and Nepal) to develop policy briefs on millets for each region. The writeshop will be held in Kathmandu in conjunction with the meeting of HUC’s Thematic Working Group on Mountain Agriculture, which will set priorities for research collaboration, capacity building, and curriculum uptake among HUC member universities in the region.

Objectives

Build the capacity of selected country representatives to make concrete, policymaker-focused recommendations relevant to the national or sub-national contexts
Provide support to develop policy briefs which highlight policy, research, and knowledge gaps, as well as barriers and bottlenecks to millet revival and integration in Himalayan food systems
Bring together academics and policymakers to facilitate knowledge exchange, establish common understanding around millet production, and produce three country-specific national policy briefs
Build political awareness on the importance of millets from the perspective of food security and nutrition and indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage

Expected outcomes

Participant understanding around millet production and marketing will be established
Three country-specific policy briefs will be developed; the briefs will be concise and action oriented.

About the organisers
The Himalayan University Consortium is a network of 90 member universities in the eight Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) countries and outside of the HKH region. The Consortium aims to foster regional and international collaboration in innovative research and education for sustainable mountain futures in the region. Its Secretariat resides at the International Centre of Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu. The University of Reading’s (UK) School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, founded in 1892, has expertise spanning agriculture, animal science, international development, environmental management, food marketing and consumer behaviour. In the latest Research Excellence Framework, the School’s research was internationally recognised, with 91% of work in international development rated as internationally excellent, along with 80% of work in agriculture and agri-food economics. As part of the Green Resilient Agricultural Productive Ecosystems (GRAPE) project, ICIMOD is taking the lead in implementing GRAPE Field of Action (FA) 2 – action research – in Karnali and Sudurpashchim provinces of Nepal. GRAPE is jointly planned and financed by the European Union, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

Agenda

Time
Session

22 May 2023, Day 0 – Arrival

Participants arrive in Dhulikhel Meeting of organisers (16:00)

23 May 2023, Day 1 – Introduction, context, and preparation for the writeshop

09:30–10:30
Facilitator – Chi Huyen Truong (Shachi), Programme Coordinator, HUC Remarks – Grady Walker, University of Reading and Co-Lead, Thematic Working Group on Mountain Agriculture, HUC Remarks – Prasant Kumar Swain, Former Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmer Welfare, Government of India Overview of the writeshop – Chubamenla Jamir, Co-Lead, Thematic Working Group on Mountain Agriculture, HUC Introduction of participants

10:30–10:45
Tea & coffee

10:45–12:00
Remarks – Ken Shimizu, FAO Representative for Nepal and Bhutan Introduction to the International Year of Millets, FAO context – Arun G. C., Technical Expert, FAO GRAPE’s alignment in conservation and promotion of future smart food crops in HKH – Abid Hussain, Senior Economist and Food Systems Specialist, ICIMOD Heritage dimension of agriculture and diet – Hayley Saul, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Heritage for Global Challenges Research Centre, Department of Archaeology, University of York

12:00–12:30
Sharing expectations questions

12:30–13:30
Lunch

13:30–15:30
Food Security Assessment tools – Chubamenla Jamir

15:30–16:00
Tea & coffee

16:00–17:30
Stakeholder mapping (country teams) using influence/interest matrix Identifying policy objectives/outcomes Identifying key stakeholders/policymakers/bottlenecks Preparation for working in country teams Non-core writing participants depart

24 May 2023, Day 2 – Writeshop

09:30–10:45
Review template for policy brief Edit introductory sections (plenary) Overview of writing in groups

10:45–11:00
Tea & coffee

11:00–13:00
Divide into country teams and allocate sections based on mapping exercise

13:00–14:00
Lunch

14:00–15:30
Continue writing in country teams

15:30–16:00
Tea & coffee

16:00–17:00
Continue writing in country teams

17:00–17:30
Feedback to plenary on progress Questions Preparation for Day 3 Further team writing in the evening, if required

25 May 2023, Day 3 – Writeshop (half day) and meeting of the TWG on Mountain Agriculture (half day)

HUC TWG members arrive

09:30–10:45
Feedback on writing in groups and progress Country teams insert text into templates and revise

10:45–11:00
Tea & coffee

11:00–13:00
Reviewing the templates in plenary Crafting the conclusion and revisiting the introduction Final agreement on rough edit Responsibilities, roles, and feasibility to launch policy documents in respective countries Thank you and farewell to core writers who depart after lunch

13:00–14:00
Lunch (meet and greet with new arrivals for HUC TWG meeting)

14:00–15:30
Meeting of the TWG on Mountain Agriculture Introduction and welcome – Chi Huyen Truong (Shachi), Programme Coordinator, HUC – Grady Walker, University of Reading and Co-Lead, Thematic Working Group on Mountain Agriculture, HUC – Chubamenla Jamir, Co-Lead, Thematic Working Group on Mountain Agriculture, HUC Summary of the policy writeshop Updates on activities and research plans from TWG members – 10 min presentations on research, teaching, institution, etc from each HKH country (Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan)

15:30–16:00
Tea & coffee

16:00–17:00
Summary of activities from HUC TWG on Mountain Agriculture Open discussion: opportunities for collaboration

17:00–18:00
Work on action plans for TWGs moving forward Feedback from the TWG co-leads Discuss agenda for final day

26 May 2023, Day 4 – Field visits

09:30–19:30
Depart venue in Dhulikhel in the morning and return by evening Detailed agenda of field visits to follow

27 May 2023, Day 5 – Departures

Transfer to airport for departures

Meeting of HUC Thematic Working Group on Mountain Agriculture
2023-05-25 - 2023-05-26 | Dhulikhel, Nepal, Nepal
About
Representatives from Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Australia, and the UK from the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC)’s Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Mountain Agriculture are coming together to attend this first in-person meeting post-Covid 19. HUC’s TWG on Mountain Agriculture has the distinction of being the very first as well as the longest-lasting TWG. This meeting will set priorities for research collaboration, capacity building, and curriculum uptake among HUC member universities in the region.
Objectives

Develop the 2023 workplan for the TWG on Mountain Agriculture

Expected outcome

Establish better regional collaboration in research and training in mountain agriculture

Background
The HUC TWGs promote regional collaboration in research and training for sustainable mountain development by enhancing the networking and partnership amongst institutions and providing the opportunity for joint research activities. The TWGs are designed to identify priorities for actions in their themes/areas; jointly develop research proposals to be submitted to donors; and collaborate in training and curriculum building/uptake from research in respective working areas:

Mountain Heritage and Tourism
World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) My Climate Risk
Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience
Mountain Agriculture
Himalayan Environmental Humanities
Cryosphere and Society
Renewable Energy
Water

Agenda
25 May 2023: Meeting of the TWG on Mountain Agriculture (half day)

Time (NPT)
Programme

HUC TWG members arrive

13:00–14:00
Lunch (meet and greet with new arrivals for HUC TWG meeting)

14:00–15:30
Introduction and welcome – HUC Secretariat Summary of the policy writeshop Updates on activities and research plans from TWG members

Option for 10 min presentations from each TWG member on research/teaching/institution/etc

15:30–16:00
Tea & coffee

16:00–17:00
Summary of activities from HUC TWG on Mountain Agriculture Open discussion: opportunities for collaboration

17:00–18:00
Work on action plans for TWGs moving forward Feedback from the Secretariat Discuss agenda for final day

26 May 2023: Field visits

09:30–19:30
Depart venue in Dhulikhel in the morning and return by evening Detailed agenda of field visits to follow

27 May 2023: Departures

Transfer to airport for departures
