…that combines many different subjects and people from around the world?

The same question was asked three years ago by the organisers of the Tropentag, a conference dealing with international research on food security, natural resource management and rural development.

...An idea arises...

Their solution created the concept of the student reporters. Sponsored by the ATSAF, student reporters accompany the different presentations and give live comments and description of what is happening, focusing on different thematic subjects. By doing so, people not able to join the fun get the option to experience a bit of the exotic atmosphere spreading at the Tropentag. Also the students learn a lot about the journalistic skills and the transmission of information over social media.

One person in charge of the preparation, administration and project management throughout the start of the conference is Angela Schaffert. In between of her studies on agriculture in the tropics and her moving to Ethiopia, she is now responsible for all the small and bigger challenges arising at the beginning of the conference. Having also to care for the well-being of the respective student, she exactly knows what a student reporter has to face.

...Being a student reporter - a demanding task...

offering a broadcasting platform for the scientific community of the tropics and subtropical regions working in the agricultural and natural resource management fields is the birth idea of Tropentag www.tropentag.de. whilst trying to sell new ideas and innovations, tropentag creates an atmosphere of totallity where the experts of ideas, buyers of ideas and benefactors of these ideas can have a personal exchange regardless their level and background. Wth the gathering of several expert keynote speakers and 19 oral sessions in almost 100 talks, 24 guided poster sessions in 360 posters,Tropentag 2012 put a keen lens on the future of agriculture and the theme " Resilience of Agricultural Systems Against Crises" is crucial with the current global warming crises. But what did all those speakers say? Whether present or absent, the Student Reporter www.facebook.com/tropentag?ref=hl is your ears and eyes at every tropentag conference. with the student reporters, your can sit at the comfort of your home or be at one session and still get all the information throughout the conference. We keep you posted on which ever social media your at, you just need to join the fleet.

Student reporters' aim For the third time in a row, students from European universities will report on the Tropentag conference. Their work will be visible on three social platforms (twitter,facebook, and this blog). Out of 85 applications, 12 students were selected by the Council for Tropical and Subtropical Agricultural Research (ATSAF) to do the job. In a two day workshop they learn how to promote the conference adequately on social platforms. Then, between the 19 and the 21 of September 2012, they will interview the key note speakers of the conference (Achim Dobermann,Deborah Bossio, and Rodomiro Ortiz), report on the oral presentation of the thematic groups, and side events. Hopefully, their work will permit to reach a wide audience, to stimulate discussions, as well as to enable the reporter students to get practical experience on journalism.

Tropentag, a conference of which participants are carrying tons of information in their heads. A very little amount of this information is presented in posters and shared in 10-minute oral presentations. What is the meaning beyond all this academic research and how does it contribute to the real life? And even further, how can the information gathered inside the walls of the University of Bonn for 3 days be used and understood in the world outside? “These are the questions we should ask from ourselves all the time,” Dr. Carla Roncoli from the Emory University says. According to Dr. Roncoli, there are two kinds of science and scientists. First, there are the academic scientists, more concentrating on the science itself. The questions that drive the main journals are not always the ones that contribute to the real world, though. These scientists often end up for example to teach in the Universities. In my head this means that they continue to live in the scientific world. Then there are the ones contributing more to the real world. Dr. Roncoli sees herself as a representative of this category, the category with more social aspect. Neither one of these two categories, Dr. Roncoli says, is better than the other. Valuable research is made within both of them, and researchers come up with important results and raise new questions. Dr. Roncoli herself has done interdisciplinary research and appreciates the different ways of learning and understanding things.

Part 1: Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards on how to include small holders into carbon trade Part 2"What you're calling marginal is political opposition"

This is part 2 of a series of 3 videos. Part 1: Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards on how to include small holders into carbon trade Part 3: Solutions to help people improve their situation, Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards discuss

Worldbank sets a minimum amount of 2 Mio. € for carbon trade. That avoids small scale farmers from taking advantage of this trading scheme. Hear about the ideas of Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Brown and Paul Richards! This is part 1 of a series of videos. Part 2: "What you're calling marginal is political opposition" Keynote Discussion Part 3: Solutions to help people improve their situation, Rattan Lal, Sir Gordon Conway and Paul Richards discuss

Looking back on the first day of Tropentag 2011 A ‘hub of discussion’, ‘the most important international conference for the development oriented scientific community’ or just a networking event… with more than 1000 participants from all over the world Tropentag is everything but boring. Looking back on the first day. ‘There are a billion people that are currently hungry. We’ve never had that number of hungry-stricken in the world before. If we’re going to feed the world by 2050 we need to increase food production by something as 70 to 100 percent. The food price spikes are going to recur and food prices will stay high.’ This statement of Sir Gordon Conway (Imperial College) during the plenary speeches on the first day of the Tropentag, will be leading during the whole conference in Bonn. These are the facts. How can research make a contribution to solve this problem? Questions As Claudia Mueller (University of Bonn) argued in the opening session of the Tropentag, research on ‘development of the margin’ is needed and should be a guiding principle for all researchers. ‘We will only be successful if we manage to improve the hunger situation for the marginalized in development.’ She raised questions such as how to balance development in favorable and marginal environments? Should marginalized people and communities become key players in an increasingly globalized resource use, and if so, how?