Two weeks of wonderful exchange and shared experiences for students and lecturers from University of Oldenburg, University of Antioquia and University of Energy and Natural Resources within the new SEEDexchange project.

Four partner organisations from three continents strengthen their cooperation within the project Sustainable Energy Education – Developing Exchange Between Continents (SEEDexchange). A very excited group of partners started our new project with a virtual kick-off meeting in March 2024, even before the final confirmation from the DAAD. Now, the formal basis has been clarified and the first travels from Colombia and Ghana to Oldenburg have been organised by the project team.

Initiated together with our alumna Monica Gutierrez (PPRE 2014-16) and based on previous bilateral cooperation with “Change the World Colombia” and the University of Energy Natural Resources (Ghana), a new joint project was developed including a new university partner: University of Antioquia (Colombia). Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the partners will develop study opportunities to equip students in Colombia, Ghana and Germany with adequate skills to deal with complex technical and societal challenges, such as the integration renewable energy into communities in different local contexts. While each partner contributes with specific expertise, the content of the thematic areas enriches the curricula of all partners: contributing to an increased knowledge base, filling thematic gaps (which are not/cannot be provided by the local university) and improving the qualification of the lecturers. 

This will be achieved through physical and virtual exchanges of students and lecturers, a collaborative pool of shared courses, including remote laboratories, face-to-face and hybrid workshops and the development of a Living Lab at the interface of research, teaching and knowledge transfer will be developed in San Rafael, Colombia. The project will be coordinated by PPRE staff, including Tanja Behrendt, Andreas Günther, Adrian Jimenez and Herena Torio. Together with “Change the World Colombia”, represented by Claudio Madaune, SuRE students will get in touch with the “SOLUNAGUA Centro de Inspiración para la Sustentabilidad y la Paz” (San Rafael, Antioquia, Colombia), where a resilient energy supply based on renewable energy will be assessed and optimised. The Regional Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability (RCEES) at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani, Ghana, represented by Eric Ofosu and Benjamin Batinge, has already offered a hybrid, collaborative Case Study seminar together with PPRE since 2022. The Alternative Energy Group (GEA) at the University of Antioquia in Medellin, Colombia, represented by Edwin Chica, Ainhoa Rubio and Carlos Trujillo, is contributing its expertise in mechanical engineering, particularly in the field of on hydropower, to collaborative courses and to the development of the Living Lab in San Rafael. 

Each year, students and staff from the partner universities, and the non-university partner will meet face-to-face for student workshops on various RE-related topics. The first workshop took place in Oldenburg at the end of September with PPRE staff, 26 guests from Colombia, Ghana, from Brazil and South Africa and 21 SuRE students. We had two weeks with various inputs from different partners, excursions and a Hackathon in which students successfully solved related challenges in a very short time. We are very much looking forward to continuing to work together with our partners in the years to come.

For more information about the workshop, check res.uol.de.