Transcript Why Climate Change and Ecosystem Services Matter for Local

EnGo
Environmental Governance for Environmental Curricula
Development of research and training
networks in the NIS
lessons learned and unlearned
Anton Shkaruba, [email protected]
Central European University, Environmental Sciences and Policy,
Nádor u. 9. H-1051 Budapest, Hungary; www.envsci.ceu.hu
Pskov, Pskov State University, April 15, 2013
Synopsis of the talk
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Development of research and training networks in the NIS
– NIS and EU perspectives on the need analysis
Responsibility and accountability
Language barrier
Management issues
Community building
Perspectives
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Perspectives on the need analysis - EU
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Basic premises:
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Generally moderate optimism in the corner office
Cost-neutral at the best
Political constraints
Needs strong back-up, e.g. strategic development interests, good
options for co-financing, travel for research and dissemination etc
Can only be driven by personal interest
Recognised value of academic mobility
Recognised value of a different perspective and enlarged expert
base
Importance of institutional building
Search of options for tangible outputs
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Perspectives on the need analysis - NIS
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Basic premises:
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Large, although cautious, interest from the university administration and the
governments
Cost-attractive in general, even if only a mobility package is included
Political constraints (again)
Considered a sort of prestigious and wanted at the grass-root level, even if
without capacity or prior experience
The value of academic mobility is understood, however often only
hypothetically
Interest in documented forms of institutional building
Passion for publishing books and acquiring equipment
Expectations of quick returns, but reluctance to change “business as
usual” schemes
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Responsibility and accountability - NIS
• Commitments are taken seriously in general
HOWEVER
• Separation of networking/project obligations from the day-to-day
routine 
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Promises can be enthusiastically given on the spot, but largely forgotten when
home
Deadlines are always broken
Meeting minutes never checked and put in the calendar
Low peer pressure as regards “international” commitments
Commitments are often (and unpredictably) modified by national
authorities / policies
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Language barrier
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Expected, but always coming as a surprise
Nothing improved over the last decade
Low motivation to invest in mastering English  English
proficiency is not considered as a core skill
The challenge is largely underestimated on both sides:
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NIS academics may often believe that writing papers/proposals
for international peer-review is a technical matter, and an easily
resolved one
EU academics may believe that a paper/report written by an
average NIS PhD student can be fixed by a quick copy-editing
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Management issues (1)
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The person in charge (e.g. the coordinator) is better be
from an EU institution
Visa barriers do not help, especially for EU scholars 
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They make more international travel in general and have
difficulties in submitting their passports to embassies
Russian procedure for long-term visas is poorly designed,
especially compared to the Schengen one
Advantage of Ukraine – visa free for OECD countries
Advantage of Belarus – simpler visa procedures, including longterm visas
University international departments do not help either
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Management issues (2)
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Generally good discipline, but need in a hierachically arranged
project governance 
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poor self-organisation and horizontal management
Amazing hospitality and feeling for volunteer work and spirit du
corpe
The best solutions for project administration come from NGOs
More flexibility for project management in Russia than in Belarus
or Ukraine, but the horizon is gloomy
Universities are flexible with providing venue etc, which is alone a
great help
Skype/e-mail communications usually work only with the younger
generation
Solutions often need to be extra-creative
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Community building
• Value of beer, vine and BBQing cannot be
overestimated
• Efforts of making people to do something together
are always worthwhile
• …it takes time
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The social value of academic networking
cannot be overestimated!
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EnGo
Environmental Governance for Environmental Curricula
Questions?
Anton Shkaruba, [email protected]
Central European University, Environmental Sciences and Policy,
Nádor u. 9. H-1051 Budapest, Hungary; www.envsci.ceu.hu
Pskov, Pskov State University, April 15, 2013