By Trevor Tisler and Melisa Deciancia*
The first SABio interdisciplinary PhD colloquium was held on August 17th to 19th bringing together researchers and PhD student from both the Institute of Political Science (IfPol) at the University of Münster and the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn. The colloquium centered on exploratory case studies of the bioeconomies in the three countries of SABio’s focus, which include: Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. Along with lively discussion from bioeconomy experts and advisors from South America and Europe, SABio’s researchers and PhD students presented exploratory investigations of each country’s bioeconomic strategies and policies from several Social Science perspectives. From Economics to Environmental Studies, Political Sciences and International Relations, the necessary multidisciplinary perspectives for investigating South America’s bioeconomic development were represented by the group’s interdisciplinarity. In this sense, the colloquium served as a starting point for in depth discussion on the South American bioeconomies’ characteristics, challenges and future possibilities as well as for opening new research enquiries.
The first day of the colloquium focused on the presentation and analysis of the Argentine case, carried out by Melisa Deciancio and Pablo McClay. The Uruguayan case was addressed on the second day, led by the presentations of Maria Eugenia Silva Carrazzone and Daniel Kefeli. On the last day of the colloquium the Brazilian case was introduced by Trevor Tisler and Guilherme Stein.
The two groups were accompanied by the presence of bioeconomy experts from academia and policy making, including: Roberto Feeney (Austral University, Argentina), Eduardo Trigo (IICA), Francisco Rosas (Universidad ORT, Uruguay), Raoni Rajão (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Sascha Stark (ZEF, Germany), Fernanda Martinellli (ZEF, Germany), Jorge Sellare (ZEF, Germany), Jan Börner (ZEF, Germany), Karen Siegel (IfPol, Germany), and Thomas Dietz (IfPol, Germany).
* Trevor Tisler is a junior researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and Melisa Deciancio is a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Münster.