Collaboration among higher education actors

As the Secretariat for the Himalayan University Consortium, we continue to pursue its strategic goals to facilitate mountain-specific research, education, outreach, and practice, and to build a new generation of transformational leaders committed to advancing HKH-specific research and innovative policy solutions.

As part of the consortium’s long-term strategy, we have facilitated the formation of thematic working groups (TWGs) comprised of self-organizing clusters of scholars and practitioners who share similar research and development interests or similar scholarly interests. These TWGs are led by members and operate on a resource-sharing basis while we play the role of an incubator, providing professional inputs and facilitation. HUC now has expanded to six active and five upcoming TWGs on topic areas ranging from climate change, cryosphere, glaciers, water resources, biodiversity, ecosystem services, rangeland management, mountain hazards, disasters and resilience, mountain livelihoods, and cultural heritage.

In 2020, the TWGs developed two successful joint proposals – on research-based education for development of hydropower professionals, and development of an adaptation communication framework mainstreaming indigenous knowledge; conducted two joint training programmes, including one on the water-energy-food nexus; and, one joint research project. The TWG on Trans-Himalayan Environmental Humanities organised a publishing workshop to develop the final manuscript of an edited volume titled “Environmental Humanities in the New Himalayas: Symbiotic Indigeneity, Commoning, Sustainability” to be published by Routledge in 2021. Overall, the TWGs have demonstrated the benefits of investments in partnership building and the shared ownership and joint leadership are elements that support the longer-term sustainability of the consortium.