Study in Greece Masters of the Week: Professors Dimitris Ballas and Thanasis Kizos present the International ERASMUS Mundus Joint Master Programme – Islands and Sustainability at the University of the Aegean
The web portal Study in Greece is campaigning for the promotion and international visibility of Greek Universities and the comparative educational advantages of our country. In particular, the campaign focuses on the foreign language study programmes that Greek Universities offer to Greek and international students. The initiative is supported by the General Secretariat of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the General Secretariat for Greeks Abroad and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In this context, a number of educational programmes and actions are presented in detail on a regular basis, such as undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, summer schools etc, to inform international students about the many foreign language options offered by Greek Universities.
Study in Greece interviewed Professors Dimitris Ballas and Thanasis Kizos, the Academic Coordinators of the International ERASMUS Mundus Joint Master Programme – Islands and Sustainability, on its features and what it has to offer to international students.
Dimitris Ballas is Full Professor (Chair in Economic Geography) at the University of Groningen. He has also previously worked as Associate Professor at the University of the Aegean. He has published widely in the fields of social and economic geography, social and spatial inequalities, the geography of happiness and well-being, regional science and Geoinformatics in the Social Sciences.
Thanasis Kizos is Full Professor at the Department of Geography, University of the Aegean. He does research in Geography, Food Science and Environmental Science, including topics such as rural development, management of agricultural landscapes, food and management systems. Some of his recent projects include Terra Lemnia and Terracescape.
Mr Kizos and Mr Ballas, please present to us in a few words this cutting- edge International ERASMUS Mundus Joint Master Programme called Islands and Sustainability. (Both of you)
Thanasis Kizos:
The ISLANDS programme is designed to provide thorough and multi-faceted training of research skills for social science and environmental research focusing on issues pertaining to Islands and Sustainability and addressing questions such as:
What is sustainable development for islands? How can we negotiate sustainable development amidst starkly different island dynamics? How can islands move towards an ambitious and successful sustainability transitions? How can island-specific demographic and economic challenges and opportunities be met in socially sustainable ways? How can islands serve as laboratories for sustainable development? (with potential implications and applications for other types of areas and regions and not just islands).
The programme also has very strong policy relevance. At the national and EU levels, there is a growing interest in areas with “geographical specificities” or “inner peripheries” in economic, environmental and social planning and evaluation of policies and in more effective governance for sustainability. Especially for the EU, most of its own coastal islands and island regions are considered as areas with specific features in need of specific policies and management to achieve sustainability. The programme is aimed at providing graduates with inter-disciplinary research, theoretical and analytical skills in Islands and Sustainability.
We also seek to bring together island students and scholars from around the globe and to hear their voices. We provide scholarships to promising students from many islands and island nations and look to strengthen their voices and provide a platform from which they can reach global audiences.
Finally, this is a Research Masters’ and students are expected to be independent and be able to plan and evaluate research. We strongly believe that this is a very important skill and we envision that ISLANDS can contribute towards the increased realization of the possibilities and opportunities of islands with a new generation of professionals and researchers of and for islands.
Read the complete article here: https://www.greeknewsagenda.gr/topics/education-research/7882-msc-islands
