New founding of the ITT

As the successor institute to the “Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics”, which has existed for over 40 years, the new ITT was founded as the “Institute for Natural Resources Technology and Management” at the end of 2024. The name “ITT” will be retained.

“In future, the ITT will focus primarily on research and knowledge transfer,” explains Institute Director Prof. Dr. Ramchandra Bhandari, adding: ”The institute will continue to support teaching, but this will now be based entirely at the Faculty.” The Faculty of Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems is the youngest faculty at TH Köln and offers the Bachelor's program in Spatial Development and Infrastructure Systems as well as three Master's programs in Resources Management, which were previously assigned to the ITT.

“The work of the ITT can build on the decades of experience of its predecessor institute and benefit from a large network for research, transfer and teaching,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Lars Ribbe, Dean of the Faculty. With concrete impulses in research, the institute involves students, doctoral candidates and postdocs and thus promotes exchange with other researchers on an international level, says Prof. Ribbe.

With sustainable development as its guiding principle, the ITT will continue to work in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary manner with a focus on the regions of Asia, Africa and Latin America. The aim is to find integrated solutions for a sustainable socio-ecological transformation in the management of natural resources and associated technologies.