Transatlantic WSU-Denmark Coalition for
Environmental Sustainability @ Aarhus University

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  Fellowship Application Deadline: September 1^st, 2024

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Overview – Student Program – WSU Professors in Denmark – Foundations for Follow-on Projects – Aarhus University & Environmental Sciences – Questions

Overview

Funded by the private Scan Design Foundation this WSU international collaboration project pursues the overarching objective of expanding the environmental-sustainability education and research collaboration between Washington State University and Danish universities, based on already existing relations between WSU and leading universities in Denmark. This expansion will in turn provide solid foundations and additional experience and expertise to compete for large-scale international-partnership grants from both domestic and European sources. Participating in this project are WSU’s College of Arts & Sciences and College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resources Sciences, through the School of the Environment, Honors College, and Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. Through this project, WSU is initiating an envisaged mutually beneficial long-term collaboration with the Scan Design Foundation to foster the foundation’s mission to advance Danish American relations by supporting cultural exchanges focused on environmental sustainability​.

One of WSU’s core beliefs is that the university should engage globally for the future of the planet. Hence, the envisioned international education and research collaboration will be achieved through student exchanges between WSU and Danish universities and WSU faculty members visiting in Denmark with counterparts at Danish universities to discuss environmental-sustainability research collaboration opportunities. These are the activities supported by this Scan Design Foundation project. Of particular interest are environmental-sustainability research emphases that advance Sustainable Development Goals in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

In this context, universities contribute to advancing the Agenda by educating students with the international preparation that will help them to contribute to the Agenda’s goals and by promoting international research collaboration in areas that are relevant to these goals. Among these goals is the Agenda’s “Quality Education” 4^th Goal: “Learners will acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, through education for sustainable development, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.” This goal is supported by WSU students completing environmental-sustainability projects during semester-long research-&-study abroad exchange semesters in Denmark.

WSU Professors in Denmark
Each participating WSU professor will be awarded a $3,250 fellowship to visit with counterparts in Denmark for up to 2 business weeks to discuss international research collaborations.
The fellowship covers the round-trip airfare to Denmark as well as living expenses and an honorarium. The planned international research collaboration between WSU professors and Danish counterparts will also be fostered by their joint supervision of the environmental sustainability projects to be completed by the exchange WSU students in Denmark. Through their synergistic international collaborations, WSU professors and their Danish counterparts are anticipated to advance education and research more effectively, efficiently, and rapidly than allowed by the resources of any single institution. Such advances, in turn, would increase the number of jointly authored publications and grant proposals to U.S., Danish, and European Union agencies in support of environmental-sustainability research and development.

Foundations for Follow-on Externally Funded Programs
The joint supervision of exchange students and research collaboration, furthermore, will provide needed solid foundations and additional experience and expertise to develop compelling international collaboration grant proposals under the following Scan Design Foundation, NSF, and EU programs:

• Scan Design Foundation – Funding for potential continuation of this project, also with support for Danish students and faculty
• International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) – Funding to support students on research-&-study abroad experiences
• Global Centers (GC) Use-Inspired Research Addressing Global Challenges in Climate Change and Clean Energy
• Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) – Formation of networks of research networks to accelerate the expansion of scientific knowledge
• Erasmus+ European Union program to support US and European researchers and students on international exchanges to promote transatlantic education and research collaborations.

The PI of this Scan Design Foundation project, Dr. Joseph Iannelli (VCEA), has developed WSU’s current partnerships with Denmark’s Aalborg University and Aarhus University, and attracted and contributed to attract to WSU over $900,000 from NSF’s IRES and EU’s Erasmus+ programs, in addition to the funding for this project. The related grant proposals that generated all of these funds are available to all interested WSU parties as templates to develop new grant proposals.

Aarhus University & Environmental Sciences

The leading partner university in Denmark in this Scan Design Foundation project is Aarhus University a top 100 research intensive university.

The university distinguishes itself for the breadth and depth of its environmental-sustainability education and research programs, led by the following renowned academic units.

DCE – Danish Centre For Environment And Energy – This is the university’s central unit for knowledge exchange within the areas of nature, environment, climate and energy. The DCE associated departments conduct multifaceted environmental-sustainability research, including, but not limited to circular bioeconomy, sea research, and marine nature restoration.

Department of Ecoscience – The department leads education and research programs on life, with topics spanning from bacteria to whales, from genes to ecosystems and from basic research to applied biology in nature management and biotechnology. Its main research areas include, but are not limited to Biodiversity, Environmental Management, and Lake & Terrestrial Ecology. The Ecoscience department professors welcome opportunities for international collaboration.

Department of Environmental Science – The department conducts problem-oriented research, spanning environmental ecology, chemistry, and physics, as well as interactions between the environment and society in economic, political, and social terms. The department manages six research centers and its administrators as well as faculty and staff welcome opportunities for international collaboration.

Faculty of Natural Sciences – The faculty tackles societal challenges through basic scientific research, interdisciplinarity, and business collaboration with focus on sustainable solutions. The faculty encompasses the fields of biology, geoscience, physics, chemistry, and molecular biology. Its research programs focus on sustainability and climate change. International research collaboration is welcome and may be discussed with the faculty’s management.

Department of Geoscience  – The department contributes to resolving global threats to the immediate and deep future sustainability of life in the Earth system. The main departmental research thrusts focus on deep earth systems, water resources, climate and environment, and energy & natural resources. The management and faculty regularly collaborate with international researchers and research groups and with private and public companies and organizations.

Questions

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