The BioEcoN curriculum consists of 18 courses jointly developed by the project consortium. All learning materials are freely accessible to the public via an online learning management system at: MoodleBioEcoN.eu. Guest registration is required.
Courses cover a broad spectrum of multidisciplinary, technology-oriented topics in sustainable forest resource management including governance frameworks, innovative processes and products, and economics and markets (Figure 1).
In addition to practical skills, students learn to reconcile the social demands of wood and bioenergy with other regulatory and cultural ecosystem services such as climate and water regulation, nutrition and health, landscape aesthetics and natural heritage, and recreation.
The following curriculum modules / courses were developed during the project (responsible authors & university affiliations shown in parentheses):
BioEconomy Strategies (Prof. Dr. Tobias Cremer; HNEE)
Description: Bioeconomy is explained in general with a special focus on forestry. Evolving perspectives towards the bioeconomy mega-trend, and associated demands for wood and other resources in particular, is introduced. Diverse national perspectives, concepts and strategies towards the bioeconomy sector are presented and contrasted. Students will be able to identify forest-based bioeconomy potentials of a range of various institutional, economic and biophysical settings, and evaluate their role in shaping national or regional bioeconomy strategies
Climate Change and Ecosystem Services (Prof. Dr. Le Duc Minh; VNU-HUS and Prof. Dr. Rosario Sierra de Grado; UVa)
Description: This module reviews the historical and political context of climate change, the concept of ecosystem services, and the importance of the services to humans. Students gain an understanding of how ecosystem services and biodiversity will be impacted by climate change and vulnerabilities of each service to this threat. The skills and knowledge learned in the course will allow students to identify key issues and apply available tools to address the local and regional problems related to climate change and ecosystem services.
Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Conservation (Prof. Dr. Rosario Sierra de Grado, Irene Ruano; UVa and Prof. Le Duc Minh; VNU-HUS)
Description: In this module the concept and causes of the biodiversity crisis at different scales is reviewed (from genes to biomes). This includes the integration of such threats and cross-scale feedbacks, main sources of data and information, the concept of forest genetic resources, their evaluation, the main strategies and tools for forest genetic resources conservation and the criteria for selecting the more suitable strategy in particular cases. Students will be able to analyse the threats for the forest genetic resources in different context and scales, identifying key issues and applying suitable strategies and tools to address the problems related to biodiversity loss and forest genetic resources conservation.
Forest Inventory and Biomass (Dr. Bui Manh Hung; VNUF)
Description: This course will provide statistical and ecological theories to investigate and assess forest resources in a sustainable manner. Field trips provide students with practical experience in plot demarcation, stand classification and mensuration and site characterization as well as the fundamentals of experimental design.
Agroforestry Landscape (Prof. Dr. Tran Quoc Hung and Dr. Nguyen Dang Cuong; TUAF)
Description: This module presents the fundamentals, principal methods, GIS Models, and tools which serve for identifying and analyzing agroforestry landscapes of different ecological levels. Models for evaluation and simulation of agroforestry landscape changes provide a basis for agroforestry landscape management plans promoting biodiversity conservation and livelihood in rural areas.
Environmental Economics: Chances and Challenges for human wellbeing (Prof. Dr. Carsten Mann; HNEE)
Description: This module introduces environmental, resource and ecological economics in the context of human well-being, ecosystem functions, services and valuation approaches. Students will be able to discuss the relevancy of these concepts for sustainable forest- and natural resource management such as to control pollution problems and to optimize the use of forest/natural resources, being aware of their respective chances and limitations.
Forest Resource Economics (Prof. Dr. Tran Thi Thu Ha and Dr. Le Dinh Hai; VNUF)
Description: This course provides knowledge and applied principles of economics to analyze and solve problems related to the management and utilization of forest resources – a renewable resource as an important production sector in the economy and the environment. Students should be able to understand concepts, economic principles and economics, social and environmental impacts of forest resource policies and management schemes.
Protected Area and Biodiversity Management (Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Sam; VNUF)
Description: This course gives an introduction to the current protected area management, the system of protected areas in general and the Vietnamese system in detail. Understanding the role and value of protected areas for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development is explained. Focal topics include local community engagement, management plan development and improving conservation financing.
Remote Sensing for Biomass Estimation (Dr. Bui Quang Thanh, Prof. Dr. Tran Van Thuy; VNU-HUS and Prof. Dr. Jan-Peter Mund; HNEE)
Description: This course will expand on remote sensing concepts with a focus on agroforestry biomass estimation and measurement of tree canopy by using latest technology (Optical remote sensing, Radar, Lidar, UAV, etc.). Students gain practical experience in technologies-related data management, processing and analysis.
Forest Management for Bio-energy Production (Dr. Ho Ngoc Son, Dr. Duong Van Thao and Dr. Do Hoang Chung; TUAF)
Description: The course will present forest management issues, silvicultural alternatives, biomass production from forests, and designing of low impact operations. Students learn about current and future trends using forest biomass for bio-energy production, sustainability of biomass production for bio-energy, forest management issues, silvicultural alternatives, opportunities and challenges for forest sector.
Logistic applications in sustainable forest-based bioeconomy (Timo Antero Leinonen; XAMK)
Description: Wood procurement is a chain of logistic operations from forest owner decisions to harvest to material reception at processing plants. Depending on the operational environment (geography, climate, economy, skills, infrastructure, etc.) the logistics chain can apply various kinds of mechanized or manual operations as well as various types of machines and tools. Logistic thinking in this module is based on the concept of product oriented wood procurement. During the module a student will develop his/hers own application of wood procurement system for an area and/or product.
Multifunctional forestry (Prof. Dr. José Kilchenmann and Pablo Martín Pinto; UVa)
Description: This course uses a problem based learning process applied to a challenge(s) facing forest-based bioeconomy. The final outcome is a web-based management plan for a specific forest based on the pillars of bioeconomy and sustainable forestry. The case studies will be focused on the forests where the martelloscopes are located. The broad and intensive previous work during the study programe on the martelloscopes guarantees an effective and real knowledge of the forests to be focused on in this module.
Biomass Assessment Methods and Applications (Prof. Dr. Jan-Peter Mund, Dr. Kevin Beiler and Stuart Krause; HNEE)
Description: This module presents the fundamentals, principal methodology, models and software tools for forest biomass assessment in different ecosystems and introduces the concepts and methods for forest biomass measurements. Students learn methods and tools for estimating, quantifying, calculating and monitoring the baseline of different carbon pools and carbon stock changes related to regional land management measures. Further students will learn some global carbon quantification and regional simulation models for forest stands or national forest inventory data and discuss methods quantifying forest biomass and estimate the forest carbon stock and their uncertainty.
Adaptive Managment: Developing Innovative Alternatives for Bioeconomy (Prof. Dr. Felipe and Irene Ruano, UVa)
Description: The purpose of this module is to introduce the principles and methods to develop innovative and sustainable management alternatives for the forest bioeconomy under changing scenarios. Specifically, the module introduces the foundations of innovation in forest management, data gathering, data analysis and decision making process including co-creation of Innovative forest management alternatives for bioeconomy. Experimentation, observation and simulation are in the core of this frame but other disruptive approaches as big-data analysis, co-creation of innovation, integration of social traditional knowledge and concepts as Technology Readiness Levels (TDR), Intellectual Properties Rights (IPR) or Open and Linked data must be included.
Dynamic System Modeling (Prof. Dr. Vu Van Manh; Prof. Dr.habil. Vu Hoang Linh; VNU-HUS and Prof. Dr. Felipe Bravo; UVa)
Description: The purpose of this module is to introduce the principles and methods of dynamic systems modeling with a particular focus on learning and management of dynamically complex environmental and resource management problems. After the course, students shall know the main principles of dynamic systems modeling and simulation, and understand the process from basic laws of physics via mathematical models to simulation and analysis.
Adding Value of Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) (Dr. Kieu Thi Thu Huong, Duong Hoai An and Do Hoang Chung; TUAF)
Description: Interests in NTFPs are predicated upon a few assumptions. These include: commercial exploitation of NTFPs is less ecologically destructive than timber harvesting and thus has greater potential for sustainable forest management; local forest users exploit forest resources wisely and sustainably and NTFPs will more directly benefit people living near forest compared to timber harvesting. This module provides students knowledge on NTFPs in the context of sustainable forest management (SFM) towards forest bio-economy development, methods and tools for identifying potential NTFPs and opportunities to add values to NTFPs along the chain.
Opportunities of entrepreneurship in bioeconomy (Kirsi Itkonen; XAMK)
Description: This module presents the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship in bioeconomy. Students will learn about the operating environment of the companies and strengthen their network with the entrepreneurs in their own countries. They will create a business idea of their own and establish a company. The module will present the valid tools for evaluating the economic situation of the companies. In addition, the students will develop marketing material for the companies established. Students have the opportunity to practice their communication skills.
Consultancy and service production in bioeconomy (Pasi Pakkala; XAMK)
Description: The objective of the module is to learn to plan, implement and develop service products. As a case study, students develop their own service idea based on the Business model canvas. During the course we define also the most important competitive means of service business and learn customer and service dominant logic. Topics of marketing and sales of services are also included.