RainGain education and training network
Educational activities are among the channels that should be used to increase the impact of a research project along with high level scientific outputs and communication and outreach activities. Such educational activities should be designed with a goal fitted to the target audience : (i) for children : assisting them (and their parents and teachers) to grasp some of the complex underlying issues of the field of environmental science, as well as simply enhancing scientific culture and promoting careers in this field to ensure future innovations. (ii) for students (graduate, MSc): transmitting state of art knowledge they will use in their career (iii) for practitioners and scientists (executive training) : ensuring that most modern approaches and paradigm shifts are shortly implemented for the benefits of citizens.
In this framework, RainGain partners developed and implemented a series of educational activities. More precisely ENPC developed the initial steps of an International Network Education & Training program RAINGAIN@INET¬RadX that will notably help define the target and content of an International Master on RAINGAIN@INET¬RadX :
- Activities for young children in Paris Region (at Festival de l'Oh, in primary schools, in secondary schools, at ENPC) and in Delft;
- Course on rainfall measurement with the help of radars and disdrometers in the environmental measures module of ENPC;
- Tutorial for researchers and practitioners to analyse and characterize urban environments (sewer networks, distributions of impervious areas) with the help of fractal tools;
- A prototype radar showroom to visualize real time data and understand its functioning and potential applications;
- Online dissemination of the scientific presentations of the COP21- RainGain conference;
-
TU Delft will continue with training activities after the end of the RainGain project: training will be adressed to BSc, MSc students, and primary/secondary schools in Delft ; workshops will be organised to train water managers and operators of for example the City of Rotterdam and other water authorities.
At ENPC these activities will be followed up through the Fresnel observatory that is currently being set up. In will be done in the framework of the continuing regional program RadX@IdF and the Chair”Hydrology for Resilient Cities” (endowed by Veolia).