World Resource Forum (WRF) Student Reporter
„The World Resources Forum (WRF) is an independent, international platform for debate on global resource consumption issues, advocating innovation for resource productivity. The WRF is building a bridge from the natural sciences and engineering to economics; it aims to equip political decision makers to identify realistic policy options for sustainable growth."
Held for the first time in 2009, the World Resources Forum in Davos has attracted a prominent selection of speakers, including Dennis Meadows (Co-Author Limits to Growth), Ashok Khosla (President IUCN), Ernst-Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Author Factor 4) and Mathis Wackernagel (Executive Director Global Footprint Network) and a range of high-level policy makers. The event will reposition the topic of resource consumption and productivity and aims to have a direct and tangible impact on policy makers.
To increase the outreach of the event, the Mercator Foundation Switzerland, together with the Swiss Study Foundation and oikos International, invites students to participate as WRF Student Reporters:
Be a Student Reporter at a global sustainability forum!
As a ‘WRF Student Reporter’, you have direct access to the World Resources Forum and the R’09 congress, where you will experience three days of intense and high-quality discussions and debates during the keynote sessions, workshops and dinners. You will work in an interdisciplinary team of ten international students that continuously contribute to a multi-author blog with text and visual content. In this blog, student reporters will summarise the discussions, open points and recommendations during the two days of the World Resources Forum for an international audience.
On Monday, 14 September, you will attend the opening plenary of the R’09 congress, starting at 9 am, and develop insights on the history and recent developments in resource management. In the afternoon, you will receive an introduction to reporting, writing and blogging for the web in a specially conceived workshop. And on 15 September, with the opening of the World Resources Forum, the reporting work of the Student Reporters begins and continues until the evening of 16 September.
Application Deadline: 31 July 2009
The application is open for regular students that are members of the Swiss Study Foundation or of an oikos Local Chapter. Applicants should be fluent in English and have experience in interview and writing techniques. Applicants with special artistic, graphical and / or technological skills are particularly invited to apply. Participants will be requested to contribute to the preliminary workshop.
The Mercator Foundation Switzerland covers the participant fee, accommodation and food during the preparation day and the WRF (13-16 September 2009). Travel to and in Switzerland is not included.
Please fill out the application form on 
www.worldresourcesforum.org/student-reporter/ (scroll down for the form)
If you are interested in the event, but cannot apply as a WRF Student Reporter, please register for the Newsletter on www.worldresourcesforum.org to receive updates both on the Forum and the Blog.
For more information, contact Martin Herrndorf, oikos PhD Fellow at 
martin.herrndorf@oikos-international.org or at +41 (0) 76 263 2601.
‘WRF Student Reporter’ was initiated by the Mercator Foundation Switzerland and is a joint project of the Mercator Foundation Switzerland, the Swiss Study Foundation and oikos International.
The WRF is a joint initiative of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) and Prof. Dr. Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek (President of the Factor 10 Institute), supported by the Swiss Academy for Engineering Sciences (SATW) and the Mercator Foundation Switzerland.
Date
14.–16.09.2009
Place
- Davos Congress Centre
Organizers
oikos International, Mercator Foundation Switzerland, Swiss Study Foundation