Meet the players behind the Ihédate group project

Four students from Sciences Po’s Master in Regional and Urban Strategy have recently come to the end of a GROUP project with the Ihédate, one of the Urban School’s long-standing academic partners. We received feedback on this year-long collaboration from the project partners, TUTORS and the students involved.

About the stakeholders

Partner: represented by Nathalie Leroux, Assistant Director at the Ihédate.

The Institut des hautes études d’aménagement des territoires (Ihédate) is a training centre for qualified professionals in regional planning and development and a site for the study, reflection and discussion of regional issues at large.

Tutors: Jens Althoff and Jules Hebert, respectively Director and Energy, Ecology and Social Programmes Coordinator at the Paris Office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

The Heinrich Böll Foundation is among the leading political foundations in Germany. As a think tank, the foundation works on advancing ecological and social transition and a more participatory, pluralist and inclusive democracy.

Students from the Urban School:

• Théo Bendahan, holder of a BA in European Social and Political Studies from UCL (University College London), including an Erasmus programme at Humboldt University of Berlin.
• Floriane Bertin-Gloeckler, holder of a Sciences Po Bachelor’s degree completed on the Nancy Campus (Europe and Franco-German regional specialisation), including a third year abroad studying at the University of Salamanca.
• Grégoire Désigaud, holder of a dual bachelor’s degree in Economy & Geography with Regional Planning at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
• Sophie Schlewitz, holder of a Sciences Po bachelor’s degree completed on the Nancy Campus (Europe and Franco-German regional specialisation), including a third year abroad studying at the University of Economics in Bratislava on the EDGE programme (Environmental Diplomacy and Geopolitics)

The Project

The paradoxes of ecological transition in Northern Germany

The Ihédate gave students the task of organising a five-day study trip in Northern Germany. The trip was to form part of the institute’s 2020 training programme for regional planners, entitled “Regions and the Ecological Imperative: Scales and Interdependencies”. The aim of the group project was to study strategies of ecological governance in Germany.

Interview

Why did you decide to collaborate on a project with the Urban School? What can students bring to these kinds of projects?

Ihédate: We have been entrusting the administration of our annual study mission to students of the Urban School for 9 years now. It’s a partnership that works very well and, given that we are a fairly small team as an institute, it’s a real advantage to be able call on students for projects like this. It also gives us the chance to pass skills and knowledge on to them. The students gain a firm training in effective research methods; they are able to think on their feet and come up with new ideas. That pushes us to rethink our ways of working, which very stimulating. Moreover, our ‘auditors’ (the institute professionals who participate in the trip) are delighted to get the chance to work with young people who bring a completely fresh view of the sector. The interactions between them are always very positive and constructive.

What led you to take on the role of tutor to the project?

Mentor: It was the Ihédate that invited us to be tutors on the project. Their study mission related to themes that we deal with as a foundation. Energy transition is at the heart of our work and, of course, we know Germany very well as a region. This meant we were able to offer our expertise on the topic but we also learnt things ourselves, particularly with regards to comparisons between France and Germany.

What made you choose this group project?

Théo: The project’s practical element. In addition, it allowed us to compare regional planning procedures in France and in Germany and was one of the only projects that included the opportunity of studying and working in another European country. This gave us a little breather from our studies, which was a real advantage.

Floriane: It was a project about Germany, which fit perfectly with my background. The international element was definitely a bonus as well. Finally, it was an opportunity to work on a concrete mission and I’ve always enjoyed organising projects or events.

Grégoire: This project went beyond a standard academic research task: there was an organisational element that appealed to me. And we got to take an interest in a particular region and compare German and French approaches to a major contemporary issue.

Sophie: It was different from the others. This project interested me because it provided an opportunity to meet a wide range of people and discover different careers. Moreover, it took place in Germany, one of the regions that interests me most.

How did you approach the organisation of the project?

Tutors: We invited the students to come and work in our offices whenever they wished to. That meant that we saw them at least every fortnight. We were able to discuss with them regularly, provide resources, give our view on their work before any presentations to the project partners, and generally guide them where necessary. We were also available to answer any questions they might have, even outside of the allocated meeting times.

Ihédate: The group were given one day and a half per week to work on the group project, so we organised things as we went along. Regular meetings meant the work could progress smoothly and we were able to guide the students as soon as we sensed that they were encountering difficulties. The students formed an integral part of our team.

Students: We were in regular contact with our tutors and with the Ihédate. That gave us a steady rhythm and a supportive framework throughout the project.

What assistance were the two project tutors able to provide?              

Students: The tutors work in exactly the area we were looking at; they have a very good knowledge of Germany and of the project context, which was a great help. Beyond this methodological guidance, they also provided us with academic resources and numerous contacts.

Tutors: The study trip in question was designed primarily for professionals in continuing education, all of whom have existing experience in regional planning and thus very specific expectations. It was important to ensure that the week of the trip would actually be useful to its participants. So we helped the students to adapt to and satisfy the needs of these professionals, to identify the right speakers and to ensure that these were varied.>                        

Was the project a success?

Students: It went really well. We had a very good relationship with both the Ihédate and with our tutors, as well as getting on well amongst ourselves. We had a good amount of autonomy and were free to choose destinations and speakers for the trip. We were able to present and defend our suggestions to the project partners. It was a real team effort.

Ihédate: The students were great to work with. The aim was to produce a coherent, well-articulated five-day study mission, including a variety of points of view on the target issue and, therefore, meetings with a diverse range of local stakeholders. The entire itinerary of the five days was up them to put together. We are delighted to see more and more students fulfilling our specification perfectly.

Tutors: The project went very well. Initially, the students did have some clichés about energy transition in Germany, which we had to dismantle. They worked extremely hard and got to grips with the German federal system, which is by no means straightforward. Two of the group spoke German, which was very useful. They made clear progress over the course of the project.

Did the fact that you have different academic backgrounds help you with the project?

Students: Yes, hugely. Some of us can speak languages, particularly German, we all have different ways of working, Grégoire has cartography skills, some of us felt more comfortable with public speaking… Our respective skills were quite varied and, ultimately, very complementary!

What impact did the health crisis have on the project? How did team-members cope with these challenges?

Ihédate: Unfortunately, we had to cancel the trip. We decided to postpone it until October. But that didn’t mean that the students’ mission was over – they had to bounce back and adapt to the challenges. They managed the situation very well, even managing to give an excellent final presentation remotely!

Tutors: The cancellation of the trip was, of course, disappointing for the students, but also for us. The trip was postponed and shortened. That meant that the programme had to be reworked, condensing the trip into its most crucial parts, which was not an easy task. The speed with which the team adapted to the changes was impressive.

Students: The health crisis didn’t really have an impact on our way of working. We just had to conduct our meetings remotely, via an online platform. We were able to continue working in spite of the situation.

What did you think of the finished submission? Are you satisfied with the work that the students produced?

Ihédate: They have supplied us with a programme that is practically ready for use on a trip to Germany in October. They even submitted a statistical appendix in addition to their report. This document, which was not actually a requirement, will be highly useful to us as well – so much so that we are considering including it in the specification for future projects. This was the first time that a group of students has submitted extra work. They worked really hard and we hope that they will all be able to accompany us on the trip. Their work is precious.

Tutors: We are very impressed, both by the results of the report and the work leading up to it. They have all evolved over the course of the year: they have learnt how to manage a project and have been able to react and adapt rapidly to the difficulties they encountered. We really hope that the trip will go ahead in October and that they will be able to see the fruits of their labours.

What has your overall experience of this group project been? What will you take away from it?

Sophie: It was a very enriching experience. The project taught us how to work as a team in a professional context, in order to plan and organise an event. We all developed new skills. We formed a good and solid team and everything went very well. The only negative side was having to cancel the trip.

Floriane: We really developed our teamwork skills. The project was intense: we learnt to adapt ourselves to other people’s styles of working, with both their strong and their weak points, to coordinate ourselves and to divide work up amongst the team. Personally, the project also helped me to confirm my career plans.

Théo: We got the chance to test our skills in a real-world context. We needed to be organised, keep to deadlines and work within a more professional structure, very different to our usual style of working as students. The only “negative” aspect of the project was that, due to the task being partly organisational, we did have less time to concentrate on the academic considerations.

Grégoire: Our interaction with the project partners was really positive; we very much had the impression of working in collaboration with the Ihédate team and the work atmosphere was very enjoyable. It should be said that the task was quite demanding, requiring a lot of work and personal investment. For us that was extremely motivating but it might have put some people off. The project definitely fulfilled my expectations and I never regretted having chosen it.

Tutors: It was a wonderful experience. Our discussions were rich and very interesting. The students brought a fresh and critical eye to their work, which allowed us to rethink certain things too. It was great to hear all their questions and to get a different perspective on ecological transition in Northern Germany. The fact that each of the students had a different academic background was also a bonus.

Ihédate: As every year, it was fascinating to be able to design this project with students. We are delighted with the results and are thinking of renewing the project next year as well, which will be our tenth time of running it!

Read the final report (FR)