[ETH4D] ETH for Development Newsletter

If this newsletter is not displayed properly, please click here to go to the website showing its full content.

Dear reader,

We are excited to share the first newsletter of the year with you! In the Innovation section, we are introducing you to the newest E4D Doctoral Fellows and are sharing an update on the innovative research on airtight cornsacks, which help fight hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Learning section you can learn more about the public lecture series on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and our new course on how to write a policy brief. In Opportunities we present a number of grants for students and professors to apply for. Further, we are very happy to share an engaging interview with newly appointed Associate Professor in Global Health Engineering Elizabeth Tilley, in the People section.

And lastly, we are very much looking forward to the Storytelling Event "African leadership for sustainable future", which we are hosting together with the African Students Association of Zurich (ASAZ) taking place on 12 March during the Nachhaltigkeitswoche Zürich. We hope to see many of you there!

All the best,

The ETH4D Team

Contents

•	Innovation
•	Learning
•	Opportunities
•	People
•	Events

Airtight corn sacks help fight hunger during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya

In a recent study, researchers from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and icipe in Kenya have examined the effects of an improved on-farm storage technology – hermetic storage bags – on smallholder household food security during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on text message survey data, the study found that smallholder household's food insecurity increased during COVID-19 restrictions, but the use of hermetic storage bags curbed these increases. The study is part of a large-scale field experiment to investigate the effects of improved on-farm storage on smallholder farmer’s welfare, nutrition, and health. Read the full article here.

Meet the three E4D Doctoral Fellows 2021

We are excited to introduce you to the three newest E4D Doctoral Fellows Prabhat Joshi from Nepal, Frank Odhiambo from Kenya and Sergio Reyes Arriagada from Chile. Their doctoral projects range from inclusive education to solutions for the effects of natural distasters. Read more about their projects and backgrounds here.

Applications for the E4D Doctoral Scholarship are now open. Click here to learn more.

Public Lecture Series: The UN Sustainable Development Goals in Context

This spring semester, ETH Zurich is offering the second edition of its public lecture series on The UN Sustainable Development Goals in Context. Join the series and gain insights from cutting-edge science and leading societal actors. Every Wednesday between 24 February to 2 June 2021, 18:00 – 19:30, via Zoom. All lectures are in English, open to the public and free of charge. Registration is compulsory. For more information, see here.

To build bridges between research and action, we will be offering our first ETH4D skills course for ETH Zurich doctoral students and postdocs who want to share their research findings with development practitioners and policy makers. The course dates are 13 April and 6 May 2021 from 9:30 – 11:00. Please see here for more information and registration.

ETH4D courses spring semester 2021

At ETH Zurich, the new semester has started with several courses that include learning about global sustainable development, development engineering, international policy-making, and machine learning:

Model United Nations – International Policy-Making: Using the United Nations as a starting point, students will learn about the complexity of international policy-making processes and the importance of sustainable solutions to global challenges in the future.

Machine Learning for Global Development: Students will learn theories of machine learning and its application to development challenges in low-income countries.

International Development Engineering: Researchers from around the globe will discuss technological innovations designed to improve the well-being in low-resource settings with students from ETH Zurich and the Global South.

Introducing the ETH4D visiting scientist and students

Earlier this year, visiting students Arpit Mishra, Parwiz Mosamim and Andrés Javier Bello Hernandez and scientist Dr. Nia Hidaya have arrived at ETH Zurich for a research stay. Coming from across the globe with diverse academic backgrounds, all of them have different plans for their time at ETH Zurich. Get to know them here.

Are you interested in inviting scientists for a stay at ETH? Have you thought about teaching abroad? Then the ETH4D Faculty Exchange Grants might be for you!

Discovering synergies during the ETH4D Doctoral Colloquium

In this ETH ambassador blog post, ETH Zurich doctoral students Abishek S. Narayan and Churchill Agutu share their experience of how they came across each other's research during the ETH4D Doctoral Colloquium, broke silos through conversations outside their own disciplines and discovered synergies between electrification and sanitation.

Open call for ETH4D grants

Applications for the following grant schemes and scholarships are now open until 30 April 2021:

Research and Innovation:

E4D Doctoral Scholarship Programme for doctoral students at ETH Zurich that work on research directly relevant for the benefit of people in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

ETH4D Research to Action Grants for students, doctoral students and postdocs at ETH Zurich to ensure that research results are being used, implemented and disseminated.

Exchanges:

ETH4D Doctoral Mentorship Programme for doctoral students from low- and middle-income countries to benefit from remote mentoring from ETH faculty and from a research stay at ETH of 1-3 months.

ETH4D Faculty Exchange Grants support ETH faculty to invite colleagues from low and middle-income countries to visit ETH Zurich or for ETH faculty to teach at a partner institution.

E4D Continuing Education Scholarship Programme to enhance the skills of professionals from low- and middle-income countries.

Interview with Prof. Elizabeth Tilley

Elizabeth Tilley has recently joined ETH Zurich as Associate Professor of Global Health Engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering. With a background in both environmental engineering and development economics, she will contribute to building the new field of global engineering science at ETH Zurich. Before, she held the position of Senior Lecturer at the University of Malawi. In this interview, Prof. Tilley talks about the goals and challenges of her research, as well as her life in Malawi and return to Switzerland.

New members

We would like to welcome our new members Prof. Mario Schirmer from the Department Water Resources and Drinking Water at EAWAG and Prof. Elizabeth Tilley from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering.

Find the full list of our members here. If you want to join our network, please contact ETH4D Executive Director Adina Rom at adina.rom@nadel.ethz.ch.

Portraits

Prof. Stefan Feuerriegel

Assistant Professor in Management Information Systems

ETH4D Member

Marriette Mertens

ETH for Development

Programme Manager
Learning & Partnerships

Maximilian Grau

ETH for Development

Programme Manager
Learning & Partnerships

Storytelling event: «African leadership for a sustainable future» on 12 March 2021

Together with the African Students Association of Zurich, ETH4D will host an online storytelling event as part of this year's Sustainability Week Zurich on Friday, March 12, 17:00-18:15. You will meet young African researchers and entrepreneurs who are working in a wide range of fields – from human nutrition to machine learning, from construction and urban infrastructure to mobility – and hear the inspiring stories behind their commitment to global sustainable development. Please register here.

African leadership for a sustainable future: Stories to inspire		12 March 2021, 17:00 - 18:15 Online More information and registration here.
ETH4D PhD Lunches		4 March & 7 April 2021, 12.00 - 13:00 Online More information and registration here.

ETH4D in the Social Media

Contact

ETH4D
Clausiusstrasse 37
8092 Zurich
Switzerland

eth4d@ethz.ch