Senior officials, researchers, and administrators from 10 universities in Myanmar will meet in Nay Pyi Taw on 4 August 2018 to discuss the current state of research and training in natural resource management, with special reference to sustainable mountain development and cross-disciplinary research. They will provide detailed input to a draft proposal for enhancing Myanmar’s institutional capacity to conduct cross-disciplinary research in sustainable mountain development through collaborations with higher education institutions in the USA and with ICIMOD projects.

Senior representatives of existing and potential HUC members in Myanmar will be part of the meeting, led by HUC Steering Group Member, Ashok Gurung.

An initial discussion on the possibility of jointly developing a proposal to enhance cross-disciplinary research in sustainable mountain development through collaboration among higher education institutions in Myanmar, USA, and ICIMOD was initiated at the HUC Annual Meeting in 2017.

Researchers from Yezin Agriculture University (YAU) and the University of Yangon (YU) have been participating in HUC capacity strengthening activities for the past three years. YAU and YU have also jointly developed and submitted a proposal to HUC under the open call for small institutional grants.

Outcomes

A summary of comments and inputs to strengthen the draft proposal and enlist action points regarding the potential for collaboration between Myanmar’s universities and HUC members will be presented at the end of the meeting.