Interview with visiting scholars from Rwanda and Kenya
In May, HNU hosted a multinational group of researchers from Rwanda, Kenya, and the UK. The collaboration came about thanks to the DAAD German Academic Exchange Service-funded project Rwanda-CAE, where the introduction of a new Master of Science in Circular Agro-Economy at University of Rwanda is accompanied by applied research on this topic. Dr. Nathan Taremwa and Prof. Hilda Vasanthakaalam from the University of Rwanda as well as Dr. Eucabeth Majiwa from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology convened at Hochschule Neu-Ulm for three weeks to collaborate with the project team Prof. Dr. Thomas Bayer and Vanessa Miller on a joint research paper on circular practices in Rwandan agribusinesses. Dr. Sung Kyu Kim from Sussex University joined for one week. To conclude the stay, the research-in-progress was presented at the XXXIV ISPIM - International Society for Professional Innovation Management Innovation Conference “Innovation and Circular Economy” in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Read more about the highlights of the research stay in this interview conducted by Mira Ishak on June 1st, 2023. You can also find the interview on LinkedIn. (opens in a new window)
Mira: Nathan, you are the project leader at the University of Rwanda. What are the goals for your stay at HNU?
Nathan: The main goal of our project is to start a new master's degree in Circular Agro-Economy at the University of Rwanda. It is a 4-year partnership project, running from 2021 until 2024.
The curriculum was developed in collaboration with the HNU team and industry partners, and UR lecturers are trained in the new subjects of circular economy and design thinking.
The goal is to create an international master’s program, that's why we invited international researchers from Africa, Germany, and the UK to the accompanying research projects.
In this international and interdisciplinary team, we conduct research on the circular economy in Rwanda. This also serves to enhance the teaching materials, for example with case studies, reports, published papers, and impact studies.
Mira: Can you tell me more about the project deliverables?
Nathan: The main project deliverable is to create an interdisciplinary, practice-oriented, blended-learning-based master's program. And the content will include the circular agro-economy, agricultural economics, and entrepreneurial thinking. Our goal is to inspire circular business models. It is supposed to start in September 2023. Moreover, we were working on providing certificate courses. We were looking forward to having a highly practice-oriented, e-learning-based certificate course for circular agro-economy innovations. Our target group is professionals, practitioners, community decision-makers, and graduate students. It started in 2022.
Our achievement so far since 2021 is a curriculum that was submitted for accreditation. Moreover, 14 lecturers have been trained, 50 practitioners have been coached, 1 university-industry conference has been held in Kigali, 2 joint publications have been submitted, 2 are in progress, and finally, a network with 26 businesses and startups has been established.
Mira: How can you describe your visit to Germany in general and HNU in particular?
Eucabeth: I am happy to be here, it has been nice, we were warmly welcomed by the team leaders Thomas and Vanessa. Our stay was at a comfortable place called Rioca Hotel. We had the chance to meet a number of people and interact which has been very good for us, we visited three companies: one farm, one import company, and one consultancy company. It was a very rich experience. Moreover, we were able to participate in an Impact Entrepreneurship event at HNU FOUNDERS SPACE, where we met investors, and we had the chance and the opportunity to learn from them and collaborate and technology transfer to our university.
Also, we had the chance to walk around in Ulm, Neu-Ulm, and Munich, the weather was good, and lots of sightseeing and shopping
We were able to learn new techniques for qualitative data analysis, which is a new experience for us. We gave a seminar to HNU students where we were able to share our experiences with African food systems.
Generally, this was a very good trip, it lasts for 3 weeks, and we hope to find another opportunity to come over again. We do thank hosts Thomas and Vanessa for their hospitality and for considering us and inviting us on such an important trip.
Hilda: The entire project gave me a new perspective on food. I understand that the industrialization of food production has brought a great challenge to nature, so through this project, we learned to rethink food production, how to create new ideas, and how to use the principles of circularity so that the food value chain is sustainable and does not cause harm to the environment. That is, I learned not to stick within the box, but instead to go explore and go beyond and follow your intuition as it is described in the famous SDG17.
There is only one resource where you can produce food, and that is the world. And the world has certain resources, which are soil, air, and water, and these resources are limited. We are not going to produce more land, soil, and water, but we have to maintain its quality. So we have to utilize it wisely and preserve it for posterity. Yeah, we are going to use it now. But there are generations that are going to come beyond us. We cannot leave the world uncivilized for posterity, for the future generations to come. Because they need it. They also need to produce food, they also need to live. And they also need to have a wonderful life.
Mira: Hilda, as a food scientist, what have you learned about German agriculture?
Hilda: We had the opportunity to visit a farm in Bavaria. It was very nice. We learned how they were practicing the circularity principle. From a German perspective, the farm was small – it had 50 hectares of land – in Rwanda, this is pretty huge – and he had 20 cows and 250 chickens plus some crops. So it was very surprising, that what they call small we perceive as huge. But that farm was very, very good, we enjoyed how they are very careful with the natural resources. They are well-educated, like for example, the farmer is an IT person, but he's using his skills in maintaining the farm on a part-time basis. So that was very interesting.
Mira: As a professor at the University of Rwanda, how can you perceive the difference between HNU and your home university in terms of academic structure?
Hilda: HNU is more practice-oriented. They helped us to link theory with practice. Because it's a University of Applied Science. So it was very easy for me to understand the importance. And I think you can easily express what you want if there is freedom of thought. So I’ve started to also give my students the freedom for thinking. That’s more innovative, they can express themselves better than if you keep telling the students “No, you listen to me, what I'm saying only is right.” Basic principles need to be taught, but you can only open the students’ minds through interaction.
Are there any plans for the future so far?
Eucabeth: Yes, of course. The upcoming conference, ISPIM, will be held from the 4th of June till the 7th of June in Slovenia. We will present the progress of the data collected by agro-processing industries on secular agro-economy knowledge practices and impact.
Nathan: The first phase of training was in Germany, then the second was in Rwanda, then we will be back to HNU in July.
Who are the guests? Dr. Nathan Taremwa has a Ph.D. in agribusiness from Kenyatta University and has been a lecturer at the University of Rwanda for 15 years. He is the project leader of the Rwanda-CAE project at UR. Dr. Eucabeth Majiwa is a lecturer at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya, and is teaching agribusiness and agricultural economics. Assoc. Prof. Hilda Vasanthakaalam is an associate professor in food science at the University of Rwanda. Originally from India, she has been living, teaching, and doing research in Rwanda for more than twenty years. She teaches global food system analysis for master's students in agribusiness at the University of Rwanda. Dr. Sung Kyu Kim is a lecturer at the University of Sussex Science Policy Research Unit. He holds a Ph.D. in Development Studies, and his commitment to sustainable food systems has led him to research and work in small-scale organic farming in Rwanda and other African countries.
Thank you to Bauernhof Frank in Neu-Ulm Pfuhl (https://www.bauernhof-frank-pfuhl.de/), Fruchthof Nagel GmbH in Neu-Ulm (https://shop.fruchthof.de/website/) and Sharkbite Innovation GmbH (https://www.sharkbite.international/) for welcoming our guests to insightful visits!
