On the afternoon of 26 January, the project team of Project287: Strengthening Capacity of Higher Engineering Education for Sustainable Buildings (HEESeB) invited to the newly built Ágnes Heller House at the University of Innsbruck to present the project activities of the past year. The 18th edition of APPEAR in practice was organised on the occasion of the visit of a ten-member delegation of the Bhutanese partners of the HEESeB project for a study visit to Innsbruck. The academic partnership aims to implement a certificate programme in Timber Engineering for Energy Efficient Buildings at the Jigme Namgyel Engineering College (JNEC) of the Royal University of Bhutan, with the objective of generating qualified manpower for sustainable and resilient infrastructure planning, design, construction and maintenance of timber structures.
The audience of university representatives, OeAD representatives, academics and a representative of the Friends of Bhutan Association, Austria were welcomed by Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Wolfgang Streicher, the coordinating partner from the University of Innsbruck, who asked all participants to introduce themselves. Alexandra Grieshofer, APPEAR programme officer, then welcomed the delegation, project partners and the audience on behalf of the APPEAR Office. She introduced the APPEAR programme, reported on the current phase of the programme and the idea of APPEAR in practice, which is to invite partners to share their results, present project activities and milestones. She emphasised that she was looking forward to learning more about the project, which is the first APPEAR Academic Partnership in Bhutan. She also expressed her amazement to see what has already happened in the last year and thanked the project partners for their commitment to the APPEAR programme.
The project presentation began with a representative from the Jigme Namgyel Engineering College who gave a brief introduction to Bhutan, the geographical context, some development issues and the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). He mentioned the importance of hydropower and export of electricity, also called 'white gold', for Bhutan and showed some photos of the country's tourist attractions. He then presented the vision, mission and values of the Royal University of Bhutan, headed by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck as Chancellor, and the history of the Jigme Namgyel Engineering College. Currently, the college offers eight diploma programmes in engineering and three bachelor programmes. In addition to Austria and the APPEAR programme, the college is currently engaged in academic cooperation with the EU, Sweden and Japan.
Samten Lhendup then gave an overview of the project's activities over the past year: the stakeholder consultation workshop in July 2023, which was attended by participants from various agencies and educational institutions; the development of the certification course in timber engineering, which is almost complete; the building energy efficiency training in September - October 2023; the timber engineering training in September 2023; and the gender, equity and diversity sensitive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) training in September - October 2023. Another activity was the development of the project logo, created by Bhutanese students through a logo competition, and the project website. Samten Lhendup reported that so far everything is on track and the next planned activities are to finalise the course development, launch the course, upgrade a wood engineering laboratory and transport equipment from Austria to Bhutan. An eight-day course on building simulation was also planned. He expressed his belief that the project would help Bhutan to move forward in the field of timber construction.
After a short coffee break, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Innsbruck, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Fügenschuh welcomed the participants and the delegation from Bhutan to the University of Innsbruck and wished them a good cooperation. He emphasized the importance of such cooperation with Bhutan for the university.
Following this, Univ.-Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Wolfgang Streicher talked about some of the basic ideas behind the project and asked the question: "Why do we need buildings?" He explained that while buildings are obviously needed to protect people from the environment, they are also built for people and their needs. Therefore, it is important to think about the needs of the people who live in the building. Environmental conditions play a role, as does the question of how to provide thermal comfort in buildings for their human occupants. This includes, for example, passive cooling elements: Good insulation and facades, appropriately sized windows, building shading, etc. But there are also cultural differences. Prof. Streicher mentioned that not so long ago many buildings in Tyrol looked similar to the traditional buildings in Bhutan, but of course Bhutanese buildings have their own style and they change over time.
In the next presentation, Univ.-Prof. Suzanne Kapelari talked about the gender course she gave during her visit to Bhutan from September to October 2023 "Gender, Equity and Diversity Sensitive Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education". First, she spoke about the global gender situation, which has worsened since the pandemic for women. According to the global gender gap report, Bhutan is one of the best performing countries in the South Asian region. But when it comes to academics, Bhutan's female students are not evenly distributed, with a gap in engineering education, for example. During the four-day course, the first impression of the participants was that the gender equality situation in Bhutan is already very good, but during the course, many challenges were acknowledged.
In the final presentation, Prof. Anton Kraler talked about the experience of the one-day course on wood engineering that he held in Bhutan in September 2023. It was very important for him to visit the country to better understand the local context. In his course he gave an overview of safety issues, the European legal framework for timber construction, material properties, overview of timber construction projects in Austria, wood materials, characteristics of wood, etc. His presentation also included impressions of timber construction in Bhutan. For him, the main motivation to participate in the project was to learn from each other.
Following the presentations, the audience asked several questions, including how to incorporate and improve traditional knowledge about timber construction techniques in Bhutan. It was agreed that this was something the project team wanted to include and that technology transfer was not the answer. Awareness of local culture and combining it with modern engineering techniques is a more appropriate approach.
Questions were also asked about how to ensure that there is a production chain from tree growing to timber production and construction, so that there is an economic and ecological cycle.
When asked about their biggest surprises during their visit to Bhutan, the Austrian partners mentioned the switch from timber to concrete in building construction. Many of the new buildings resembled timber buildings, but on many occasions timber was replaced by concrete. It was mentioned that it was important to preserve traditional knowledge and use the natural resources available in the country. In some places, building with wood could be not only more sustainable, but also more cost effective when concrete becomes too expensive to import and transport. However, it was pointed out that the 'concrete culture' is also evident in many Austrian authorities and it is difficult to change attitudes to gain more support for timber construction. When asked what they had learnt, the Bhutanese delegates mentioned the lack of knowledge of timber construction in their country, which would be improved through this project. It was also noted that in Austria, wood waste is reused. This could also be applied in Bhutan, according to one member of the delegation.
Another question concerned the sustainability of the project, i.e. the long-term retention of the knowledge of those trained. However, the delegation was confident that the Certificate in Timber Engineering course would ensure sustainability, given the official backing and institutional support.
After the presentation, there was an opportunity for further informal exchanges during a reception in the university cafeteria.