CCES Winter School 2016
Now in its 6th year, the CCES Winter School "Science meets Practice" took place between 11-14 January and 1-4 February 2016 at Propstei Wislikofen (AG). A total of 23 participants, PhDs and postdocs from institutions of the ETH domain and internationally took part in proceedings. In addition to the diverse disciplinary backgrounds present, the gathering also benefited from a diverse mix of cultures and languages that participants found complemented a very enriching experience in learning to bridge the science-practice interface. During the first block in January, participants learned about theories, methods and practices in managing and facilitating science-practice interactions with the help of motivated and experienced coaches. During the second block in February, participants put these skills and methods into practice through various workshops and interactions with stakeholders from administration at the municipal and cantonal levels, as well as the local community of Wislikofen. The proceedings concluded with a reflexive discussion and lunch with a science expert panel, which included inputs from Prof René Schwarzenbach (ETH Zurich), Prof Dr Adrienne Grêt-Regamey (ETH Zurich), Dr Berndhard Truffer (EAWAG) and our very own Dr Dagmar Schröter from TdLab (ETH Zurich).
The topic for this year’s winter school once again centred on “Future Landscapes”, with an emphasis on adding value and detail to the discussions that were initially fostered in the previous Winter School 2015 on that same topic. The experience for participants, coaches and stakeholders alike was a very positive one, yielding many great initiatives to continue supporting a fruitful collaboration between science and practice at Wislikofen. For example, a personal invitation was extended by the Mayor of Wislikofen for participants to present their experiences at the CCES Winter School during community speeches to celebrate Swiss National Day on the 1 August 2016, as well as an opportunity to showcase products and outputs from the workshops at the local museum. A local newspaper article was also published that describes this interaction between participants the community, a copy of that article can be downloaded Downloadhere (PDF, 981 KB).
We are pleased to confirm that the CCES Winter School will once again offer its courses in 2017, details of which will be announced by June 2016. For more information, please contact Dr Carolina Adler or visit www.cces.ethz.ch/winterschool