Agricultural landscape in Beira region (Photo: João Paulino)

The APPEAR project, “Innovating Sustainable Agriculture in Mozambique – Learning and Teaching Tools (ISAM) is a partnership between the Center for Studies, Innovation and Advanced Training (CEIFA) at Zambeze University (Uni Zambeze), Mozambique and the Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems (DNAS) / Division of Organic, BOKU (IfÖL), Austria. It is part of the Austrian Partnership Programme in Higher Education and Research for Development (APPEAR) https://appear.at/en/ and funded by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA).

For any questions related to our project, please contact first:

Project Technical Coordinator:
Pierre Ellßel
Contact: pierre.ellssel(at)boku.ac.at
Working Group Transdisciplinary Systems Research
University of Life Sciences and Natural Resources, BOKU, Vienna, Austria

Master thesis topics available

We are looking for master students that would like to contribute to the project aims with their master thesis. We offer four research topics but your research ideas are also very welcome.

1.       Available topics:

#1: Inclusion of people with disabilities in sustainable farming higher education – perspectives and experiences from the Beira region, Mozambique
#2: Socially relevant sustainable agriculture education – prospects and challenges of a community-university partnership in the Beira region, Mozambique
#3: Towards a transdisciplinary, participatory, action-oriented approach in sustainable agriculture higher education – a case study in the Beira region, Mozambique
#4: Organic farming in Mozambique – prospects and challenges

2.       Eligibility:

The typical candidate will study at a university in Austria and either have a background: 1) in agriculture, water, soil, or similar and have a strong interest in gender, education and curricula development; 2) a social-science background (i.e. sociology, anthropology, economics) with a strong interest in sustainable farming. A good understanding of empirical social research methods will be helpful. Proficiency in English (communication and writing) is required. Good knowledge in Portuguese will be highly valued.

3.       Supervision:

You will be jointly co-supervised by Mozambican and Austrian scientists.

4.       Funding for the field work:

We sill support with the application for the KÜWI grant (BOKU), which covers part of the traveling and living costs. For more information on available master's theses, check: