Jan Friesen

AGYA has been a wonderful experience. On top of discussions and research collaboration with scholars from almost all disciplines, it has also given me a wealth of transcultural conversations and experiences.

My research combines ecohydrology with monitoring and remote sensing to explore new data sources and ways to measure how water interacts with vegetation. In my field of water resources management, interdisciplinary collaboration is common. Within AGYA, however, I experienced a new level of interdisciplinarity. I had discussions and pursued projects with colleagues from disciplines like microbiology, computer sciences, psychology, economics and many more, that truly broadened my mind and led to new ideas and research endeavours.

Amongst my most interesting AGYA projects was a workshop in Malta titled ‘Fluid Nature, Fluid Cultures: Malta and the Mediterranean’, as well as a science communication project in which several AGYA members and I worked with a professional artist to turn the findings of a joint review article into a science comic. Science comics have since become a hobby of mine. 
In the context of the current pandemic and climate change, applying research results in the real world is more relevant than ever. Through the series of AGYA projects on ‘Smart & Sustainable Cities’, I was able to link my research on ecohydrology – usually conducted in remote nature settings like forests and savannahs – to urban forestry and green infrastructure.

Besides projects with classic outputs like scientific publications or conferences, AGYA gave me the opportunity to realize bold and innovative project formats for which funding is often hard to secure elsewhere. As an alumnus, I will continue to engage in Tandem Projects and to build project consortia from the AGYA network.