Regional network meetings aim to foster communication and collaboration between scientists working in South Asia and Switzerland. Our aim is to build the framework and support the network to create impact by translating knowledge to action, especially in South Asia and Switzerland. It’s a free, accessible and short event including a storytelling workshop, introduction to our grants and experience-sharing over lunch.
These network meetings are open to researchers, NGOs, and implementers who have an interest in South Asia and in advancing the UN SDGs.
Regional Network Meeting 2024 – Switzerland
In the summer of 2021, Rene Veron and Swetha Rao Dhananka, standing at a train station, came up with the idea of a platform that would bring together researchers, policymakers, activists, journalists, educators and community workers from across South Asia and Switzerland to create action from knowledge. Since then, Knowledge2Action has helped empower and sustain numerous projects and collaborative visits, train young and older minds on using innovative tools to work towards SDGs and most importantly, create a network that promotes crosstalk across disciplines.
On 31 May 2024, network members and others met for the Swiss regional meeting in Bern. The agenda for the meeting was in keeping with the ethos of K2A – How to make prototyping in social and sustainability sciences fundable? By the end of the meeting, we were left with a new and deeper understanding of what it takes to do this.
What are the gaps in realising sustainable development goals? How does K2A fit into the bigger picture?
- A paucity of interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving
- Geographical constraints to collaborate
- Specialised skills needed to tackle emerging hurdles
K2A’s initiatives to bridge these gaps come in many forms!
At the beginning of every year, K2A organises the SDG Academy, an online workshop that is designed around skill training and tool use in diverse areas of research and on-the-ground action. The online format of the academy reduces the geographical and monetary threshold to participate, while still providing a social and communicative platform.
The K2A Small Grants fund projects that promote ecological sustainability and social well-being. The grants have been utilised for building community solutions to climate change issues, education of farmers in sustainable practices, production of documentaries and more. The small grants aim to reduce all three gaps by bringing together diverse actors and formats, across regions.
One of key roadblocks to bringing together stakeholders from various fields working on different aspects of a question is distance. We at K2A offer two opportunities to lower these hurdles and facilitate unique connections and conversations. The K2A Mobility Grants and the Regional Network Meetings offer chances and funds to travel, meet new people, forge collaborations and come up with multi-actor approaches.
“At the network meeting in Bangladesh, we were in a hotel together for three days. We were forced to talk. Someone said they hadn’t talked to a colleague who was 200 meters away in another office” – Lena Robra
“The mobility exchange has its challenges, but it was worth every second” – Peter Marty
We had Peter Marty from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences talking about his mobility visit to Pakistan. Peter travelled over 3000 kms across Pakistan by car and jeep. He visited three universities – NUST, Karakoram and Chitral. He taught at Karakoram. He saw the regional polo festival at Chitral. He was completely immersed in the landscape and culture of the region, something that would have been possible over video calls.
Siddhartha Krishnan from ATREE recounted his experience of making a documentary on the lives of porters in Darjeeling, India, aided by the K2A small grant. While he had done a ton of research on the community, the grant helped him being their story to a larger audience.
Can you prototype a process?
The cherry on the cake was the panel discussion on making prototyping in sustainable science fundable. We were joined by P.S. Narayan, Leena Iyengar, Phillippe Regnier and Dhenuka Srinivasan, moderated by Rene Veron. The discussion oscillated between what funders look for in proposals to how one can make their ideas more lucrative and attractive. The discussion ended with the question, can a process, such as the one being cultivated at K2A, get funding? Can we have more support for building sustainable scaffolds that support network growth flourish long after the initial push is gone?
Regional Network Meeting 2022 – Switzerland
This network meeting took place at HETS Fribourg on 11 November 2022.
The participants involved researchers and entrepreneurs from across Switzerland, with an interest in advancing SDGs.
The meeting started with Swetha, Rene and Taenaz describing the vision of K2A and the plans for the immediate future. This was followed by presentations from Dr. Jenia Mukherjee and Dr. Jenny Bentley, who received small grants from K2A in 2021 for their respective projects. Both of them gave overviews of the results of their projects and how the small grant helped advance their research.
This was followed by an exciting workshop on ‘Storyboarding Science’ by Dr. Samer Angelone. The participants learnt what to look for in good presentations, how to improve their own storytelling skills and the lessons scientists can learn from film-makers to tell stories of science in a more engaging manner.
Storyboarding Science
Filmmakers teach scientists how to make impactful presentations
A workshop by Samer Angelone
Angelone is a filmmaker and scientist. He is the founder of the Swiss Science Film Academy, and works as a jury-member for prestigious international film festivals. Angelone has directed several fiction and documentary films. He teaches ‘Filmmaking for Scientists’, ‘Storytelling & Storyboarding Science’, and ‘Video-journalism for Scientists’ at different universities, research institutes and film festivals.
Angelone holds two PhDs in Film Studies and Biology.
Regional Network Meeting 2022 – Nepal
The Nepal networking meeting was a 3-day workshop aimed at addressing contemporary challenges in the Himalayas. The workshop was conducted from 25-27 November 2022 in Kathmandu, Nepal and was facilitated by K2A and Central Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (CDHM), Tribhuvan University.
Climate change is remaking the Himalayan region, putting at risk millions of South Asians who depend on its water resources and pushing mountain dwellers in the northern region, home to the world’s highest peaks, to build new settlements at lower altitudes. Warmer Himalayas could have disastrous consequences for the subcontinent. This one of a kind workshop brought together researchers from the fields of natural sciences and social sciences to discuss these issues and the necessary steps needed to come up with sustainable solutions. The meeting also hosted community members from the Himalayan region, giving them a stage to voice their opinions and experiences.
Discussions over the three days made it clear that the time to implement actions to mitigate the widespread effects on climate on local communities is here. It was also evident that such meetings with bring together all stakeholders are essential in coming up with wholesome and actionable goals.
For a detailed description on the different sessions of the meetings, browse through the following report.
Knowledge2Action 