ZuGAbe is a bilateral project between Hochschule Geisenheim University (HGU) and the University of Thessaly (UTH) focusing on protected cultivation. In particular the Institute of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition of HGU and the Department of Agriculture Crop Production and Rural Environment of UTH, have established a teaching and research cooperation dealing with the future, productivity and environmental sustainability of protected cultivation, in order to provide an intensive exchange along with a transfer of knowledge between the two universities. The project includes the following:
ZuGAbe is funded by DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) from funds from the German Foreign Office. Person in charge: Johannes Max and Evelyn Dimkou from HGU and Nikolaos Katsoulas from UTH.
A one-week summer school on greenhouse hydroponics will take place at HGU in the last week of September 2019. Experts from HGU, UTH and other research institutions as well as people from the business will be taking a look at different aspects of the topic during the week in Geisenheim. Excursions and sightseeing tours as well as get-together evenings will round off the program.
Program. Find out more here.
Application. Open to students, early-stage researchers (PhD, postdocs) or young professionals in the agricultural field. Application deadline is June 30, 2019. Please apply online here and send additionally a CV and a letter of motivation to Evelyn Dimkou via mail (evelyn.dimkou(at)hs-gm.de). Maximum number of participants: 40.
Fees. The summer school is free, but participants will have to cover the cost of travel and accommodation. Ten scholarships of €625, €705 and €865 for bachelor, master and PhD students respectively, will be provided to applicants from the University of Thessaly. Granting of scholarships will be based on criteria such as number of completed semesters and grades.
Accommodation. You can arrange your own accommodation at one of the many hotels and apartments in the area, but please remember that the Rheingau is a very popular wine tourism destination and can be busy in September. This link provides a list of apartments in Geisenheim. Alternatively, there are a limited number of rooms which we can book for you at the Hotel “Zur Post” in Geisenheim for approximately €35 (single) or €60 (double).
For further information please contact Evelyn Dimkou (evelyn.dimkou(at)hs-gm.de).
More than 40 Greek and German students and young professionals from the agricultural field participated in September 2018 the ZuGAbe summer school about greenhouse cover materials in Volos. Eight students from HGU received scholarships, while the courses were free for all participants.
The summer school offered a diverse program of lectures, field trips and capacity building workshops as well as get together and cultural events and students and lecturers were at the end very excited. “The large attendance over the whole week, the exciting debates at the end of the presentation as well as the extremely positive feedback from the participants demonstrates the success of the event regarding the content but also the organisation. We are sure that this will be the case also next year during our second summer school, this time in Geisenheim!” said Evelyn Dimkou, person in charge for the ZuGAbe summer school.
"The organisation of the entire studying week was very thoughtfully planned and has been running perfecrtly smooth. The variety of talks covering different areas and aspects of protected cultivation provided a comprehensive overview of the topic. For me as a student from a business oriented agricultural studying programme the summer school brought many new topics, ideas and lots of inspiration for the future. Besides, the atmosphere among the speakers and students was very warm and friendly which made my stay in Greece especially pleasant”, commented Anastasia Voronaia, an International Wine Buissiness student at the HGU.
Denissa Avdouli, a bachelor student in agricultural sciences at UTH made following positive comments: “This year's summer school was amazing! The people invited talked about a wide range of topics that highlighted the potential greenhouse technology holds. The overall experience was splendid. I totally recommend people who are interested in the field to attend it!”
The ZuGAbe exchange program offers the possibility to all students and researchers from HGU and UTH to apply for a scholarship in order to participate to a research project at the partner university. Students may conduct the research work in the framework of their bachelor or master thesis.
The topic of the research will focus on aspects of protected cultivation such as the evaluation of cover materials for greenhouses and the optimization of irrigation systems and will be defined between the scholar and the supervisor. The period of the stay can vary between 2 and 6 months.
The scholarship includes 225 € travel costs plus accommodation cost in the amount of 650 up to 2000 € per month according to the status of the scholar (student, graduate, postgraduate etc.).
Requirements: all students, doctoral candidates and researchers of HGU and UTH are eligible to apply for a ZuGAbe scholarship.
The application must include a curriculum vitae and a motivation letter and should be sent per email to Evelyn Dimkou (evelyn.dimkou(at)hg-gm.de). For further information please contact Evelyn Dimkou, Johannes Max (johannes.max(at)hs-gm.de) or Nikolaos Katsoulas (nkatsoul(at)uth.gr).
More than 20 scientists and graduate students from HGU and UTH participated to the four-day workshop on Non-invasive Detection of Plant Responses in Greenhouses that took place in Geisenheim in November 2017 in the frame of the ZuGAbe project. Together with experts from the field of phenotyping, such as Laura Junker from Research Center Jülich and Philipp von Gillhausen from the Phenospex, they presented and discussed on the actual state as well as the future perspectives of non-invasive technologies in greenhouses in order to exchange knowledge and identify topics for future activities within the ZuGAbe project. On the last day, participants visited the Research Center Jülich which is a leader on the research on phenotyping.