Many of our student reporters this year are trying out scientific journalism for the first time at Tropentag. But Vitalii Korol, last year’s videographer from Ukraine, enjoyed his experience so much that he’s back for more. You may be wondering, though – why are students the reporters at a formal academic conference in the first place? (Continue...)

“If the students are happy – I am happy” – Sarah Glatzle has the right attitude for her position: She is the organizer of the ATSAF-Student Reporters program. Every year at Tropentag, twelve students learn in workshops to report about scientific themes resented at the conference. Sarah not only has to handle the chaotic creativity of the student reporters—her work starts even earlier with the selection of them. “There was even an application from Trinidad-Tobago,” tells Sarah, “but unfortunately only students from European Universities can apply.” Otherwise the traveling costs would be too high to be covered by ATSAF. Learning by doing – you cannot plan everything. Sarah knows that the only way to handle the unexpected is to be flexible. Rooms are locked, material is in the wrong place – lots of problems have to be solved behind the scenes to keep the Conference working. But the stressful moments last only for a few hours and there are, of course, many positive experiences. Last year the students surprised her with flowers for her support. Next year Sarah is going to do her pHD research in Brazil about integrated crop- livestock system – let’s hope she has next year nevertheless the time to help the students.

Originating from the big city of Prague Vojtěch never imagined he would once study “Sustainable rural Development”. After experiencing rural landscape at the edge of Capetown (South Africa) put him into contact with agricultural sciences. With his specific interest to advance villages in the Tropics and Subtropics Vojtech is looking forward to learn more about sustainable technologies like fruit drying and energy supply from biogas and solar panels. He is especially looking forward to host young researchers from the whole world and give them a good experience at his home faculty.

Rachel Friedman, with a first degree in environment science and masters in science communication, has a passion for translating technical findings for development practitioners and the general public. With experience in blogging and social media, she is excited to report on the research presented at the Tropentag conference 2014, Prague. (Continue...)

Vitalii Korol from Ukraine is a master student of Sustainable Resources Management in the Technical University of Munich. He participated in Tropentag 2013, and he is back as a senior reporter to share the previous experience with newcomers, and ( . . . )

Pictured here, is another blogger from the student reporter team: Helen Sitar from the US. She is holding an undergraduate degree in Environmental Science & Policy (Smith College, USA). At University of Bayreuth (Germany), she is currently doing a masters degree in Global Change Ecology. For her, it’s the first time as a student reporter. By being student reporter, she hopes to increase her knowledge and skills in (web) journalism – especially as she is currently also considering a career in journalism. It is also her first participation at Tropentag. She is very eager to engage as much as possible with the people and the many issues discussed here in the next couple of days (e.g. intercultural conflicts and development). Her main interests are human-environment interactions and specifically, the consequences and implications from man-made ecological changes on the environment and human livelihoods.

When discussing challenges in tropical agriculture, is it actually necessary to talk to researchers from the tropics? Birgit Zipf, second-year student reporter for the Tropentag 2014 conference, certainly believes so! She's tired of attending conferences where German, British, and American presenters are “talking about the ‘others’” from developing regions, instead of inviting and “rather talking with them.” But why is this distinction particularly important to Birgit? (Continue...)

Working with smallholder farmers in Nepal, Pramila Thapa has seen the importance in combining development and research activities. Originally from Nepal, she is finishing her first year of a master’s degree in Sustainable International Agriculture at Gottingen University in Germany. Her first degree was also in Agriculture. Now focusing on agribusiness, she has previous experience in integrated pest management and market access, crafting success stories for her work with a national Nepalese NGO. As a student reporter, she hopes to link scientific outcomes and the dissemination of findings to on-the-ground realities. Through participation in the Tropentag conference, she also hopes to improve her own understanding of the range of research taking place around the world related to tropical and semi-tropical agriculture, in order to bring back lessons for her own country.