Meet the COP15 students

A warm welcome by the Minister

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation welcomed the COP15 student at a reception the 1.st of September af Copenhagen University.

http://en.vtu.dk/the-minister/speeches/welcoming-of-the-cop15-scholars/

The candidates

 Ankit Joshi

Ankit Joshi grew up in a ecologically vulnerable area in north-east India, the Himalayan foothills. He has been able to follow the destructive effect of the industrial revolution on the surrounding environment.

Ankit wish to continue working with environmental issues after ending his education to 'identify the loop holes in India’s policy on climate change and work towards a more comprehensive policy framework'. He has experience with social work within local community field work and mentions for instance the socioeconomic and environmental challenges linked to establishing for hydroelectrical powerplants.

Ankit

I had the opportunity to trek into the upper Himalayas where I observed the receding tree lines and melting glaciers which seriously got me thinking whether the industrial revolution which triggered global warming was worth all the effort.

Ankit's blog

Denisa Cupi

Denisa's has experience with

• research in helitrons (jumping genes) 
• working experience at BASF
• NGO ex.Eco-movement Ekolevizja in Albania
• volunteer work  ex for Habitat for Humanity

There are many thousands of chemicals affecting the environment nowadays. In this way I could study the possible impacts these chemicals may have on the envi-ronment and human health. As an environmental chemist I could work in sectors dealing with environmental issues, such as public inspection, public health, environmental consulting, medical industry and the bioprocessing industries.

- I believe that I have chosen a field where I could make a difference in solving environmental issues and improving human health.

Denisa adds after one week in Denmark:

- I believe I have chosen the right place to study in the environmental field. I had never seen so many bikes in any other city I have been to. Danes rely heavily on bikes as their mean of transportation. Apart from serving as exercise, bikes save us from the 2-3 tons of carbon dioxide that a car emits in a year.

Another thing I noticed was the high emphasis on recycling. Plastic and glass bottles, along with plastic bags are recycled in Denmark.

The city is beautiful, and has various cultural and natural attractions. Parks and gardens are beautiful, with a large number of trees from all over the world. The air is fresh and the city area is clean.

Denisa's blog

 Maija Bertule

Maija is especially interested in sustainable environmental management strategies in developing countries. She has studied the environmental impact of palm oil production. Maija points out that CO2 emissions by developing countries are often overlooked in discussions of contributors to climate change.

Maija:

- I feel strongly about the problems that the world is facing today due to the cli-mate change, and I am very interested in the environmental management op-tions that can mitigate these problems and offer sustainable solutions for the fu-ture.

- I think it is extremely important to be aware of the many different contributors to the climate change, which in reality are much more than just car emissions, as many would think.

- I think that changing the ways of cropping and improving land use and natural resource management practises in developing countries has immense potential in contributing to mitigation of negative factors affecting

-I just did a really interesting bachelor project on the palm oil production in Indo-nesia and its effect on the climate change, as well as the possible solutions by in-volving smallholders.

Maija's blog

Hong Ren

Hong is involved in a number of environmental projects for instance the implementation of a Government Green procurement System for Tianjin and the Tianjin Eco-City guidelines for communities to have green consumption. Hong has written a number of papers related to environmental protection.

Hong:

- When I was a kid, the gray sky, dirty air and the high incidence of lung cancer were always the nightmare of my hometown – Lanzhou in China, and this situa-tion fits nicely to the whole picture of China. We experienced nearly twenty years of economy booms at the expense of our environment along the way to mod-ernization.

- I am interested in and would like to continue my research in the field of Environmental Management and Economics, because it has long been ignored in China, and few people have ever made great efforts to explore this “savage and desolate” area.

- I hope the two-year program, with well-motivated teachers, well administrated college and cooperation in interdisciplinary and intercultural teams, will forge a solid foundation for me to solve real environmental issues with integrated consideration of society, economy and environment and pave the way for me to achieve more and more in this field.

I’m eagerly awaiting to joining in!

Ren's blog

Joseph Adine

Joseph has a solid educational background in electrical engineering and has worked professionally as an electrical engineer. It is Joseph intention to carry his wide experience into research and engage on a PhD after his studies.

Joseph's blog

Komal Habib

Komal is engaged in environmental and climateissues and has a wide experience with environmental actions for instance in  volunteer work with tree planting, conferences, exhibitions etc. Her work has includes investigation health and socioeconomic issues in a poor area outside her hometown and mapping indigenous plants for conservation purposes. 

Komal:

- My special interest in the field of climate change is renewable energy. Because as we all know that natural oil, gas and coal are nonrenewable resources. So, we have to shift on some sources which are not only renewable to meet our day by day increasing energy needs but also environment friendly e.g, wind energy, solar power, hydro power, geothermal power etc etc.

- During my BS Honors, I did the project of enzymatic bleaching of paper and pulp just to avoid the load of chlorine (used in paper bleaching) to save our environment. It was a really interesting project as I learned much from this project about different bleaching options for paper. Other than this I did a small conservation related project of native thorn forest of Punjab, Pakistan.

Read Komal's blog

 Most. Sarmin Islam

Sarmin:

- I was born in a rural area of Bangladesh. In my country more than eighty per-cent of the population live in rural areas and are engaged in farming and farm related occupations. Our people always fight against environmental hazard. Every year they face serious flood and cyclone. I saw it from my childhood life.   

- Bangladesh is a developing country, so the government has very little budget for human resource development. Our government is interested in developing the manpower but due to economic crisis the allocation of funds is very limited.

So, it is very difficult to get a government scholarship or a research fund for higher study. It is very difficult for me to bear educational expenses. So a scholar-ship is the only way to pursue higher study from a developed country. The COP15 scholarship is an appropriate one, which can provide me with the oppor-tunity to pursue higher study from a developed country. I am so happy to get the COP15 scholarship, which will help me to acquire modern knowledge on Mas-ter’s in Agro-Environmental Management.

Sarmin's blog

Ndifor Ernest Barche

Ndifor:

- I am very excited to study in the domain of the environment. I believe studies in this field will provide me with the empirical and analytical skills required to un-cover problems, find solutions and monitor their implementation in a sustainable manner.

- I am currently an environmental scientist, working in the domain of waste management and energy conservation.

- My main focus is the management of scarce environmental resources to better equate or bridge the gap between human exploitation (consumption) of scarce environmental resources and the management of these resources for sustainabil-ity, conservation for future generations and the health of planet earth.

 Read Ndifor's blog

Rafael Kubeba Tabase

Rafael is concerned with the large proportion of the harvest lost in his home country due to lacking techniques of processing and proctection.
Rafael:

- Coming from an engineering background, my interest is basically into design. I have a Bsc in agricultural engineering and I designed and fabricated a stationary cylindrical forage chopper as my final year thesis work. 

- I am looking forward to acquiring a higher knowledge in biological systems so as to specialize into any aspect of design in biomass and biogas energy. I personally think this will be of great help to my country and other developing countries in my region.

- These experiences (from the Master programme) will enable me to enormously contribute in making Ghana achieve its vision of becoming an agro-based economy by 2015 and considering the environmental implications and how to curb them.

Raphael's blog

Renata Sales

Renata:

- I would like to improve my wind energy knowledge and explore new opportunities to apply renewable energy in modern communities as well as poor and isolated communities.

- I have always been concerned about environmental impacts. When I started to study engineering, my first interest was the recycling of rubble for the manufacture of “green” bricks. But in my city, there is nothing related to this issue.

- So I decided to make a study of the generation of landfill methane and carbon credits. The work was very good and I was invited to a congress. After the publication I tried to find companies that implemented projects for the use of meth-ane.

- But, instead a large company hired me to work in the construction of the larg-est wind project in Brazil. I worked there for six months as a trainee and I graduated in civil engineering in December 2007.

- After that I won a scholarship at the University of Kassel in Germany, to spend one month, between December 2007 and January 2008, visiting projects about wind, solar and biogas.

- When I returned from Germany, I was hired as civil engineer in the same company that I worked as a trainee. I worked a total of one year and six months in the construction of foundations for wind turbines and access roads.

- Also I worked in support of management of the process of building the wind farm. I learned a lot and made great friends and contacts.

- Currently I am working for several months before going to DTU. Now I work in the office of Enel in Rio de Janeiro. Enel is Italy's largest power company, and Europe's second listed utility by installed capacity. I am working on the logistics of wind turbines and analysis of soil for installation of wind farms in North-Eastern Brazil.

 
Renata's blog

  Juan Pablo Murcia

Juan:

I share DTU's vision of a sustainable society, in particular in South America. I know Denmark is a country recognized for the importance of wind energy electricity generation as it represents nearly one-fifth of its total, and for being an environmentally concerned society, so I could hardly be able to find a country where it would be more appropriate to carry out my MSc. studies in Wind Energy.

 Juan's blog