TRAINING ACTIVITIES
The training will be targeted to different individuals both in terms of the different subjects covered and the detail and level of difficulty so as to create an effective research team with an efficient structure that will lend itself to sound research.
According to the level of expertise, experience, academic proficiency and strategic objectives, various individuals from MCAST and DOA will be trained in different subjects and at different levels of detail.
Five scientific and management trainings courses, organized by DoA and MCAST; the latter will host the theoretical sessions of these courses while NARC will open up its experimental farm for the practical demonstrations. One or more experts from CIHEAM-IAMB, CRU and/or UPC will deliver each course.
Two of the courses will be held in Malta while the other three will be held in one of the other partner countries, as follow:
Course 1: Reducing groundwater pollution: good management practices of nutrients and wastes
Course 2: Adapting water use in agriculture to a changing climate
Course 3: Integrated Water Resource Management: governance models, distribution systems and on-farm irrigation
Course 4: Making use of saline water- the case for salt-water agriculture
Course 5: Reducing groundwater pollution: good management practices of nutrients and wastes
Two (2) Summers schools
Task 2.3 is dedicated to the entire process of conception, design, preparation, and implementation and follow up of the Summer School courses addressing specifically young researchers in water use in agriculture any other stakeholder that has an interest in participating.
Summer schools will be held in Malta twice in the project. The Summer Schools are organised as short courses of 1 full week (five working days-excluding travels) for up to 25 participants per week, with a total of up to 50 participants, selected from all the requests received during the Application Campaign. All the participants will have the possibility to interact and share experiences and activities with high-level experts in the thematic. The summer schools will have a practical hands-on approach and possibly stimulate further cooperation among students also in the aftermaths. The modules on topics related to the challenges of the water will be given in English. The corresponding teaching material for most lectures will be available online for all participants and interested online users and for registered participants of the e-training platform, described in T2.4 activities. The summer school courses will be designed in the first phase of the project and implemented in two phases, therefore covering a very extensive range of water related issues. The calendar will define in which dates the summer schools are implemented (in a period that does not overlap with universities studies seasons and exams). The programme will define the intervention of relevant experts in the courses and the themes on which they will provide lectures. It will define a clear timetable for each summer-school week and identify the main elements of the background material to be provided to students. T5.1 will issue a detailed calendar and the detailed programmes of the Summer Schools in Y1 and Y2. The launch of the summer schools campaign will be widely promoted through the project website and other channels of dissemination.
Two (2) E-trainings
The E- training courses complement the work done in other work packages by specifically targeting a number of up to 60 participants including higher education students, young researchers, representatives of industries and other types of stakeholders at MCAST, DoA and partner stakeholders. Expected participants are not necessarily required to be specialists of water research, but might need to get a sound overview of water research developments and water management related issues across Europe. The idea of the e-training course is to make sure that the main themes related to water management and research can be explained within reasonable costs to a growing community of interested people in the EU, so as to enable a wider dialogue between research, policy and governance of water management to the professionals of the sector.
The E-training courses will be organized in 4 modules each of 32 hours, to be distributed in 8 weeks:
1st module on environmental and water policy;
2nd module on technical developments;
3rd module on research results;
4th module based on self-assessment by learners on their learning process and to enable them to elaborate a synthesis on all information and knowledge acquired during the course.
Results gathered from the actions of the previous work packages (Summer schools and policy seminars) would be subject of discussion and study for the participants and all communication material produced, as well as audiovisual tools used to disseminate research.
Trainings of younger researchers by participation in MSc and PhD research programs.
Individuals from MCAST and the DoA will be offered the opportunity to join part of a module/research activity/demonstration etc. being undertaken as part of a M.Sc. course at CRU/CIHEAM-IAMB or Ph.D courses at CRU. Training for the two target groups will vary as it targets different skill sets. Some relevant modules include Soil Plant Environmental Science, Soil Carbon, Nutrient and Contamination, Agricultural Water Management, Climate Smart Irrigation Practices, Laboratory analytical methods and others.
PhD students at CRU form part of the Doctoral Training Centres (DTC) at CRU. The DTC aim at enhancing student experience through the development of generic training modules and research community building. PhD students allocated to the DTC attend relevant, research programme-specific short courses provided by CRU.
This will further augment the pool of skills and competences at MCAST and DoA by providing a more specialized set of expertise to compliment the general cohort of learners participating in the other training programs (as specified in the other Tasks).
Research undertaken as part of these courses will add to the library of knowledge that will be built up throughout the duration of FOWARIM and will thus further contribute to the achieving of the project’s objectives.