From all over the world to research school in Bergen
For the eleventh consecutive year, almost one hundred PhD candidates from all over the world have found their way to Bergen to tackle global challenges.
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Every year, the research community in Bergen organises an international summer research school focusing on global challenges. For the next two weeks, 93 PhD candidates from more than 40 countries will be participating in one of the six parallel courses, all of which take on some of the global challenges facing the world today.
This year’s interdisciplinary research school is taking place from 11-21 June and is focusing on climate, ocean food, food safety, cultural minorities and digital age images.
"This summer, we will also be looking at how rights and legal strategies can help reduce the level of violence in close relationships, and how to prioritise more fairly when it comes to global health," says Professor Ole Frithjof Norheim, scientific leader of Bergen Summer Research School (BSRS) 2018.
Kim Scherrer from Sweden is working on fisheries and aquaculture at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. She takes part in the course "Can the Oceans Contribute More to Our Food Security?" led by UiB's Professor Øyvind Fiksen.
Arena for debate
Critical discussions about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a recurring feature of the Bergen Summer Research School, and this year there will be a debate on how to create a better society through binding political goals.
"Special for this year is that the recommendations of the renowned International Panel for Social Progress will be presented by Princeton Professor Marc Fleurbaey”, says Norheim, who also contributed to two of the chapters in the report.
Professor Ole Frithjof Norheim at the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine is the scientific director of this year's research school and leads the cource "Priority Setting in Global Health".
The summer school consists of six discipline-specific courses led by some of Bergen’s best professors. These are supplemented by a number of open interdisciplinary lectures and debates with internationally recognised researchers. Anyone who is interested may take part in the open events.
Professors Asbjørn Grønstad and Øyvind Vågnes of the Department of Information Science and Media Studies, UiB, lead the course "Image, Ecology, Ethics".
Part of the teaching
The summer research school is part of the permanent doctoral education at the University of Bergen. Unique to this experience is the opportunity to gather colleagues to create exciting discipline-based courses for a diverse group of PhD candidates, but it is also possible to contribute to the larger interdisciplinary plenary sessions
“We meet interesting students and fellow lecturers with unique experiences. Such meetings provide opportunities for research cooperation, whether our colleagues come from Harvard, Princeton or universities in India, South Africa or Uganda”, says Norheim.
The disussion started already before the first coffee break.
"The summer research school is well known among our international partners, but our goal is to develop a profile for Bergen that is recognisable and attractive to many more. We have students from almost the whole world. They get to know each other, experience Bergen, and make contacts for the future.”
"My hope is that the participants will leave Bergen with new knowledge and a belief that they can make a difference," says Norheim.
Bergen Summer Research School is a collaboration between UiB, NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Uni Research and Chr. Michelsen Institute.
Premiere: Mai Goto, Adam Switala, and David Gabriel Hebert performed Professor Hebert (HVL) og Goto's original music "Facing Global Challenges" at the opening of BSRS 2018.