University Departments of Geography from Kiel and Malta in a SEA-EU joint teaching partnership on coastal conflict

Over the past five weeks, University of Malta (UM) students from geography, law, diplomacy, geosciences and archaeology joined University of Kiel students to explore the theme of coastal conflict in a new hybrid course designed by Dr Ritienne Gauci (Department of Geography, UM) and Dr Jonas Hein (Department of Geography, University of Kiel). The course was offered as a joint teaching partnership, under the patronage of the SEA-EU alliance and the Degree+ programme. 

The course aimed to engage students in identifying the root causes of socio-environmental conflict, whilst also understanding and respecting the interests of different stakeholder groups and valuing the importance of inter- and transdisciplinary knowledge to solve conflict. 

A culminating element of the course was a learning experience based on a game-based simulation event held on Saturday 13 November in the SEA-EU Virtual Learning Hall (VC 101), in which students from both universities came together to represent the interests of different stakeholder groups. Through a day-long series of debates and negotiations, the students experienced first-hand the challenges of conflict management and the delicate process of conflict resolution.

The simulation game facilitated the promotion of complex interdisciplinary knowledge in a didactically participatory approach and encouraged the students to identify synergies and trade-offs in power relations in order to address development and conservation objectives. 

The SEA-EU lecturers would like to thank the UM offices of Degree+, Registrar and IT services for their invaluable logistical support in providing a smooth and successful learning experience for the 25 participating students.