Dr Jorg Valentin, B.A. (Hons), M.E.S.: Short Portrait

First, the bark of the tree log is stripped off in a bark-removing drum. Next, the wood goes into a grinder or a cooker to produce wood pulp, a substance consisting of millions of tiny vegetable fibres. Then, impurities and chemicals in the wood pulp are cleaned out in a washer. Next, the pulp is beaten and mixed with water in a beater to fray the fibres and help them mat together. Then, the fibres go into a Jordan refiner, where they are trimmed evenly.

Finally, the pulp ends up in the paper-making machine. Here, water drains out of the pulp through a screen, which vibrates to make the fibres interlock and mat together. The wet mat then passes under a roller that presses it down into a smoother sheet. The sheet goes through a series of pressing rolls, which squeeze out water and make the paper dense and smooth. Then, it travels through driers, a series of heated drums. At this time a coating can be applied to make the paper smooth and shiny. Paper comes off paper-making machines in large rolls, is trimmed to take off the rough edges and cut to the desired width.

Clearly, paper manufacture is an example of science at work. Various academic and scientific disciplines have left their mark, contributing specialist knowledge to a process creating a product of general practical value: engineering (e.g. bark-removing drum, grinder, etc.), biology (e.g. vegetable fibres, etc.), chemistry (e.g. grinding, cooking, etc.), economics, politics (e.g. paper from trees, etc.), to name but some of the most obvious ones. In this sense, paper manufacture is a practical example of inter-disciplinary co-operation producing an inter-disciplinary outcome.

But perhaps paper is more. Perhaps paper is also a success story. Why? Because inter-disciplinary co-operation cannot be taken for granted. Indeed, more often than not, inter-disciplinary co-operation is the exception. Surprisingly so? Reading the academic curriculum vitae below, one might reach the conclusion: 'Butterfly mind.' But what if this curriculum vitae stems from the realisation that no one discipline has all the answers? What if this curriculum vitae is an attempt to answer a real call. The call for increased inter-disciplinary bridge-building to create inter-disciplinary or inter-professional solutions of mutual benefit. To help produce more success stories like paper … What if?

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

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International political, economic, and management relations with special attention paid to preventative diplomacy and management of international environment regimes.

Study focus

•

Dynamic partnership strategies in international multi-stakeholder co-operation.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

•

Internationalisation of technology transfer and commercialisation.

Study focus

•

Global competition and national and international economic support structures to foster innovation and economic development in technology transfer.

•

International trade structures and support for international technology transfer.

•

Business structures for the export and import of new technologies or intellectual property (IP).

•

Country and company policies and processes and financing issues in international technology transfer.

•

International corporate technology partnering and marketing best practices.

•

Globalisation, the internet and strategic competition.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

•

Commercialisation of technology, knowledge, and innovation.

•

Transfer of technology, knowledge, and innovation between entities, such as companies (i.e. small entrepreneurial ventures, start-ups, large established companies), government institutions or non-profit organisations.

•

Facilitating factors and barriers to collaborative relationships in the transfer of technology, knowledge, and innovation.

Study focus

•

Formulating, evaluating, and implementing knowledge or technology transfer and adoption process.

•

Documenting and critically evaluating national and global environments and their impact on knowledge or technology transfer processes.

•

Understanding and assessing the role of technology transfer structures to facilitate and accelerate knowledge or technology transfer.

•

Understanding and developing models of knowledge or technology management and transfer processes.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

•

Implementation of environmental protection and planning legislation and regulation.

•

Management of industrial development and the related pollution of air, soil and water.

•

High tech solutions to the degradation of environmental quality.

Study focus

•

Cleaner Production; Life-Cycle Assessment; Waste reduction; Resource recycling and reuse; Energy efficiency and conservation; Environmental Technology Assessment (EnvTA); Air quality management; Remediation of site contamination; Integrated water catchment management; Air, soil, and water quality monitoring.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

•

International development of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

•

Methods and practice of project EIA in the Asia-Pacific region.

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Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

Study focus

•

Environmental impact identification in industrial, marine, urban, mining, and rural EIA projects.

•

Screening, scoping, and prediction in EIA.

•

Initiating, preparing, and managing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

•

ADB/World Bank Environmental Assessment (EA) guidelines and cases.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

•

ISO 14010, ISO 14011.

Study focus

•

Objectives, criteria, and protocol of environmental auditing.

•

Roles, responsibilities, and activities of environmental auditors and auditees.

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Initiating, preparing, and conducting an environmental audit.

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Identifying environmental aspects and impacts.

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On-site observation and interview techniques.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Australia.

Study field

•

ISO 14001, ISO 14004, ISO 14031; EMAS.

Study focus

•

Environmental policy; Planning of an Environmental System (EMS); Implementation and operation of an EMS; Checking and corrective action in the EMS procedure; EMS review; Environmental risk assessment; Environmental performance evaluation; Environmental continuous improvement.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research at state universities in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Study field

•

International Business Management, International Economics.

Study foci

•

Global Economic Relations, Theory and Practice of External Economic Relations, Economy and Finance of Europe, International Management, Strategic Management, Human Resources Management, Innovation Management.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in Germany.

Study field

•

European (internal and external) Co-operation and Integration.

Study foci

•

European Politics, European Economy, European Law, European History, European cultural structures, European social structures, European modern languages.

Postgraduate state university studies by coursework and research in the United Kingdom.

Study field

•

International (political and economic) Relations with special attention paid to (state and economic) Diplomacy.

Study foci

•

Law and Practice of Diplomacy, International Relations of Europe, Ethics and International Relations, International Political Economy.

Dual-honours state university studies by coursework and research in the United Kingdom.

Principal subjects

•

French, German, and Russian.

Subsidiary subject

•

Biology.

Study foci (principals)

•

Language, literature, politics, economy.

Study foci (subsidiary)

•

Man, plants and animals in structure and life and in relation with each other and with the environment.

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Australia

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