Using the EPIC Model in Asian Cities
25-27 May, 2021 – Virtual Event – Times TBD
Are you a university or municipality that’s looking to build climate-resilience in your local city?
All cities and communities contend with development challenges and many cities have nearby university faculty and students who are invested in their cities and can help find sustainable solutions. The EPIC (Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities) network model has a proven track record of identifying win-win community-university partnerships –– by first asking communities what they need and want and then matching those needs to existing faculty courses and programs of study.
EPIC-N offers a robust yet flexible means for harnessing university-based knowledge and applying it in practice on behalf of local cities and communities. Presently, 50+ universities in the US, Latin America and Africa have programs that are implementing the EPIC model, and have collectively completed nearly 2000 community-identified projects in more than 250 cities.
The Opportunity
EPIC-N, in partnership with UNEP’s Global Adaptation Network and START, are pleased to offer a virtual learning workshop on the EPIC model for Asian countries. This virtual event will provide a unique opportunity for collaborating pairs of individuals representing municipal governments and corresponding local universities to gain skills on the use of the EPIC-N model to strengthen capacities for climate change adaptation and resilience in the city and return home with a work plan to implement it. The most promising city-university pairings will be eligible to apply for a seed grant after the initial training to support follow-on activities towards implementing an EPIC project.
Qualifications Necessary to Apply
The EPIC learning process requires pairs of candidates (at least one person from a local university and at least one person from a local municipal/city government within the same area). The ideal pairing combines decision-makers and/or people-of-influence on both sides: for example, from the community side, a city manager, assistant city manager, chief resilience officer or equivalent; on the university side, a department or program head, senior administrator, or distinguished professor. The training will be conducted in English. The members of the designated pair need not have collaborated previously although a history of collaboration or active progress toward developing a collaboration is preferred.
Timing and Structure of the Workshop
The online workshop will follow a structure of three consecutive half-day sessions on 25-27 May, 2021. The EPIC team will work with the participating city-university pairs in the lead-up to the workshop to further understanding of the model and to assess learning goals of the participants.
Selection Process
The selection process for the virtual event will proceed in three steps.
- Applications were due by 1 March 2021 and are now closed.
- The workshop organizers will follow up with qualified applications to seek more in-depth information from each applicant pair.
- Finalists will be determined by the end of January and, for final eligibility, applications will be asked to consider a set of pre-workshop materials on EPIC basics and examples, as applied to their circumstance.
Additional Information
For more information on the application process, please contact Dr. Mzime Murisa (mmurisa@start.org)
For more information on the EPIC-N model and network, please go to www.epicn.org or write to info@epicn.org
We welcome your application to the EPIC-Asia training workshop.
Presented in partnership by
