Idea

Training the students in solving problems through negotiations, broadening their intellectual horizons, and preparing them to operate in an interdisciplinary setting – are the goals of the project. More specifically, our points of focus comprise:

Education: enhancement of negotiation skills which are still a scarce resource among professionals in Poland. Students are rarely, and only since recently, taught in academic setting how to solve problems by negotiation. We expect the students to grow better fit to tackle negotiation problems on the emotional and intellectual level despite high pressure and challenging subject matter. We would like to see a group of students develop skills in:

● preparing for negotiations by research.

● planning the strategy for the talks

● drafting a sophisticated contract

● managing schedule and division of responsibilities in a group

● cooperating within mixed-professions teams

● speaking in public, making the case by laying out convincing arguments

● controlling conflict and emotions

Sandbox for Ideas. Experts and students will have a chance to test their concepts by flying them against the criticism of the other team. Like it happened in our previous projects, we hope that the fascinating problems and the competitive element embedded in this Exercise, will catch students’ attention so that they will have strong motivation for self-driven research and excellent performance during the talks. The Exercise will make an intellectual toolbox for experimenting and tinkering with ideas about:

● negotiation techniques

● cap-and-trade markets (only in the EU, the CO2-emissions market was worth EUR 89 billion in 2009)

● economics of sharing joint resources (see the Additional Reading, below, for an article of the 2009 Noble Prize winner, Elinor Ostrom on economics of sharing common resources)

● politics of the Middle East

● water distribution, in particular in the Jordan River basin (where water often dubbed the “Oil of the 21st Century”)

Forging Bonds and Interest with the Middle East. Whereas it is beyond the target of the project to influence the situation in the Israel or Palestine, it is worth noting that students will grow emphatic and informed to the situation in this important region. Our partners from the region offer the students a unique networking opportunity. We also believe that this Exercise, if successful, may serve as an inspiring example for institutions or individuals in the countries involved.

Practical Introduction to “Cap-and-Trade”. Students will acquire expertise on the legal, economic and technical framework of the emission market. In the time when global warming, clean energy, renewable sources, make a major topics on the agenda for political and legal decision makers, it is important to train professionals who can design or negotiate a scheme for sharing joint resources.

Partners