Students from Cologne and Ukraine conduct research on climate change!
As part of InnoBioDiv – an innovative study of the interaction of plants and the environment in a changing climate, combining biology and modern technologies of the Internet of Things, our students Kateryna Stetsenko (AKTAKIT-20-3 group) and Daryna Nenova (AKTAKIT-21-1 group) visited Universität zu Köln, where they conducted research together with students of this university!
The main objective of the joint research project InnoBioDiv of the University of Cologne (UzK) and the TH Köln (THK) is to establish an innovation platform that makes it possible to experience the influence of climate parameters on the growth performance of plants and biodiversity in the soil using the research results of the Cluster of Excellence for Plant Sciences (CEPLAS). The innovation platform serves on the one hand to make ecological interrelationships in the root zone tangible, and on the other hand as a communication platform for collecting concepts and exchanging ideas.
Part of this innovation platform is a flexibly usable experimental platform that enables a realistic replication of ecosystems for the implementation of explorative teaching and learning modules at the participating universities using state-of-the-art technology from the fields of sensor technology, transmission technology and signal processing. A robot system (FarmBot) allows to automatically regulate the soil moisture controlled by measured and pre-planned parameters in a greenhouse. Alternatively, a Phyto cabinet is available for further experiments.
Students can develop, implement and test own ideas in the field of soil biology supported by actual IoT-based technology. The experimental platform allows the early involvement of scientists and students from different STEM research fields in the soil and plant science development and supports knowledge processes gained through inquiry-based learning.
Since students are an important target group of the InnoBioDiv project for learning modules to be created, their involvement is of great importance for further planning with regard to the design of the modules and feedback on motivation and learning success.
As part of an interdisciplinary and interlingual teaching module, students from Ukraine are staying in Cologne from 16 to 28 January. In this module, they are working together with students from the Master’s programme Communication Systems and Networks (TH Köln) and biology students (UoC) to investigate the influence of climate change on plant growth. The participants from Ukraine are currently in Cologne to carry out the experiments and are otherwise participating via video conference.
The course is part of the project “Plant-Ukraine”, to which six Ukrainian universities, among others, contribute in addition to the two universities in Cologne (project management: Prof Marcel Bucher (UoC), Prof Uwe Dettmar (TH Köln)). The project helps to establish an innovative and interdisciplinary teaching and learning programme for biology and engineering sciences. Students and researchers from Germany and Ukraine develop their own ideas and concepts for researching climate change and its effects on plant growth and soil biodiversity.
One focus is interdisciplinary and intercultural cooperation. In the project, modern technologies such as robotics and the Internet of Things – a network that connects virtual and physical objects – are combined with in-depth knowledge of plant growth and the interaction between plants and microorganisms to develop innovative issues, experiments and approaches.
As part of the Plant-Ukraine project funded by Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre, the project partners University of Cologne and TH Köln are developing further networking and cooperation opportunities for both students and researchers from Ukraine in addition to the practical teaching modules.
The Plant-Ukraine project is linked to the parallel project “InnoBioDiv” by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection. In this project, an innovation platform is being set up to make it possible to experience the influence of climate parameters on the growth performance of plants and biodiversity in the soil using modern technology from the fields of sensor technology, robotics, transmission technology and signal processing. The focus is on the development of concepts for the adaptation of crops and ecosystems to climate change, biodiversity in the soil as well as the resource-saving use of water and nutrients in the cultivation of crops and the security of supply for the population. “Plant-Ukraine” expands the activities in the “InnoBioDiv” project by involving Ukrainian scientists and students.
