11 lectures and 28 students from various universities in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia and Switzerland gathered in Kumasi Ghana for an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary NEWAL summer school. NEWAL stands for Network for Water and Life coordinated by Dorothee Spuhler from UMTEC, Department of Technology at OST Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences. The seasonal school was hosted by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST, Ghana) and jointly organised by OST, FHNW, ETH, EPFL, SwissTPH and BTFS in Switzerland and KNUST and Centre Suisse de Recherche Scientific (CSRS Iovry Cost). 

Students prepare for their Bachelor's thesis

Throughout the week, participants discussed topics relating to water, solid waste and agriculture and to solve problems in these areas. Experts from practice also presented on their projects and field trips were organised. The school was financed by swissuniversities and organised by Dr Dorothee Spuhler (OST) and Dr Evans Dawoe (KNUST). From also Andreas Reber (SPF) participated from OST, as well as three students that will continue working on water project with students from West Africa for their Bachelor projects.  

We thank swissuniversities SUDAC programme for the support, and all partners for their contributions. This was a unique opportunity to o develop jointly intercultural and interdisciplinary skills to contribute with our work to global sustainable development with a focus on water and life in West Africa and Switzerland. 

Find out more about NEWAL: https://newal.ch/