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The 78th anniversary of the abolition of the army
Costa Rica commemorates the 78th anniversary of the abolition of the army, decreed on 1 December 1948 by the Founding Board of the Second Republic and enshrined in Article 12 of the Political Constitution:
The Army is proscribed as a permanent institution. For the surveillance and preservation of public order, there shall be the necessary police forces. Only by continental agreement or for national defence may military forces be organised; both shall always be subordinate to civilian power: they may not deliberate, nor may they make demonstrations or statements individually or collectively’.
This solemn act has unequivocally marked the trajectory of the Costa Rican State. As the decree commemorating 1 December as a bank holiday states in article 4:
‘That the abolition of the army is a milestone in the social, political, cultural and economic construction of Costa Rica, it is also a global hallmark of our nation's contribution to the world. This event marked peace and democracy as essential elements of Costa Rican culture’.
In the words of historian Gabriela Villalobos, the Abolition of the Army strengthened the foundations of a civilian political and social system.
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Exciting Internship Opportunity in Costa Rica starting February 2025
In collaboration with the UOS and the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, the sCoRe (Sustainable Communities through Rural Entrepreneurship) program is looking for students who are eager to work closely with Costa Rican students and local entrepreneurs to extend the entrepreneurs’ business endeavors in Costa Rica's Turrialba and Dota regions.
Dive into the vibrant heart of Costa Rica's rural landscapes. Join local entrepreneurs to combine specialized expertise in different fields. From programming to photography, there's a synergy awaiting discovery. As you step into this world, it's vital to tread with respect, understanding, and a genuine desire to learn and grow collaboratively.
Who Should Join?
- University Students from UOS or Hochschule Osnabrück
- Skills or experience in Web Design/Programming, Copy Writing, SEO, Graphical Design, Photography/Video, Data Science, Social Media, Business Administration, Environmental System Science, Psychology, and related fields
- B2+ Spanish proficiency
- Interest to go to Costa Rica for a research internship for around 6 months starting from February 2025
Take the Next Step!
Interested? Reach out and come sCoRe with us!
Send us an email: lena.schmeiduch@uni-osnabrueck.de
Who we are
Team Costa Rica
- systematization and reporting
- distribution of funding
- managing the network
Research Unit Costa Rica
- active UOS researchers only
- graduate students involved in specific projects
Networking Costa Rica
- extended network: exchange and contact with other members who have a strong interest in the work of the Costa Rica Center
- interested students and researchers
- Costa Rican researchers and collaboration partners
- Alumni
Latest news
Research stay as part of the sCoRe project
The stay in Dota and Turrialba in Spring 2024 was integral to the cooperative project ‘sCoRe’, carried out at the Dept. of Work and Organizationa Psychology at the UOS, the UNCR and Orlando Bruno representing Producer Networks Turri Creadores de Origen and the UOS.
Several coordinative meetings were held to introduce the students to the project’s operational frameworks and to conduct meta-reflection phases for collective experience sharing. Also, during this time, the goals and tasks were explained to the local coordinators and the students and a project management software was was implemented. During daily/weekly meetings with the students/coordinators the progress of the project was tracked.
New publication: Producer-consumer networks as drivers of a sustainability transition in rural regions of Costa Rica
In the current issue of Revista Geográfica de América Central, Dr. Shirin Betzler and Lena Schmeiduch (University of Osnabrück), together with Daniel Avendaño Leadem (Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica) and Orlando Bruno (Entrepreneurial network Turri Creadores de Origen), write about networks of small entrepreneurs and consumers as a driving force for a sustainability transformation in rural regions of Costa Rica. They discuss key characteristics that foster this transformation, including the specific mind- and skillsets of local entrepreneurs, their embeddedness in network structures, and the geographical context in which these networks are located.
Download in English: https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/geografica/article/view/19605/31066 Download in Spanish: https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/geografica/article/view/20212/31090
Research stay at the Universidad Nacional
At the beginning of 2024, Shirin Betzler and Lena Schmeiduch (Industrial and Organizational Psychology) were in Costa Rica for a research stay as part of the cooperation project "sCoRe: Sustainable Communities through Rural Entrepreneurs". After the kick-off of the students' stay within the framework of the project, a week each in Dota and Turrialbain followed in order to network the participating students, introduce them to the specific conditions of the regions, intensify contacts with important stakeholders and ensure a successful start to the students' work in Costa Rica. In addition, they were able to use the stay to gain important experience with the processes and structures of their project that have been established over the last few months.
The trip was sponsored by the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture.
A past between the lines
The Costa Rica Center is disseminating information in its network about the exhibition "A Past Between the Lines", which is dedicated to the rock paintings of the Guanacaste mountain range in Costa Rica and will open on May 14 at the BASA Museum of the University of Bonn.
According to Dr. Daniel Grana-Behrens from the Department of Ancient American Studies and Ethnology, the exhibition presents the first results of a German-French-Costa Rican project that was carried out from 2018 to 2022 in the southwestern Mesoamerican cultural area and supported by the Centre d'études mexicaines et centraméricaines (CEMCA), the Institut national des recherches archéologiques préventives (INRAP), the Museo de Oro Precolombino de Costa Rica and the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn.
Doctoral thesis Adrián Rojas Campos
The Costa Rica Center congratulates doctoral student Adrián Rojas Campos (Alajuela, Costa Rica), who successfully defended his doctoral thesis entitled "Deep Learning and Scientific Models: Complementing Dynamical Systems Using Artificial Neural Networks" on Monday, April 29, 2024. The thesis includes four publications dealing with the application of deep learning models in various fields, including meteorology and epidemiology. Mr. Rojas Campos developed his work in the Neuroinformatics group under the initial supervision of Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Gordon Pipa.
We congratulate Adrián and wish him every success in his new phase of life.
Symposium in Costa Rica - CoRiVET
At the end of November 2023, a team from vocational and business education was in Costa Rica as part of CoRiVET, with the main aim of holding the second forum on VET research. There were various networking activities and joint meetings of the actors involved in the planned cooperation agreement on VET research in Costa Rica. Through this visit, a contribution was made to promote joint networks with academic and non-academic stakeholders, build up resources for VET research and promote research activities in VET.
The stay of the team was supported by the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture with a travel grant.
Field report Angles, Field Report Bals, Field Report Porcher, Field Report Rommel
Field reports of excursions in the past
- Lecture planning and network meetings in Osnabrück - end of 2023 (PDF, 438 kB)
- Research trip for the master thesis - Intercultural Psychology - Spring 2023 (PDF, 505 kB)
- Research trip to Costa Rica and the United States - Spring 2023 (PDF, 127 kB)
- Virtual journey through Costa Rica's ecosystems (PDF, 170 kB)
- Research Internship in Costa Rica - Spring 2023 (PDF, 229 kB)
- Research trip to Costa Rica and the United States (PDF, 180 kB)
- Summer School in Costa Rica on living conditions and biodiversity (PDF, 556 kB)
- Visit of UTN delegation - September 2022 (PDF, 79 kB)
- Project work on the Ecosystem Páramos, Costa Rica - end of 2023 (PDF, 244 kB)
Team Costa Rica / networking
Esteban Duran-Delgado, management p.p.
International Office
Neuer Graben 27
49074 Osnabrück
esteban.duran-delgado@uni-osnabrueck.de
Consultation any time by email. Personal appointments upon request.
Andrea Katz
International Office
Neuer Graben 27
49074 Osnabrück
Research unit Costa Rica
Prof. Dr. rer. soc. Karsten Müller
Speaker
karsten.mueller@uni-osnabrueck.de
Focus on work and organizational psychology
Room: 15/231
Phone: +49 (0)541 969-4701
Dr. rer. nat. Florian Fiebelkorn
Speaker
florian.fiebelkorn@biologie.uni-osnabrueck.de
Room 35/140
Phone: +49 541 969-3511
Representative of the Costa Rica Center in Costa Rica
S.E. José Joaquín Chaverri Sievert
The Costa Rica Center's sponsors
The Costa Rica Center is sponsored by the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture (Sievert Stiftung für Wissenschaft und Kultur), which has been supporting the University of Osnabrück and Costa Rica for years.
For further details, please visit the website of the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture (in german).