Project details

The project supports education, research and innovation on underutilized plant species (UPS) in agroecosystems as a contribution to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Furthermore, the four outcomes serve to improve the performance of higher education institutions and to create a strong network with partners from Germany, Latin America and Africa.

The outcomes are meaningfully linked and take into account the regional context.

This outcome focusses on the development of teaching contents related to UPS and agrobiodiversity. The teaching contents take into account the current state of knowledge on biodiversity as well as diverse local characteristics of the network partners.

The courses are planned as SLU with up to 6 credit points each. They will be open to students of the whole consortium and offered online in order to achieve a high degree of flexibility and to contribute to the internationalization of the study programs.

All partners intensify their research activities related to UPS in agroecosystems taking into account the regional context. The research activities will be carried out in cooperation with local stakeholders. Living labs will support the research activities.

Significant research results will be published and integrated into the SLUs.

To facilitate the transfer of scientific concepts into practice innovation contests will be carried out.

They focus on concepts regarding the use of UPS that have the potential to be transferred to society.

The partners of the network have already collaborated in previous projects and activities in the field of agrobiodiversity (Edunabio, DiveCropS).

In the course of the project the network will be further consolidated and extended.

Beside the five partners several associated partners and stakeholders will be included in order to expand expertise. The South-South partnerships enable access to a broad spectrum of UPS and cropping systems, which represents a special added value of this project.