Admission requirements
This course is for BSc students of the minor Sustainable Development.
Description
The Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University organises in close collaboration with the Biology Department of Universitas Indonesia (UI), the 1st ranked university of Indonesia from Jakarta, an interdisciplinary winter school on tropical biodiversity and sustainability. Within this course, students from UI and CML will be made acquainted with tropical biodiversity in general and that of Indonesia in particular. The biological mechanisms that led to these biodiversity hot spots are taught and discussed and the human threats and opportunities for sustainable use and preservation of these areas are investigated.
A brief period of preparation in the Netherlands prepares the students for the societal, and political situation in Indonesia and its relation to sustainability issues. In Indonesia, lectures on tropical biodiversity and sustainability are intermingled with excursions and social activities. In addition, a major component of the winter school consists of a stay within one of the national parks close to Jakarta. Within this national park, students will in small groups on a project related to tropical biodiversity in relation to the challenges this biodiversity is facing. Each group develops its own research questions, sampling design and acquires and analyses the essential data under supervision of staff from UI and CML/Naturalis. Upon return to the Netherlands, students finalise the data analyses and present their work through an oral presentation and written report.
The course focusses alternately on marine biodiversity with a field visit to the 1000-islands national park and terrestrial biodiversity, with a field visit to the national park on the Gunung Gedeh. In the academic year 2017-2018, the focus in on marine biodiversity and associated sustainability issues.
Course objectives
Course objectives:
At the end of the course, students
Understand the mechanisms that led to biodiversity hotspots in the tropics.
Understand the mechanisms through which human society affects tropical biodiversity.
Understand how societal contexts affects our ways of thinking on biodiversity
Have a basic understanding on how the interaction between society and biodiversity can be investigated.
Can make a research design to investigate tropical biodiversity and sustainability issues
Know how to quantitatively analyse data collected by field research
Final qualifications:
The student has an overview of the basic scientific concepts to understand the interactions between society, sustainability and biodiversity in the tropics and to formulate his/her founded opinion on these matters.
Timetable
From 8 January - 2 February 2018. Programme details will be announced via Blackboard.
Mode of instruction
Mode of instruction:
Lectures and excursions introducing the concepts including the societal setting
Project research (research proposal, field research, data analysis and report)
Assessment method
The grade for the course is based on a number of components:
The performance of the lecture students need to prepare (in project groups) for their peers
Research proposal and execution of their research
Oral presentation(s) on the research done
Written report
Detailed instructions on each of these components will be provided on Blackboard.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for communication.
Reading List
The reading list is made available on Blackboard
Registration
In order to have a multidisciplinary group of students a selection will be made of students who register for this course on the basis of disciplines (in case there are more than 12 students expressing an interest in participating) from within the Minor Sustainable development.
Students are advised to join the information session about this course during one of the first weeks of the Minor Sustainable Development.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: 1 October. See Blackboard for more information.
The final selection of participants will be made by 15 October.
Contact
Coordinator: Prof.dr.ir. P.M. van Bodegom
p.m.van.bodegom@cml.leidenuniv.nl
Costs/remarks
This course has some additional costs involved:
The contribution per student for the local transport costs, accommodation and food is ca. 400 Euros (this amount is still under consideration and will be definitively announced at the information meeting). This covers about 66 % of the total costs per student. This amount needs to be transferred to the bank account of Leiden University before 15 December (details follow for selected students).
In addition, students have to arrange and pay for their airline ticket to Indonesia, their visa (free for a stay up to 30 days), insurances (universal health insurance with World coverage, Third part liability, travel insurance) and inoculations and malaria prophylaxes (depending on personal history and doctor’s advice). The total costs of these differ per person but is estimated to be on average 800 Euros.