News – Viikki Tropical Resources Institute

The Vietnam National University of Forestry (VNUF) in Hanoi hosted a 5-day intensive training of trainers (ToT) course on “Academic Writing and Conference Presentation in English” from 28 August to 1 September 2022, taught by Roy Siddall from the University of Helsinki Language Centre. This training was organised as part of the project “Strengthening Climate Change Education for Sustainable Development in Vietnam (CLIDEV)”, which is funded by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and coordinated by the Viikki Tropical Resources Institute, Dept. of Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki. The 18 participants were from VNUF and the other three Vietnamese partners in the project: Thai Nguyen University Of Agriculture and Forestry (TUAF), the Institute of Resources and Environment – Hue University, and Tay Nguyen University (TNU).

The dual role of many of the participants as researchers and teachers in their home institutions was also strongly reflected in the course, which aimed not only to strengthen the communication skills of the participants but also to provide materials and activities for use in their teaching and supervision of students. Continue reading “HEI ICI CLIDEV project organized “Academic Writing and Conference Presentation” training at Vietnam National University of Forestry, Hanoi”

Higher Education Cooperation for Forest Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Livelihoods in Bangladesh and Vietnam (FORSU) is a 3-year capacity building project (1 December 2022 to 30 November 2025), which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union

The project includes 2 Programme HEIs: University of Helsinki (coordinating HEI) & University of Freiburg, and 2 Partner HEIs in Bangladesh: Rangamati Science and Technology University & Patuakhali Science and Technology University; and 3 partner HEIs in Vietnam: Hue University, Tay Nguyen University & Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry.

Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) emerged as a key approach in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-30), which aims to scale-up restoration of degraded ecosystems to combat the climate crisis while enhancing and protecting livelihoods, food security, water, and biodiversity. Global support to strengthen and fund forest and other ecosystem restoration faces a major challenge: the mismatch between the opportunities for restoration and the capacity (knowledge, skills) needed to support it. Bangladesh and Vietnam are among the most vulnerable countries to climate change, and have a range of policies and programmes to promote and scale-up FLR. Their higher education systems are however, unable to produce graduates that fulfil the domestic or international needs related to FLR. Continue reading “Higher Education Cooperation for Forest Landscape Restoration and Sustainable Livelihoods in Bangladesh and Vietnam (FORSU) a new project of VITRI, University of Helsinki”