The Centre for Settlements Studies (CSS) at the Faculty of Built Environment has hosted the Project Manager of the Building Resilient Communities through Integrating Climate Adaptation with the SDGs in University Education and Research (BRIDGE) project, Mr. Florian Balmes, during a working visit to Kumasi.

BRIDGE is a three-year partnership between KNUST and RWTH Aachen University in Germany, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with a grant of 217,332.64 euros.

The project started in January 2023 and will end in March 2026.

It is coordinated by Professor Divine Ahadzie, former Head of CSS.

The project is built around five work packages: assessing climate risk and adaptation needs in selected Ghanaian communities, developing new courses, capacity building, digital transformation, and project management including dissemination and quality control.

Together, these work packages seek to strengthen climate change research, training, and response while aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

As part of capacity building, 16 KNUST academic staff and 10 PhD students have received training in water resources management and open educational resources at RWTH Aachen’s Department of Engineering Hydrology.

In addition, seven PhD students from KNUST participated in a three-month exchange programme in Aachen, gaining international research experience.

On the digital transformation front, the DAAD has provided 5,000 euros to support the creation of an Open Educational Resources (OER) laboratory at KNUST.

The facility will host the production and delivery of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) to expand access to teaching and learning materials.

During his visit, Mr. Balmes inspected the OER lab and met with the project team to discuss strategies for rolling out the MOOCs.

The team also reviewed progress on the work packages and explored how to maximise the impact of the project over its remaining period.

The visit included a meeting with the Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment, Professor Christian Koranteng.

Discussions were on sustaining the project outcomes beyond its March 2026 completion date and embedding the digital tools and capacity-building initiatives into the university’s teaching and research systems.

The BRIDGE project represents a collaboration between KNUST and RWTH Aachen University, to integrate climate adaptation measures into education and research in Ghana.