Xi Zhao's blog

Final Workshop for Student Reporter

Xi Zhao — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 22:53:52 +0000

A final workshop for student reporters was held at University of Bonn on 26th September. 12 student reporters presented their work and experiences at both Tropentag and Science Forum 2013. Two experienced journalists were invited to share their knowledge about how to develop career in journalism for young people. Christina Hucklenbroich, editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, introduced her experiences and how to start career as a science journalist. She recommended the Fachwerkstatt mentor program, which offers training and scholarship for young students who want to work in journalism (www.die-fachwerkstatt.de). In particular, she discussed how to balance work and family for female science journalist. Mr.Ralph Dickerhof, with experience of 10-year free TV-, HF- & PR-correspondent, introduced different work types in TV media, including their major tasks and challenges. He shared methods about how to do good interview and highlighted that the major characteristic of journalist is communicative talent.

Should Women Control the Household Finance? ---Support from the Academia

Xi Zhao — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:22:19 +0000

Should women control the household finance? This is a hot topic among most families around the world, as well as a debate at Science Forum and Tropentag 2013. Scholars from different countries provide varied facts in rural areas and put academic results into practices. Jemimah Njuki from CARE highlighted women played an important role in food production, ensuring adequate food, diverse diets and quality of food to the whole household. In general, women as primary care givers influence child nutrition directly through improved childcare practices, or indirectly through improvements in their own nutrition. Early studies showed, increasing women’s control over assets, mainly land, physical and financial assets, had positive effects on a number of important development outcomes for the household, including food security, child nutrition, and education, as well as women’s own well-being (Quisumbing 2003, Smith 2003; world bank 2001). In Bangladesh, a higher share of women’s assets is associated with better health outcomes for girls (Hallman 2000). Gordon Prain, a Senior Scientist at the International Potato Centre, gave his opinion at Tropentag 2013 based on his field research in Kenya. He stated, in the agriculture system women are very important in the cultivation. If women do the job, they should control the finance resource . If women can decide which crops to grow, it would be beneficial to the children´s nutrition and the whole family.

Student Assistants at Science Forum 2013

Xi Zhao — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 13:07:25 +0000

When you arrived at the metro station for the Science Forum 2013 in Bonn, you will always be warmly welcomed by two or three young students. Therey are some of the 12 student assistants for the Science Forum, who will tell you where to go. They have many other little tasks, such as preparing the conferece materials, and manging electronic equipment. They have made an invaluable contribution to the success of the conference. Find out that they are actually capable of answering more question than just the way to the restroom! Tobias Gerhartsreiter, studying Geography as a master student at Wuerzburg University, is doing an internship at GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit). He is looking forward to improving skills for a future career at GIZ. Vandasue Rodrigues, from Bangalore of India, is a master student in Plant Sciences at University of Bonn. She has been in Germany for two years. She enjoys meeting people from all of the world with different cultural backgrounds.

Celebrity of Tropentag 2013

Xi Zhao — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 18:41:14 +0000

A million shots were taken from the Tropentag cow standing in front of the registration desk within three days. Where is the Tropentag Cow from? It was created by CowParade (www.cowparade.com), the largest public art event. Since 1999, the CowParade event has displayed cow sculptures in different cities, including Chicago (1999), New York City (2000), London (2002), Tokyo (2003), Brussels (2003), Dublin (2003), Prague (2004), Stockholm (2004), Mexico City (2005) and Sao Paulo (2005). The cows are displayed throughout the host cities, its streets, parks, and other public places. A lot of the cows can be seen by the public, free of charge. They were designed by artists from the amateur and unknown to the professional and famous.