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DAAD Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools
Global Partnerships in Higher Education
The DAAD Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools aim to provide the infrastructure for fostering cooperative efforts among German higher education institutions and their counterparts in Latin America, Africa and Asia. They resonate with the UN Agenda 2030 call upon the world community to build global partnerships in order to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs are formulated as joint objectives for the world community and cover a broad range of themes and social issues. Their ultimate goal is the generation of well-being and peaceful and inclusive societies while at the same time preserving our planet.
Achieving the SDGs will require a series of multidimensional transformations which must be based in systematic knowledge. Therefore, institutions of higher education are of foremost importance for realizing the Agenda 2030: They not only engage in fundamental research and the generation of robust basic knowledge that can contribute to higher ecological, social and economic sustainability. They also train young people who will be the future decision-makers and practitioners in different sectors (government, business, non-profit etc.) so that they can promote the sustainable well-being of their societies.
In the seven DAAD Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools, German universities are partnering with universities in Latin America, Asia and Africa, and their diversity reflects the multifaceted character of the Agenda 2030. They engage in capacity-building through developing research and teaching programs related to different SDGs in the natural and social sciences. They also promote academic internationalization and interdisciplinarity: Frequent exchanges among partners (at all stages of development) enable researchers and students to view global challenges from different regional perspectives and modes of knowledge production and identify interdependencies and cases for comparison between the different world regions. They also put into practice the Agenda 2030 mandate to overcome scientific and political boundaries and approach challenges for sustainable development from an integrated perspective. In order to disseminate their findings, all SDG Graduate schools have established ties with other epistemic communities and engage with important stakeholders from politics, the economic sector, and civil society.
Learn more about the seven DAAD Bilateral SDG Graduate Schools
- CLIFOOD - German-Ethiopian SDG-Graduate School "Climate Change Effects on Food Security"
The German-Ethiopian SDG-Graduate School entitled ´Climate Change Effects on Food Security´ (CLIFOOD) aims at empowering young academics of HEIs on the African continent focusing on SDGs 1 (no poverty), 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and well-being), 13 (climate action), 15 (life on land) and 17 (partnerships for the goals).
CLIFOOD was jointly established by the Food Security Centre, University of Hohenheim in Germany and Hawassa University in Ethiopia.- trAndeS – Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region
trAndeS is a structured research and training program conducted by the project partners Freie Universität Berlin and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP) in Lima.
trAndeS focuses on the multidimensional social inequalities of the Andean region and their impact on the opportunities for the realization of the SDGs.- Performing Sustainability. Cultures and Development in West-Africa
The interdisciplinary Graduate School ´Performing Sustainability´ is a collaborative training network for graduate students operated by the University of Hildesheim (Germany), the University of Maiduguri (Nigeria) and the University of Cape Coast (Ghana). The initiative focuses on innovative research that brings together approaches from performance, arts and culture to bear on sustainable development as defined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A specific focus lies on issues of peace and conflict resolution.
- Yaoundé–Bielefeld Bilateral Graduate School Natural Products with Antiparasite and Antibacterial Activity (YaBiNaPA)
- RoHan – Rostock Hanoi DAAD SDG Graduate school - Catalysis as Key towards Sustainable Resource Management
The RoHan DAAD SDG Graduate school is a cooperation between the University of Rostock together with the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis in Rostock and the Hanoi University of Science and Technology and Vietnam National University – University of Science in Hanoi, Vietnam. It enables the development and establishment of catalysis technologies and processes through the training of qualified Vietnamese scientists able to assume leadership positions in both industry and academia.
- Wits-TUB Urban Lab Programme
The Wits-TUB Urban Lab programme is built on a partnership agreement between the Habitat Unit at the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) and the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Witwatersrand (Wits). The overall objective of the collaboration is to contribute to the implementation of urban relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA) on the sub-Saharan African continent.
- DSSP - Doctoral Studies Support Program on Environmental Peace Building and Development in Colombia
DSSP is a training and research program developed and operated by the University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF) and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNAL), Institute for Environmental Studies (IDEA). The program focuses on territorial rights, land use, access to and the extraction of natural resources that are deeply entrenched with diverse forms of violence, reproducing structural inequalities and conflicts.
