Field research in Borneo: MERGED students immersed in environment, community, and sustainable development
The MERGED Master’s students have completed their field research experience in Sarawak, a region in Malaysian Borneo, where they spent two intense weeks immersed in the daily life of the Bidahyu communities to study the interactions between changes in livelihoods, land use, and environmental impacts.
The MERGED program in brief
Our students’ experience in Borneo took place within the framework of the Global Environment and Development (MERGED) program—an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master offered by the Faculty of Science at the University of Copenhagen, the Centre for Environmental Studies and Sustainable Development at the University of Warsaw, and the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DiSAA) at the University of Milan, as part of the 4EU+ Alliance partnership.
The course, with a strong practical orientation, combines solid theoretical foundations with field activities. Its goal is to train graduates capable of identifying critical aspects of sustainable natural resource management for economic, environmental, institutional, and social development—both in the Global South and North—and to develop sustainable, effective, and feasible solutions.
The field experience in Borneo
The Borneo mission is part of the course “Practicing Interdisciplinary Field Research on the Environment”—a course traditionally offered at the University of Copenhagen in collaboration with the University of Malaysia, and now part of the MERGED Master as a mandatory module. The course includes a two-week field research component in Malaysia or Nepal, made possible through agreements with local partner universities.
During this experience, MERGED students spend two immersive weeks in several villages in the Sarawak region of Malaysian Borneo, living alongside the Bidahyu communities. They form multicultural study and research groups together with students from the University of Malaysia.
Together, the students develop a multidisciplinary social and environmental science project focused on studying changes in the local communities’ livelihoods, with a special emphasis on developments over the past two decades and a deeper exploration of the role of oil palm in the local economy and society.
The methodologies employed range from social science approaches (interviews, focus groups, timelines) to natural science techniques, such as soil sampling, forest surveys, ethnobotany, water quality studies, and biodiversity assessments. The aim is to identify, evaluate, and understand the trade-offs and correlations between various changes in livelihoods, the economy, and society, and their respective environmental impacts.
By living in the village with local families—sharing meals, common spaces, and leisure time—students explore the complex dynamics linked to land use changes. The goal is to understand these dynamics without preconceived notions, by listening and placing people at the heart of the story and the interactions between society, environment, and economy.
Current issues and diverse perspectives: the case of palm oil
Through an approach that considers economic, environmental, institutional, and social dynamics in all their complexity, students in the MERGED program engage with current, often controversial topics that are frequently reduced to simplistic narratives. One such example is palm oil: beyond its environmental challenges, it is a crop that provides economic security and a vital resource for many local families.
By “getting their hands dirty” and engaging directly with communities, the field experience helps students develop a critical and participatory working method. This approach guides them toward a deeper understanding of local perspectives and the possible future trajectories of complex issues.
One of the most meaningful moments was the final meeting with the community: an open and respectful dialogue where students shared their reflections and gathered the participants’ reactions, acknowledging the importance of diverse voices in decision-making processes related to land use and rural and economic development.
The MERGED course offers students the opportunity to work with both qualitative and quantitative methods from the natural and social sciences, equipping them with tools to tackle real-world challenges and guiding them through all stages of the research cycle—from formulating questions, to fieldwork, to processing and presenting results.
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In collaboration with Lorenzo Matteo Walter Rossi