Emiru Birhane

Mekelle University is located in the town of Mekelle in the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia, at a distance of 783 Kilometers from the Ethiopian capital. The merger of the two former colleges: Mekelle Business College and Mekelle University College established the University in May 2000 by the Government of Ethiopia (Council of Ministers, Regulations No. 61/1999 of Article 3) as an autonomous higher education institution. It was designated as a research-intensive university in 2019. It is now one of Ethiopia’s Centers of Excellence in Research and Education with colleges of diversified fields of areas situated in the different parts of Mekelle and the surroundings. At present, the University has seven colleges: Business and Economics, Dryland Agriculture and Natural Resources, Law and Governance, Social Sciences and Languages, Veterinary Medicine, Natural and Computational Sciences and Health Sciences. It has also eleven institutes: the Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, Institute of Paleo-environment and Heritage Conservation, Ethiopian Institute of Technology-Mekelle, Institute of Water and Environment, Institute of Climate and Society, Institute of Gender, Institute of Population, Institute of Environment and Development Studies, Institute of Geo-Information and Earth Observation Sciences, Institute of Mountain Research, and Institute of Energy. Currently, MU hosts over 31,000 students in the regular, continuing education program and summer, evening, distance education, and in-service programs in both undergraduate and graduate programs. Mekelle University is thus now a government-funded higher institution with an international reputation for teaching and research; and has a collaborative understanding with national and international sister institutions. Since its establishment, it has proved to be one of the fastest growing Universities in Ethiopia. The fundamental elements of the University's mission are teaching, research, and consultancy. Thus, its ultimate goal is to pursue standards of excellence in teaching, research, and community service for the betterment of society. The Institute of Climate and Society at Mekelle University was established in July 2011 with the mission to pursue and achieve excellence in academics, research and community services and contribute to the advancement of knowledge, economic growth, and social welfare in Ethiopia. In line with the vision of Mekelle University ICS aspires to become preferred center of excellence in climate and social affairs in Africa. ICS aims to develop capacity building programs in climate and society across the communities in Ethiopia at large and Mekelle University in particular with the intention of curbing the acute shortage of experts in climate and related sectors. Two MSc programs (MSc in Climate and Society and MSc in Meteorology and Climate Risk Management) and three PhD Programs were hence launched with the financial support received from the Open Society Institute (OSI) and other international partners. Climate and agricultural research institutions such as MU-ICS are responsible to device scientific methods of replenishing the natural ecosystem functions and promote human livelihood along the sustainable development trajectory. Enhancing rural farmers’ livelihoods and food security through improving access to improved agricultural technologies and provision of creditable early warning and advisory services are among the top responsibilities of higher educational institutions. Partial list of the national and international projects secured and completed under ICS includes: Intra-Africa Mobility scheme (3 projects) • Transdisciplinary Training to Resource Efficiency and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (TRECCAfrica-I, 2012-2015, € 2.4 million) hosted in 6 universities • Transdisciplinary Training to Resource Efficiency and Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (TRECCAfrica-II, 2014-2018/19, € 2.55 million) hosted in 7 universities • Inter-university cooperation to train Crop Scientists for African Agriculture (CSAA, 2014-2018/19, € 2.55 million)) (hosted in the CoDANR & ICS) in 13 universities OSF-ACCAI (Africa Climate Change Adaptation Initiative) (3 projects). Mission The mission of ICS is to pursue excellence in academics, research and community services. It also seeks to contribute to the advancement of knowledge, economic growth, and social welfare of the country. Vision The vision of ICS is to become one of the top preferred institutes in Africa in the area of climate affairs and climate science. Objective The general objective of the ICS is to cater graduates who have a thorough understanding of climate and society concepts and are capable of generating solutions to climate change problems by linking climate science, policy and practice.