tudents from Switzerland and Liberia toast with a glass of water at the solar-powered water kiosk in Monrovia.

Cooperation for Global Sustainable Development at OST

With the interdisciplinary platform for Cooperation for Global Sustainable Development contribute (GS@OST) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the global South through partnership projects covering various themes and competences applying an inter- and transdisciplinary approach. The aim is to develop capacities and solutions to enhance resilience and economic development of to improve lives of those living in regions with limited resources.

Thematically we are interested in approaches to provide inclusive sustainable services for water supply, renewable energy, wastewater management, health and construction.

Methodologically we rely on fundamental tools of engineering and combine them with disciplines from health care and social sciences to determine local appropriateness including social and ecological acceptability and technical and financial viability.

In all our projects we build on equal partnership, action research and involvement of academic and non-academic stakeholders also from the communities directly as well as open science principles to ensure that our work is replicable and can be taken up by practice and policy. 

The platform is hosted by the Institutes UMTEC and SPF of the Department of Technology. However, projects are implemented together with partner institutes from other departments at our university.

Our Competencies

Our projects can be divided into three thematic areas. The first one considers appropriate technologies. But as technology is only the hardware part of development, we are also engaged in capacity development and planning support to contribute to a long term systemic sustainable development.

Interested in collaborating?

Our engagement in development and cooperation strongly depends on our partners. We work with the public and private actors to complement their efforts with our specific compentences. Please contact us if you are interested in working with us.

Contact us!

We organise seasonal schools and integrate topics in the curricula of OST and other universities. Furthermore, we offer and supervise student projects such as semester projects and bachelor and master theses. The projects are carried out as part of our engagement in the global South, partly in Switzerland partly abroad and thereby provide students with an opportunity for practical exposure with direct impact on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the life of those living in and the life of the most vulnerable populations in low- and middle income countries.

 Our one-week interdisciplinary course  «Development and Cooperation global South», provides an excellent introduction.

If you want to contribute, contact us!

Contact us!

Appropriate technologies and solutions

To sustainably provide basic services such as water supply or sanitation in developing and emerging countries requires technologies that are socially and economically appropriate to the local context.

Solar Powered Water Treatment

The water kiosk combines solar energy and innovative water treatment technologies to ensure a safe, off-grid drinking water supply.

About the Project

Open-design NoMix toilets

Together with EOOS NEXT, we are developing front-end and back-end solutions for off-grid circular sanitation systems, focusing on urine recovery to produce fertilizers.

About the Project

SOPHIA

Sustainable off-grid container solutions that provide electricity, heat, cooling, and clean water for pharmacies and hospitals in rural areas of Africa.

About the Project

«my HAPPY HOME» enables people around the world to have a safe and affordable home. This is made possible through digitalization, particularly the use of the BIM (Building Information Modeling) method. The goal is a self-construction kit.

Capacity development and education

Through capacity development we strengthen people and institutions in partner countries to improve their living conditions on their own.

NEWAL Network for Water and Life

NEWAL is a network of educational and research partners in West Africa and ten university partners in Switzerland. The exchange is promoted through seasonal schools, workshops, and webinars.

About the Project

RESD

Providing competencies for renewable energy: The SPF supports the training of qualified professionals to promote the expansion of renewable energy in Indonesia.

About the Project

CHub@UMU

The goal of this partnership with the United Methodist University of Liberia (UMU) is to sustainably strengthen training capacities in the fields of water, energy, health, and construction.

About the Project

International Summer School on Sustainability

[Translate to English:] Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer der Summer School für Nachhaltigkeit in Rumänien.

Every year, OST, in collaboration with HKA Karlsruhe University and Transilvania University of Braşov in Romania, organizes a summer school on sustainability for around 40 students.

About the Project

Knowledge management and decision support

While appropriate technologies are available, their sustainability depends strongly on non-technical aspects such as local ownership and transparent decision making.

SaniChoice

A decision support tool and training instrument for selecting locally suitable sanitation options and quantifying the potential for resource recovery.

About the Project

Water Flow Diagram

For the management of urban water, it is essential to understand the water flows and the associated issues. Together with our partners, we have developed an easy-to-understand diagram.

About the Project

Participating institutes of OST
  • UMTEC Institute for Environmental and Process Engineering
  • SPF Institute for Solar Technology
  • IBU Institut für Bau und Umwelt
  • ILF Institut für Landschaft und Freiraum
  • IPW  Institute of Applied Nursing Science

Contact

Dorothee Spuhler
UMTEC Institute for Environmental and Process Engineering
dorothee.spuhler@ost.ch

Andreas Reber
SPFInstitute for Solar Technology
andreas.reber@ost.ch

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