timeSPACE Workshop Completed in Nepal!

The GIScience Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, University of Salzburg, Austria cooperated in conducting a regional workshop on 'Socio-Economic Adaptation Alternatives for Mountain Societies over Space and Time (timeSPACE)' in Kathmandu, Nepal from 16 to 20 January, 2013.

The workshop was coordinated by Prof. Josef Strobl and Dr. Shahnawaz and hosted by the Central Department of Education (CED), Tribhuvan University (TU), Kathmandu, Nepal. Supported by the Eurasia-Pacific Uninet, this GIScience-based advanced training for teachers and professionals brought together 20 participants from Nepal, India and Austria.

After the opening ceremony introduced by Dr. Krishna Poudel (CED-TU) and chaired by the TU Rector, Prof. Guna Nidhi Nyaupne, the participants attended a series of lectures covering the concepts of socio-economic dynamics of mountain societies with special emphasis on the Himalayas. The practical 'hands-on training' was given using ArcGIS software for modelling and analysing various scenarios of adaptation to changing economic and climatic factors over space and time.

The TU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Hira Bahadur Maharjan, chaired the closing ceremony and distributed certificates among the participants. In his remarks he expressed thanks to GIScience Institute, Z_GIS and Eurasia-Pacific Uninet for organising this first ever International Workshop focussing on GIScience faculty development at TU and envisaged to expand academic cooperation with Z_GIS. As a gesture of appreciation, the Vice chancellor adorned Dr. Shahnawaz with a traditional Napalese silk shawl and presented a miniature replica of a historical wooden window symbolising the traditional house-type of Nepal.