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.

In less than 24 hours Tropentag 2011 in Bonn will begin. This event is not only interesting for well-known speakers, but it’s also a unique opportunity for young scientists to present their research and meet with people from all over the world. This event will be covered by a group of 12 selected students of 11 different nationalities and 10 European universities. Last weekend, all student reporters arrived from different corners of Europe to attain two days of training session at the University of Hohenheim. After workshops such as ‘journalism ethics and standards’ and ‘how to catch attention’ by Mr. Florian Klebs from the Press Office of Hohenheim University, we got an introduction of the use of social media and trained on reporting skills. The next coming days, we will keep you updated on all the most important activities and outcomes of Tropentag 2011. What are the controversial issues around themes such as food security, biodiversity, climate change and development on the margin? We will help you to find out! You can read our blogs, watch our videos and look at the photographs that will be published on this website and social media. So follow us on Twitter and Facebook! We are ready, are you?

With hundreds of contributions and some prominent figures of international, development-oriented and interdisciplinary research in the line-up (to be announced soon...), the organisers of Tropentag 2011 are aiming to increase the outreach of the conference with a team of 12 Student Reporters. Drawing experience from the success of Tropentag 2010 in Zurich, the ATSAF e.V. with the support of the Robert-Bosch Foundation, the fiat panis Foundation and the Böll Foundation invites students to join the team. Application is open to students affiliated to a European university, with great interest in the Tropentag topics. The applicants should be fluent in English and have basic experience in interviewing, concise writing and knowledge in the use of Web 2.0 social networks. Applicants should send a short CV, outlining their experience in the relevant fields and a motivation letter (maximum ½ page). Please also state which topic of the conference you would be most interested to report: (1) Marginal land and marginal people (2) Development on the margin and nature protection (3) Resource use and ecosystem services (4) Perspective for development on the margin, or (5) keynote presentations.

''This is a fantastic experiment... I am optimistic about the outcome and I am eagerly waiting to see whether it engages broader audiences'' Jack Heinemann, Professor for Genetics and Gene Ecology at the University of Canterbury, NZ, and author of the book “Hope not Hype: The Future of Agriculture”, commented about the student reporter at the Tropentag 2010. Watch his inspiring comments about this brand new innovation on reporting the scientific event.

Blogging, tweeting, flickring, facebooking, youtubeing, photographing, videoing, interviewing… Four days, 54 blog entries, 300 pictures (approx. 3000 raw pictures equaling to 10 GB of hard-disk space), 7300 page views, 4500 unique page views, 905 absolute unique blog visitors at a bounce rate of 30%... The Student Reporters washed their post-Tropentag-2010 depression down with a few liters of beer, overlooking the Uetliberg and the city of Zurich. We would like to thank all the participants for the cheers, the smiles, the good moods and the hopeful vibes you gave to our reports. From our side, we hope that we helped you to make your meaningful work known to those that didn’t have the chance to attend this year’s conference. We worked hard during the last three days. This is what we are expecting from you too. You are the ones that have to take care of the future. And for this, we wish you, well... GOOD LUCK! We do hope that the Tropentag Student Reporter is here to stay as an institution. We are proud to be the first ones! Take good care of yourselves and see you in Tropentag 2011 in Bonn. This blog is now yours! Keep it going, keep it awake and keep it real! Prost to you all! Oral Beer Session I

800 participants, 1100 presenters tried to come of which 520 actually reached Zurich, 24 oral sessions and 29 guided poster sessions. The basket of knowledge was tremendous and immensely diverse. Folkard Asch had the honor to wrap up this year’s conference Tropentag 2010. “World food system – a contribution from Europe” – the goal of this year’s conference was set high. Networking, discussing and talking about burning issues, meetings of generations, exchanging experience and insights. That’s the way forward in letting the whole world integrate and bring together the scattered but enormous wealth of knowledge. It’s our responsibility to provide a think tank and become embedded in the larger and more complex network of the globe. “A mutual understanding of the cultural diversity is needed” says Folkard Asch. Poster award Out of more than 350 posters the “international” jury consisting of Bernard Lehmann (ETH Zurich), Mathias Becker (University of Bonn), Christian Hülsebusch (DITSL Witzenhausen), Ursula Gugger Suter (North-South Centrehttp://blog.tropentag.de/node/113/edit) awarded Dimitrios Argyropoulos (1.), Katja Kehlenbeck (2.) and Sabine Stürz (3.). Dimitrios Argyropoulos, University of Hohenheim, presenting his award-winning poster.

´Tropentag is a perfect place where we meet great diversity of people, scientific presentation and ideas', according to the opinion of Michael Hauser, who represents Agrinatura and BOKU. Agrinatura (http://www.agrinatura.eu/) supports the Tropentag through student grant since it promotes research for development. He is of the opinion that Tropentag is a knowledge intensive event, and it is time to think about how we can put this knowledge into practice for improvement of the livelihoods of millions of poor. He remarks that by innovating ideas of the Student reporter, this year Tropentag enables spreading the message to the researchers, practitioners and development professionals across the geographical boundaries. Watch his conclusive comments and remarks.