Background
The Right Livelihood College (RLC) is a global transdisciplinary education and research initiative of universities and the Right Livelihood Foundation, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’. The RLC Campus in Bonn is based at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, and funded by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The workshop
The workshop will take place in Bonn from November 30 (arrival date in Bonn) to December 3 (departure date from Bonn), 2026. PhD students and senior experts will be participating together with a Laureate of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” and other invited experts. Workshop language will be English.
Natural resources are the material, spatial and energetic basis of life. Their sustainable use and conservation are of principal importance for humankind. However, the overuse of natural resources and their irreversible destruction continues to dramatically increase worldwide. Al-most all natural resources, such as soils, forests, water, biodiversity, and air, are under high pressure. Every year, humanity consumes far more resources than natural processes can renew.
In this context, the climate crisis is at the forefront of scientific engagement and public dis-courses, however, other crises such as loss of biodiversity and forests, soil degradation, water scarcity and the depletion of ocean ecosystems, also pose major threats.The situation is composed of a myriad of interconnected socio-ecological systems and local dynamics. Negative consequences are already massively and directly felt, especially in many countries of the Global South.
Particularly affected are people whose livelihoods directly depend on the use of natural resources, who are affected by poverty, who live in precarious situations, often with low resilience, such as hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers in sub- Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. There is urgent need to work on concepts and strategies that combine economic development with the use and conservation of natural resources and that can be concretely implemented on large scale in the short and medium term. Research from different disciplines has to work together with so-called local communities, development and conservation practitioners, and other stakeholders.
Upon this backdrop, the workshop will provide remarkable case studies from areas in Africa, Asia and Latin America, conceptual approaches and current discourses. PhD students will have the opportunity to present and discuss their own research work in a cohesive transdisciplinary way by building on each participant’s expertise and experiences.
The workshop targets the following objectives:
• to strengthen knowledge and understanding of concepts and methodological approaches,
• to critically assess different pathways of the use and conservation of natural resources,
• to present own case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America,
• to promote transmission of expertise and experience as well as networking between PhD students, an “Alternative Nobel Prize” Laureate and other experts from around the world.
Who can apply?
PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America who currently study at a University in Germany, from disciplines in natural sciences, social sciences, economic sciences, development studies, and environmental sciences. Fluent English is mandatory. Women applications are particularly welcome.