Faculty of scienceYour first step towards your future

During the first week of July, UGA's Faculty of sciences held its annual “Mountains in a Changing World” summer school for 30 international students. There, they were introduced to the scientific issues associated with climate change in the complex and vulnerable environment of mountain ranges, using the French Alps as a case study.

The lectures and field activities were led by climatologists, glaciologists, geologists, hydrogeologists, ecologists, and geographers from Université Grenoble Alpes' laboratories. The Design Factory@UGA also added a societal dimension to this exciting week.

Prof. Pascale Huyghe, director of the school, said: Throughout the seminars and field trips, students were encouraged to reflect on a number of questions: Why are mountains defined as complex environments? Why are they particularly sensitive and vulnerable to ongoing changes? How can we anticipate their evolution to prevent associated risks? What tools do we have at our disposal to address these changes and propose solutions?

Students from across the globe

The group consisted of master’s and doctoral students from National Taiwan University (3), the University of Tsukuba (11), partner universities of the European Unite! alliance (5), and, of course, Université Grenoble Alpes (TERRA Graduate School, 11).

This 6th edition of Mountain in a Changing World was made possible thanks to funding from:
- the Graduate School@UGA (TERRA thematic program)
- the NTU-UGA-UT Trilateral Center
- the UGA/University of Tsukuba Strategic Partnership
- the Japanese DOJO program

Thanks are also due to Prof. Pascale Huyghe for developing and organizing the program, and to the administrative teams at the Faculty of science - UGA and PhITEM.