Hello!
August and September have been busy months preparing more teaching materials. Vagalhão team welcomes Aalto staff member Sakari Toivakainen to the group who specializes in water and wastewater research. Sakari will be assisting in educating the Universidade Eduardo Mondlane teaching and expert staff in laboratory and field work during their upcoming visit to Finland in 2014. The UEM trip to Finland will include workshops and meetings at Aalto University and visits to companies for an overview of forestry management and engineering in Finland.
University of Helsinki Viikki campus acted as host for another successful workshop between the universities and The Finnish Forest Research Institute (METLA) on Wednesday 9 October. Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI) at the University of Helsinki has an ongoing project named PAIMO: Private Agricultural Investments and Land Use Change Impact on the Adaptive Capacity of Local Communities to Climate Change In Mozambique. We were happy to hear details and get contacts of both Finnish and Mozambican Master’s thesis students doing the field work at Niassa province, northern Mozambique. METLA project FORECAS (Forest Research Capacity Strengthening in Mozambique 2012-14) is another interesting work mainly studying local Mozambican wood species. The meeting proved altogether mutually very beneficial for everyone to get updated on the programmes and moreover to pursue ideas and plans for further collaboration. This is something we all agreed and value highly when we can find common interests and ground to work on for greater development.
Discussing processes and thesis positions, Prof. Andrade Egas and Roope Husgafvel, Madeirarte saw mill in Xai-Xai.
Prof. Andrade Egas showing the wood technology laboratory at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, currently being equipped and updated with METLA.
Based on the meeting outcomes we have ever more reasons and motivation to continue the discussion and already benefiting from this to get more data and people connected to assist in our development tasks at the university level. Combining efforts on Nordic level were also discussed which will be taken into account to get more effectiveness in the various projects. Other incoming activities we are excited about will include the first official workshop on curriculum development and module planning that will take place in Maputo on 30 October. The list of participants already looks promising. On the Mozambican end we also managed to raise interest for our project at the Finnish Embassy that will act as an important link and contact between the universities but also the companies in Mozambique.
Conversation and plans for further Nordic collaboration for development efforts in Mozambique. Hosting visit third from right, First Secretary representing Research and Infrastructure, Elisabeth Ilskog, Embassy of Sweden.
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry Engineering - meeting place for the first official workshop on October 30.
Work at the university Maputo is going well and we sincerely want to thank all our colleagues Prof. Andrade Egas and Prof. Natasha Ribeiro for their excellent work! We will stay tuned for the workshop results soon.
Thank you again!
