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Living Lab Seychelles

Enlarged view: Graphic of the structure of the Seychelles' Living Lab
The structure of the lab includes four teaching components (ellipses). Boxes indicate major partners. Continuous arrows indicate well-established collaborations, whilst dotted arrows indicate potential collaborations.

The living lab in the Seychelles is a Sustainability Learning Lab (SLL) that anchors us in the Global South. The Seychelles, located in the southern part of the Indian Ocean, is a small state spread over some 115 islands within a sea area of 1.4 million km2. Like many Small Island Developing States’ (SIDS) the archipelago is facing challenges like size, limited resources and capacities for long-term planning, isolation from global markets and high vulnerability to climate change effects.

The goal of the lab is to provide a learning and activity platform for students, lecturers, researchers and actors from local administration, private sector and civil society. Teaching and research activities include transdisciplinary case studies (tdCS), methods courses at University of Seychelles (UniSey), bachelor’s and master’s theses, and internships. Along with the tdCS the main pillars of our living lab are an elective course for ETH master’s students and UniSey bachelor students.

History

  • In 2023, we kept the general theme of sustainable land use in the Seychelles. This time, however, we focussed on tourism as a manifestation of land use - Rethinking the sustainability of tourism in the Seychelles. Again, 25 ETH master's students from different study directions and foci (Environmental and Agricultural Sciences, Environmental Engineering, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure as well as Management, Technology and Economics) and five bachelor's students from UniSey participated. This study was carried out in close co-operation with the Tourism Department.
  • In 2021, the general theme of the tdCS21 was Sustainable Land Use in Seychelles. The Transport System was taken as a representation of land use and was topic of the study. 25 ETH master’s students from various study directions and foci (environmental and agricultural science, environmental engineering, spatial planning and infrastructure, and management, technology and economics) and 19 bachelor’s students from UniSey joined. This study was carried out in close co-operation with the Department of Transport.
  • In 2020, the tdCS2020 was focussing on sustainable land use. 20 students from ETH Zurich from six different master's programmes and 14 UniSey students from various disciplines were about to start when SARS-CoV-2 arrived. The course was cancelled after 5 weeks and postponed to 2021.
  • In 2018, the tdCS18 focuses on waste sorting at the source and recycling. Again 19 students from ETH from various disciplines (environmental and agricultural science, environmental engineering) and 16 students from UniSey take part.
  • In 2017, a methods course (system and scenario analysis, multi-criteria assessment) was organized for 14 bachelor’s students from UniSey.
  • In 2016 the TdLab, UniSey and MEECC jointly decided to focus on solid waste in a tdCS with 18 ETH and 18 UniSey students from various disciplines.
  • In 2015 the TdLab initiated a long-term collaboration with UniSey and the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC).

There are a number of master’s theses and internships completed, on-going and in planning on different topics with a range of local partners.

Master theses

Ongoing

  • Tourism in the Seychelles: A Sustainability Appraisal of Accommodation Establishments by Noel Högger
    Supervision: Dr Pius Krütli and Mr Paul Lebon
    Partners: Seychelles Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Tourism Dept., Director General Paul Lebon

Completed

2023

2022

2020

2019

2018

  • Cable Cars in the Seychelles? – A Sustainability Appraisal by Patrik Simon
    Supervision: Dr. Pius Krütli & Mr. Thomas Nesler (Doppelmayr)
    Partners: This project was carried out in close cooperation with the Austrian ropeway company Doppelmayr, the Seychelles company VCS and the Ministry of Housing, Infrastructure and Land Transport.

2017

2016

Internships

  • Student: Sana Rajkovic (Mai 2018 – Aug 2018)
    Project: Waste management
    Partner: Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change
    Tasks: Electronic Waste, Material flux analysis
  • Student: Stéphanie Massy (Nov 2016 – Aug 2017)
    Project: external page Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (EbA)
    Partner: GOS/UNDP/GEF Programme Coordination Unit EbA project
    Tasks: The overall purpose was to assist the project team to implement forest rehabilitation, with particular attention to the implementation of work in Mare aux Cochons (Mahe, Seychelles).

TdLab's Project Team

  • Dr Pius Krütli
  • Prof. Dr Michael Stauffacher
  • Dr Danny Nef

Related Links

Publications

  • Krütli, P., Nef, D., & Stauffacher, M. (2019), Transdisciplinary Pathways for Sustainability Transformations. external page Seychelles Research Journal 1(2), 102-120. external page Open Access
  • Krütli, P., Pohl, C., & Stauffacher, M. (2018). Sustainability learning labs in Small Island Developing States: A case study of the Seychelles. GAIA, 27(S1), 46-51. doi: external page 10.14512/gaia.27.S1.11
  • Meylan, G., Lai A., Hensley J., Stauffacher, M. & Krütli P. (2018). Solid waste management of small island developing states – The Case of the Seychelles: A systemic and collaborative study of Swiss and Seychellois students to support policy. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 25(36), 35791-35804. doi: external page 10.1007/s11356-018-2139-3

Testimonials

"I’m very pleased and grateful for the support you have given to the ministry and also the collaboration that has taken place between the universities [ETH and University of Seychelles]. I think our students have been given a very special opportunity to learn from other students and cultures." (Didier Dogley, Seychelles’ Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change)

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