Program

• The Winter School will take place online in January from Tuesday January 7 to Tuesday January 28

• It is online and synchronous

• The program currently welcomes students from UMass Amherst and the United Nations University (who are located mostly in Germany and Japan)

• It is completely free for students but requires registration and it is capped at 50 students

• Students will attend online seminars every Tuesday and Thursday (10:00am to 12:15pm EST) | 16:00 to 18:15 CET

• During each seminar there will be one or two talks from world experts, including senior staff from the private sector, the United Nations, the World Bank and other organizations

• Topics covered this year include: urban ecology and green infrastructure, nature-based solutions for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, innovative financing mechanism for conservation and biodiversity preservation, the use of natural catastrophe models in urban resilience planning, and energy transition

• Geographic focus: talks will have both an international and a local focus (USA/Massachusetts focus), our World Bank speaker will bring examples from developing countries 

• The course will also include class discussions during the plenary sessions and also in small break-out rooms (I have recruited a team of students who will act as moderators and help facilitate discussions in small groups / break-out rooms)

• At the end of the Winter School students will receive a certificate of completion, conditional on regular attendance/participation

Scholars and practitioners, including members of the Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction (PEDRR) will join the course as guest speakers. Formally established in 2008, PEDRR is a global alliance of UN agencies, NGOs and specialist institutes. As a global thematic platform of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), PEDRR seeks to promote and scale-up implementation of Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR) where partners implement collectively planned initiatives and activities.

Students are asked to read a couple of readings every week and complete an assignment. The assignment is very simple: identifying 3 points of interest in the readings and discussing them. The assignment is prep for class discussion.  Assignments are not graded but have to be submitted before class.