PRE-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN AFRICAN CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLITICAL STABILITY

PRE-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS IN AFRICAN CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLITICAL STABILITY

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

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DEADLINE: 31 MARCH 2011------------------------------------------
   
The Climate Change and African Political Stability (CCAPS) program at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin will offer up to three pre-doctoral fellowships for the 2011-2012 academic year. The CCAPS pre-doctoral fellowship program aims to stimulate the development of the next generation of researchers and thought leaders on the topic of climate change and political stability in Africa.

ELIGIBILITY: Pre-doctoral fellowships are available to advanced PhD students, with preference given to those who have made substantial progress towards the completion of their dissertation. U.S. and international PhD students are encouraged to apply.

CCAPS will consider applicants working on a broad range of topics related to climate change, political stability, and security in Africa. Suitable topics may include, but are not limited to: climate change vulnerability in Africa; potential impacts of climate change on political stability or security in Africa; and strategies for addressing climate change challenges in Africa.

The call for applications and information about the fellowship and application guidelines are available at: http://ccaps.strausscenter.org/fellowship.

Full scholarship for MSc in Climate Change and Development

Full scholarship for MSc in Climate Change and Development at University of Sussex/Institute for Development Studies, UK

A full scholarship (fees plus maintenance and travel) funded through the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship scheme is available for applicants to the MSc in Climate Change and Development programme for entry October 2011.

Note: Potential applicants must undertake the following process in the order stated.

1.      Check their eligibility for the award (see criteria below)

2.      Submit an application for the MSc in Climate Change and Development using the online application facility at http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/2011/taught/3331/23691

3.      Only after applicants have received an offer of a place on the course should they request an application form for the scholarship, be contacting climate@sussex.ac.uk. The deadline for applications for the scholarship is 1st May 2011.

Scholarship Criteria

Applicants must
(i)     be nationals of (or permanently domiciled in) a Commonwealth developing country, and not currently be living or studying in a developed country (please see the booklet for a list of eligible countries)
(ii)    hold a first degree at either first or upper second class level;
(iii)   be sufficiently fluent in English to pursue the course
(iv)    have not previously studied for one year or more in a developed country
(v)     not be employed by a government department (for this purpose the Commission counts this as being employed by a Government Ministry).
(vi)    be able to confirm in writing that neither they or their families would otherwise be able to pay for the proposed course of study
(vii)   be willing to confirm that they will return to their home country as soon as their period of study is complete


Further information

(i)     MSc in Climate Change and Development

This is unique course that aims to provide state-of-the-art training for the rapidly expanding market for development professionals with specialisation in climate change.  The programme is strongly multidisciplinary and students will acquire specialist knowledge of the causes of climate change, the implications for developing countries, and the policy and practice of efforts to mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Courses are taught by leading researchers in these fields from the world renowned Institute for Development Studies (IDS), the Geography Department and Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU).

<http://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/pg/2011/taught/3331/23691>
<www.sussex.ac.uk/climatechange>
Tel: +44 (0)1273 877686
Email: climate@sussex.ac.uk

(ii)    Commonwealth Shared Scholarship

For full details of the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship scheme see http://www.cscuk.org.uk/docs/DFIDSSSBOOKLET2011vi.pdf

Solar Lantern for the Poor

TERI Solar Lantern to light-up the darkness of the Poor

Every time attending the symposium that participate by Prof Pachauri in Japan, he must introduce his institute project, TERI Solar Lantern. It is very touching to know that the leading energy research institute in India never forget about the poor community in their country. The Solar Lantern is not only to bring clean energy lighting to the poor community, it will bring changes to the whole community as well.

A lot of developing country is still facing shortage of electricity. Many of the rural village is not equip with electricity supply. Even in the city, electric breakdown is a common daily even. It is very difficult for the people stay in advance developed country to understand the difficulties outside of their comfortable life style.

For the village without electric supply, the village will use woods, carosin etc to cook and light up. As the oil price increase so much recently, most of the poor people unable to afford to have light at night.

TERI has design a solar lantern system to help the poor community in India. The Lantern will be charge using the solar panel, and rent to the poor villager for about 2 rupee per day. As the electric source is from the sun, it do not emit green house gases, and these poor community is using green energy. The light is important to make the family feel more secure, reduce air domestic pollution problem, and enable to children to study at night.

It is not only bring light to the rural community, but also hope, health and better future. It also help to increase the capacity of the community, or called as social capital by the social scientist.

TERI is still seeking donor to further expend the project to more village around the world. The cost of the lantern is about USD 100. The battery is include inside the lantern, and it use energy efficien LED light. For more detail, please visit to TERI, Lighting a billion life website
http://www.terina.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=22

The charging of the lantern is using the normal big solar panel install on the roof. One solar system will be able to charge 50 lantern at once. The system will be operate and manage by local community.

Saline resilience paddy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Prepare for the Sea Level Rise!

Bangladesh will be facing a serious problem as the sea level rise due to global warming. Some of the soil near the coastal area already facing salinity problem. Some of the saline resilience crops already being developed to overcome the problem. Pictures show the example of the saline resilience rice variety developed in Bangladesh. It seem this variety produce quite good amount of rice even in the saline environment. Unfortunately, I was a week earlier from the harvesting. Just hope to be able to taste how the `aji`.