Spring Semester 2025

Ce séminaire approfondit les théories et approches du développement introduites dans le cours du même titre offerte en automne précédent à travers des questionnements et débats et cas actuels. Les thématiques abordées peuvent inclure des sujets divers comme la mondialisation, la pauvreté, des enjeux des grands projets agricoles ou minières, la micro-finance, la technologie, la gouvernance, les droits humains, l’aide au développement, etc. Ces thématiques sont principalement développées et débattu par les participants du séminaire.

Learning outcomes:
1. Approfondissement des connaissances théoriques et conceptuelles en Etudes du développement ;
2. Introduction à des débats et cas actuels liés aux questions du développement ;
3. Capacité à relier des débats et cas actuels à des théories et concepts clé du développement ;
4. Compétence en communication orale et écrite.

This course will be held in French.

Les villes représentent des hybrides socio-écologiques, des « secondes natures » transformées par des technologies et le métabolisme urbain. Ce cours introduit aux processus biophysiques ainsi qu’aux technologies d’approvisionnement en ressources dans le contexte des villes du Sud. L’accent est mis sur les dimensions politico-économiques, sur les processus, structures et acteurs qui influencent la reproduction des inégalités et des vulnérabilités de différents groupes sociaux par rapport à leur accès à des biens et maux environnementaux. Cette problématique est discutée à travers différentes ressources naturelles en ville (les terrains, les espaces verts, l’eau, l’assainissement, etc.) et différentes « externalités » environnementales (déchets solides ménagers et pollution de l’air). Elle est abordée dans la perspective théorique de la « urban political ecology » qui regarde la ville comme une « seconde nature » créée par les rapports dialectiques entre la société et l’environnement biophysique. Comme fil rouge servent les résultats d’un projet FNS sur la gouvernance environnementale des petites et moyennes villes en Inde autour des parcs, des étangs et de la gestion des déchets.

Learning outcomes:
À la fin du cours, vous devriez être capables de:
1. décrire le métabolisme – les flux et cycles de matière et d’énergie – des villes du Sud.
2. évaluer les interventions infrastructurelles et d’ingénierie dans l’environnement naturel et bâti des villes du Sud.
3. analyser les déterminants politico-économiques de l’inégalité d’accès aux ressources « naturelles » urbaines et d’exposition aux maux environnementaux ;
4. appliquer l’approche de l’ « urban political ecology » à différentes thématiques environnementales dans des situations urbaines diverses ;
– rédiger un rapport de type « consultant du développement » et communiquer ces résultats visuellement et oralement

This course will be held in French

https://vorlesungsverzeichnis.unibas.ch/de/vorlesungsverzeichnis?id=292119

Teaching concept:
Blended learning, combining face-to-face lectures and group work, discussions, problem based peer learning and student presentations. A small group presentation on a selected topic of the course will be presented at the end of the lecture. A pass/fail mark will be given.

Content:
• History of Global health research during the colonial and post-colonial period (Henri Yéré)
• Western and non-Western paradigms and epistemics at the example of Maya medicine. (Monica Berger Gonzalez, Jakob Zinsstag, )
• Research partnership: The 11 KFPE principles (Bassirou Bonfoh, Fabian Kaeser (tbc))
• Internal and external project communication in a multilingual context (Kristina Pelikan)
• Introduction to Transdisciplinary, participatory approaches in research partnership (Jakob Zinsstag)
• Diversity, Equity and Gender in research partnership (N.N.)
• Conflict sensitive research (Said Abukhattab, Rea Tschopp)
• Spirituality and Health (N.N. M. Fries?, Jakob Zinsstag)
• Specifics of working in West- and Central Africa; East and Southern Africa, South East Asia, Latin America are always given by a native of the region and another expert.

Aim: The course introduces students into the fundamental knowledge and skills of international, multicultural and multilingual research partnership. It is aimed at students who plan to work in international research partnership but have no field experience yet. The course is also suitable for students who have first international research experience and would like to prepare for longer term engagement. Finally the course will also address issues about returning.

Cours intégré (théorique et pratique) sur les méthodes d’évaluation, de cartographie et de gestion du patrimoine géomorphologique.

This course will be held in French

Teaching concept:
Blended learning, combining 2 week open online course (workload 3 hours per week) and 8 face-to-face lectures, discussions, role plays, problem based peer learning and student presentations. A seminar paper of 10 pages will be prepared individually and will be presented at the end of the lecture. A mark will be given for the oral (50%) and for the written paper (50%).

Content:
• Theoretical foundations of “One health” (Jakob Zinsstag)
• One health study design, integrated research planning and budgeting (Jakob Zinsstag)
• Towards a game theory of One Health (Alvar Bucher)
• Calculation of R0 in mutlihost transmission models (Nakul Chitnis)
• Parameter optimization in R (Jan Hattendorf)
• Integrated disease surveillance-response systems (Yahya Osman)
• The Palestinian One Health Initiative (Said Abukhattab)
• Ecology of the animal-human interface (Rea Tschopp)
• One Health, microbiomes and nutrition (Pascale Vonaesch)
• Dynamics, economics, environmental impact of livestock production systems in relation to of cross-species disease transmission (The students will work through a practical example of an animal-human transmission model and a cross-sector economic and environmental impact analysis). For 2023 the following topics are proposed.
Towards sustainable livestock production in Mongolia in relation to carbon balance and disease control.

The seminar provides theoretical and practical insight to “One Health”, from for advanced students in biology, veterinary and human medicine and related fields. At the end of the seminar, students are able to develop their own animal-human transmission models and “One Health” studies.

This seminar extends the lecture “Introduction to One Health” und responds to the demand of students to provide deeper insight and practical work on “One Health” Methods. It is provided by veterinary epidemiologists, a microbiologist, a mathematician and a biostatistician. The audience are advanced students and PhD candidates in the fields of epidemiology, biology, veterinary and human medicine and environmental impact. The Seminar is composed of lectures, self-study, discussions and practical seminar work.

In today’s world, we face many complex societal challenges. Research projects addressing these challenges often involve actors and stakeholders from different fields and disciplines bringing together their own perspectives or knowledge on a topic. Accordingly, collaborative transdisciplinary approaches are crucial for the success of a project.
On this course, you’ll explore how to meet the challenges of conducting effective transdisciplinary research. You’ll gain insights into a variety of case studies from different fields as you learn from the experiences of peers and experts. As the course is open for participants all over the world (not only IGS North-South students), you will have the chance to exchange and learn with many other students, researchers, and practitioners.
The MOOC is divided into 6 weeks. Each week is dedicated to particular learning themes. These contain various activities (videos, articles, discussions, quiz) that you should complete within the week through self- study and exchange with other learners. You are free to choose the day and time where you go through the learning material. In addition, you will write an essay to apply the learnings to your PhD project and provide feedback to your peers essays.

The course will be mentored by td-net on following dates: Tuesday 25 February 2025: 15:00-17:00 CEST; Wednesday 12 March 2025: 16:00-18:00 CEST; Thursday 27 March 2025: 17:00-19:00 CEST and Wednesday 09 April 2025: 15:00-17:00 CEST

This course/seminar focuses on theoretical and empirical debates related to reciprocal effects between environmental management practices and lives and livelihoods of “marginal” populations (from rural areas, from developing countries or among minorities). It will draw on classical and current research in sustainable livelihoods, in “political ecology”, in development studies and other related disciplines.

Learning outcomes:
1. Assess and contribute to classical and current debates related to reciprocal effects between environmental management practices and lives and livelihoods of “marginal” populations (from rural areas, from Third World countries or among minorities).
2. Develop theoretical and conceptual knowledge in “political ecology”, development studies and other related disciplines.
3. Develop and discuss empirical and theoretical arguments in the field of environmental management and livelihoods. 4. Read and communicate in English with a relevant terminology borrowed from development studies, geography, “political ecology” and environmental sciences.

Writing articles for peer-reviewed journals is a must for researchers, as this is the prime means of communicating exciting new results to the scientific community; moreover, an academic career is often evaluated on the basis of the number of peer-reviewed articles one has been able to publish in journals (if possible journals with high impact factors). It is therefore worth learning the rules of writing such articles at an early stage. This webinar is designed to introduce researchers to the rules and context of writing scientific articles and to provide researchers with opportunities to advance and improve their own writing. Four modules will lead participants through the essential rules, tools, and context of scientific writing, and provide time for questions and answers. Students will also have an opportunity to practice their skills in individual exercises, work on their scientific texts, and act as peers in group assignments. In addition, one individual coaching session will be offered to each student during the course. Topics will include understanding who one’s audience is, choosing an appropriate journal, working on key messages, structuring an article (IMRAD), doing the different parts of an article efficiently, writing concisely and precisely, using paragraph structure and other language tricks, how to refer to relevant literature, doing tables and figures, and submitting an article and suggesting reviewers.
Eligibility requirements: Max. 10 participants. Full members of the IGS North-South will be given priority. But international associate members are also encouraged to participate in this course.
Completion of assignments is compulsory to pass the course. Students may miss no more than one webinar. Please consider that participating students need approx. 1 day for preparatory work between the sessions.
It is important that you have good internet access during the sessions. A headset is recommended to participate in the webinars.
Learning objectives:
Participants have structured knowledge of, and the necessary skills for, planning scientific articles and writing them effectively; in particular, they know how to:
• Identify their audience and tailor their key messages accordingly;
• Structure a scientific paper according to acknowledged rules (“IMRAD”);
• Write and revise their work for clarity and effectiveness;
• Find help and tools when they work on their theses and prepare their articles for publication in reputed scientific journals.

This course is an introduction to R, a free, open-source software environment for statistical computing. The software is very popular but difficult to use at first. R is characterised by enormous flexibility, allowing the user to perform sophisticated statistical procedures or simulations, but is less intuitive compared to other statistical software. The course will mainly use data and analysis techniques related to epidemiology and biomedical science. The course is designed for people who have never used R before.
By the end of the course, students will be able to use R for basic statistical analysis and data visualisation. They will be aware of common pitfalls and the software’s strengths and limitations.
This blended learning course consists of 2 parts.
The 1st part is an online module on Adam with an online exam at the end. The time required to complete the online part varies greatly from person to person. People who are familiar with similar scripting languages (e.g. Stata, SAS, Python) will naturally find their way around more quickly. People without such prior knowledge need an average of 4 to 6 hours (excl. exam). The exam must be completed no later than the day before the on-site part of the block course starts. The online exam can be repeated as often as you like, but there must be at least 15 minutes between two attempts.
The 2nd part of the course (2nd week Thursday and Friday) will be on-site with lectures and practical sessions.

The seminar will offer the possibility to write your own seminar paper and receive constructive feedback from one of your peers and lecturers.
At the beginning of the term, the lecturers will provide you with a brief guidance on their expectations for the essay topic and structure. Subsequently, you are supposed to write your own seminar paper choosing your own topic related to Public/Global Health. Students will pair-up for a peer-to-peer review process and provide input to their peer’s essay, before each essay is submitted to the lecturers. Finally, the lecturers will review and carefully evaluate your seminar paper and provide general and specific feedback.
The main objectives of this course are to develop and improve current scientific writing skills and to provide students with the possibility to provide and receive constructive feedback to their own and their peer’s seminar paper.