Joint Courses for Sustainable Societies in Chile and Sweden!

This call is now closed.

After a successful two years of joint courses, ACCESS hereby held the 3rd annual opportunity to develop new short courses for PhD students with support from partner universities and the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education. The course shall be co-hosted by at least one Chilean and one Swedish university within the ACCESS program*.

Specific expected outcomes for doctoral students:

·         Deepen and broaden knowledge within the field of sustainability

·         Learn core & transferable skills relating to sustainability and international collaboration

·         Provide a Chilean-Swedish network for doctoral students

Application deadline was April 2, 2024

*Please note: Due to previous results and with the aim to have a balance regarding funding this call will give priority to applications with aq co-convenor from University of Gothenburg, Uppsala University, Lund University, Södertörn University and KTH Royal Institute for Technology. However, we still encourage participants from all ACCESS-universities to apply.

Funding

Each participating host university is responsible for preparing and running the course. Note that each university has agreed to support up to two courses through the duration of the 3-year program. ACCESS partners will provide up to approximately USD 6000 per course and course convener from a Swedish university. The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) will match the amount of funding from the universities by supporting digital or hybrid courses by financing physical meetings connected with courses and traveling costs for course-conveners.

Funding for the salary of each course convener comes from their university. Applicants should check with their university’s ACCESS contact person about what kind of funding they are eligible for or for any other questions.

General Course Topics

The topic of the courses should fall within the theme of sustainability –  where environmental, economic as well as social dimensions are considered – and be relevant for both Sweden and Chile. Moreover, courses should be interdisciplinary and address cross-cutting issues.

For the third call, all courses should connect to, discuss, or address one or more of ACCESS’s five focus areas. These were established by ACCESS and based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The areas include SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being, SDG 11; Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 15; Life on Land, SDG 14; Life below water and SDG 16 Peace Justice, and Strong Institutions.

Course Format

General

For the 2024 call, courses will be conducted in an on-line environment, but with an option for physical meetings. Suggested physical meetings must be motivated in the application to ensure they are deemed pertinent to the course and sustainability is duly considered.

Course Length

Course length can vary from 3 – 7.5 ECTS, meaning full-time 2 - 5 weeks. Courses can be either given during consecutive weeks or spread across a semester.

Students

Eligible students are students enrolled in a PhD program (first priority) and postdocs (2nd priority) at an ACCESS university. Participants must include students from both Chilean and Swedish universities. When selecting students the aim should be to include an equal number of students from each country as well as aiming to achieve a gender balance. In addition, disciplinary diversity should be maximized.

Co-conveners should indicate a maximum number of students (must be motivated) as well as a minimum number of students to run the course (suggested minimum 8).

ACCESS will announce courses but co-conveners are responsible for the application system, selecting, and administrating course participants.

Co-conveners and teachers:

A course must be co-convened by at least one member employed at (not only affiliated with) a Chilean and one member employed at (not only affiliated with) a Swedish ACCESS university. There should be a minimum of two course conveners, and a maximum of four course conveners. Other teachers involved can be from either university or from an institution outside ACCESS.

Teaching platform & tools:

The courses are recommended to adhere to a joint platform. Therefore, Zoom will be used as the main tool for lectures and discussions, together with Canvas as the learning management system.

On-line Pedagogy

ACCESS places a strong emphasis on pedagogy adapted to on-line learning, in order for the students to engage with the material and maximize learning. On-line courses must contain both synchronous (live sessions, group work) and asynchronous elements (e.g. literature, recorded lectures, individual assignments).

 Co-conveners are expected to design a course that takes into consideration some guiding principles of on-line learning.

The course syllabus should thus include the following:

a) Description of Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO), teaching and learning activities and linked assessment.

b) A mix of asynchronous (before and after class) and synchronous (live sessions) content.

c) A variety of formats of asynchronous learning material, but avoiding long lectures.

d) A high level of interactive learning activities.

e) Activities to create peer communities among students.

f) Consideration that most participants have English as a second language and therefore extra care is needed in communication plans.

Course Criteria

a) All applicants must be employed at one of the partner universities of the project Joint courses for Sustainable Societies in Chile and Sweden. These include the following universities: Lund University, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University, Södertörn University, Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Concepcion, University of Gothenburg, Universidad de Aysén, Universidad de La Frontera, Universidad de Magallanes, Universidad de O´Higgins, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Uppsala University, and Universidad de Santiago de Chile.

Please note: the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Stockholm University have already used their funding allocation for this project through previous courses and will therefore not be prioritized for further funding.

b) The application must be submitted jointly by co-conveners from 1-2 Swedish  universities and 1-2 Chilean universities. Other teachers involved can be from either university or from an institution outside ACCESS.

c)  The topic of the courses should fall within the theme of sustainability –  where environmental, economic as well as social dimensions are considered. Moreover, courses should be interdisciplinary and address cross-cutting issues. Courses should connect to, discuss, or address one or more of ACCESS’s five focus areas. The focus areas were established by ACCESS, and based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being, SDG 11; Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 15; Life on Land and SDG 14 Life below water, and SDG 16 Peace Justice, and Strong Institutions.

d) The course should have scientific relevance for sustainability to both Sweden and Chile.

e) The course should aim to achieve gender balance among teachers and students.

f) The courses must be taught in English. Please take into consideration that for most participants English will be their second language and that language skills may vary. Therefore extra care must be taken to ensure communication.

g) Must attract PhD students from both countries and final student composition should aim for a balance between the two countries.