Who we are?

The Human-Environmental System Research Centre, the official name of the centre of excellence, is a result of the ongoing HES-GEO project that runs under the Coordination and Support Action Funding scheme of Horizon 2020.

More specifically, it is an answer to the main HES-GEO objective: to enhance the existing research capacity of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Jagiellonian University.

Filling the gap

The Human-Environmental System Research Centre address the growing need to study the relationship between humans and the environment from an interdisciplinary perspective. While such research is well established (not only) within the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, the studies are typically done in closed domains. This sometimes leads to a lack of the needed overlap with similar disciplines.

On the one hand, the newly founded unit should work as a contact point for various experts that bother similar questions and foster further interdisciplinary collaboration. It will also work as a hub for young researchers seeking to improve their professional careers.

But that is not all.

The centre will also be a central point to stay updated with ongoing news from the field. Besides connecting various academics, the Human-Environmental System Research Centre aims to increase the visibility of Jagiellonian University in the human-environment community of policy experts, business innovators or NGOs.

How exactly?

First, the centre will run a database containing actual funding opportunities, a list of projects with open vacancies and institutions willing to be partners. This will help to connect researchers with similar ideas and foster further collaboration.

Second, it will be a platform offering a wide array of training targeting mainly students and early career researchers from the Institute of Geography and Spatial Management. It is done by domains like physical and human geography, geoinformatics, or individual doctoral schools, preventing from meeting people from related fields. Putting back together young researchers on the human-environment line aims to enhance existing research capacity.

Third, scientific communication. The current times show that orientation in information is a fundamental skill preventing us from mistaking the world around us. The Human-Environmental System Research Centre will work as a content curator spreading the news from human-environment research to the academic community, mainly to the broad public, NGOs, the business sector, public authorities and policy experts. The centre won’t communicate only its achievements but news from other segments (policy, business, NGOs) maintaining the human-environment course.

Interested in stepping in?

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