Online-Lecture-Series November, 3. 2021 - March, 23. 2022
Societal Transformation Processes. A Colombian-German Dialogue from an interdisciplinary Perspective
The societal transformations driven by the impact of current pandemic, globalization, wider recognition of diversity, environmental changes, economic and financial crises as well as political debates are taking place in both Colombia and Germany. How do the sociocultural, political, economic and info media processes in each society act on each other? Is the worldwide pandemic accelerating or decelerating the transformation processes in Colombia and Germany? What are the common challenges in both countries through their transformations? We are inviting you to the collaborative working and online teaching experience of a lecture series at the partner universities in Colombia and Germany.
Aim of the lecture series
Framework + Partnership
About the DAAD-project “Higher Education Partnership Colombia - Potsdam” (HEPCoPa)
Aim of the lecture series
The world is undergoing rapid critical change that is putting social and political orders to the test. Politics, science and each individual face the challenge of mastering these developments while holding society together and securing democracy and freedom for tomorrow. Societal transformation refers to "profound and sustainable nonlinear systemic change" (Linnér & Wibeck, 2020). The concept is increasingly used in international sustainability policy and broadens the perspective of related concepts such as sustainable development, green economy, socioeconomic change or environmental policy to include a systemic, global perspective. If societal transformation is to succeed, we need to understand and consider different perspectives, create new narratives, balance interests, negotiate solutions, seek compromises and convince the skeptics.
This is precisely the goal of this lecture series: to bring different academic perspectives from two world regions into dialogue, to create a space for discussion about the concept of societal transformation, and to provide insight into the complex processes of digitalization, diplomacy, climate, inclusion, health and other issues in Germany and Colombia
The speakers in the lecture series will each offer disciplinary perspectives on global developments, contexts and policies that make global developments easier to understand. In subsequent discussion rounds, points of interest can be explored in greater depth and further questions can be discussed.
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The path to decarbonization: How can we fully decarbonize?
November 03, 2021. 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
Join the live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NFLoRE131g
Prof. Dr. Johan Lilliestam is a professor for energy politics at the UP, he also leads a research group regarding dynamics of energy transition at the IASS. HIs research is centered around policies, strategies and instruments that aid the change to a completely renewable energy system. His focus lies on the interaction between different political interests and goals. His work is supported by the European Research Council (ERC).
Can we transmute the mindset (of citizens) to revolutionize the cross-cultural economy?
November 10, 2021 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
Join the live stream:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKWtav4olCU
With a master in innovation for business management focused on strategic sciences from Tecnológico de Monterrey México, Prof. Quiroz Uribe is an experienced coach with proven track record in innovation work, creativity, professional training and complex problem solving. With skills in research, workshop creation, Gamification, team empowerment and strategic planning. He describes himself as professional with a creative sense and oriented to solve the core of the problem.
About a case study in design practice as a means for action in times of crisis and a design class searching for the entanglements of relational landscapes.
November 17, 2021 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
Join the live Stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7X2c3JTRi0
Myriel Milicevic is a professor at the Department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, an artist and interaction designer. She focusses her work on the connections between people and their natural, social and technical environments. This research is mostly participatory in nature and manifests itself in practical utopian models, processes and narratives. They are often realised in collaboration with other artists, scientists and practitioners.
Andrés Burbano is a scholar and media artist, currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Design at Universidad de los Andes, in Bogota, Colombia. Burbano holds a PhD in Media Arts and Technology from the University of California, and is visiting professor at the Danube University in Krems, Austria. This semester he is a visiting scholar at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany.
How can education programs be used to create conditions for sustainable peace?
November 24, 2021 - 11:00 am COT 05:00 pm CET
Join the live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5ahTKDpq94
Prof. Juan Pablo Ospina Yepes is the project manager for the Universidad de Caldas and Comité de Cafeteros funded sustainable rural young projects as well as Executive Director and founder of the project called: “Emerge: “Organic waste transformation into a sustainable livestock and renewable energy”: Emerge teaches rural farmers how to transform their organic waste (coming from crops) into feedstock that can be used for feed poultry, fishes and pork and finally it can be used as a sustainable energy."
Global nutrition policies: Which factors really influence the body height? To what extent does nutrition play a role?
February 09, 2022 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
You are very welcome to join the livestream on:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMF1lralVwk
Dr. Christiane Scheffler is a Human Biologist at University of Potsdam, Germany. Her research focus is human body growth, development and body measurement under different and changing environmental conditions. She will expand these aspects and add recent anthropometric and social data obtained in stunted Indonesian and Indian school children. She will summarize the impact of social, economic, political, and emotional factors on child growth and development, and in the light of these factors, conjointly discuss with the students, modern health interventions.
A closer look at the procedure using the example of Germany and Colombia.
February 16, 2022 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
Dr. Santiago Dussan is a Law and Economics scholar with expertise in entrepreneurship, consumer regulation, history of economic thought, private means of dispute resolution, and spontaneous legal order, with over 9 years of experience in scientific research and in lecturing in graduate and under graduate courses.
How can economic systems and industrial processes be more environmentally friendly and sustainable?
February 23, 2022 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
Livestream: www.youtube.com/watch
Dr. Angelica Muskus was born in Bucaramanga, Santander. She is Sanitary and Environmental Engineering from the Pontificia Bolivariana University; Specialist in Environmental Chemistry from the Industrial University of Santander, received a Master of Science in Engineering from the Technical University of Dresden and later the title of Dr.rer.nat from the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU. Her research is related with the environmental management of the soil resource, sustainable land managemet, soil degradation and waste management strategies. She is a full-time research professor at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Seccional Bucaramanga, attached to the Faculty of Environmental Engineering, frontrunner of the Sanitary and Environmental Engineering Group – GINSA and the Research Frontrunner of the Engineering School at the UPB.
How can diplomacy make the world more sustainable? An insight into Germany's foreign sustainability policy.
March 02, 2022 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
The live-stream can be accessed at the following URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFNS6DPxttM
Christian E. Rieck is an Assistant Professor in Contemporary History and International Relations at the University of Potsdam and a lecturer in global governance and comparative regional integration at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid. He was a staff officer for Agenda 2030 and international development cooperation issues for Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in Berlin. Christian holds a postgraduate degree in Latin American Studies by the University of Oxford. Before that he studied law and economics in Bayreuth and Seville, then European and international public law at HU Berlin as well as at the European University Institute in Florence.
What can past and present representations of utopian and dystopian societies tell us about the future of our living together? From Thomas More to Dave Eggers and from Immanuel Kant to "Black Mirror".
March 09, 2022 - 10:00 am COT 04:00 pm CET
The live-stream can be accessed at the following URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPvzEtQFc_w
Dr. Reinhard Babel will serve as director of the DAAD Bogotá Field Office, responsible for Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela, beginning Dec. 1, 2021. Dr. Babel studied Literature, Philosophy and Dramatic Art at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany. In 2014 he obtained his Doctorate degree in Comparative Literature from the same University with a research project on “Fictionalization of translation. The Hermeneutics, Poetics and Ethics of translation”. From 2006 to 2010 he worked as a DAAD-Lecturer in Chile at the Universidad de Concepción. Between 2014 and 2019 he was Director of the DAAD Information Center in Bogotá, Colombia, and from 2019 to 2021 he worked as Head of Section P24, Cooperation Projects in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America at the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Bonn.
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Download Information + Program
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You can participate in the lecture series in various ways
- The easiest way is to participate in the lectures via the streaming channel of the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana. The links to the livestreams will be announced in time on this website.
- If you are interested in obtaining a certificate (Colombia) and in regular exchange with other participants from Colombia and Germany, then register for our course "Lecture Series Societal Transformation" on the platform Open.UP (Here is a small guide on how to enroll in the course)
- Follow us on Twitter and other platforms using the hashtag #GeCoDialogue
Livestreams and recordings: The access-links will be announced in the program section on this website
Guide on how to enroll in the course (PDF).
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Framework: HEPCoPa partnership project
Supported by the DAAD with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the DIES Partnership “Higher Education Partnership Colombia - Potsdam” (HEPCoPa) aims to optimize the institutional management and strengthen the future-oriented aspects digitalization and quality management in the context of teaching and learning. The University of Potsdam, the Asociación Colombiana de Universidades (Colombian Association of Universities), the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana section Cali, the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana section Bucaramanga and the Universidad de Caldas thus join the DAAD partnership program to expand their internationalization profile as well as increase of international competitiveness. The sub-project Internationalization through Digitalization aims to conceptualize and implement multiple blended learning scenarios to explore the conditions of success for Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL). The central tasks are to reconcile dynamically occurring short-term projects such as non-curricular, innovative cross-campus teaching collaborations and strategically defined long-term development goals such as internationalization.
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