During the session, the experts shared different projects they carry out in the field of sustainability and discussed how to contribute to a fairer and greener society from the university level.
Among the projects developed by researchers from UIC Barcelona that stood out was the measurement of the impact of climate actions at the University and from the University. Other projects included the architectural development of sustainable solutions such as luminescent trees; the development of a cosmetic free of plastic and water in the area of bioengineering; or the Erasmus+ project on urbanism, through which carbon-neutral cities are promoted. The restoration of river channels through citizen participation was also addressed.
The UIC Barcelona teachers responsible for these initiatives are Jordi Roviras, Marta Benages, Lorenzo Chelleri and Alberto T. Estévez, from the School of Architecture; Román Pérez, from Basic Sciences; and Sílvia Albareda, from Education.
The participants in the day stressed the need to work from an interdisciplinary perspective. Accordingly, the lecturer in architecture, Jordi Roviras, assured that “the solution is to create a foundational project that makes the most of synergies”.
Ferran Casamitjana, from Cáritas Diocese of Barcelona, Pedro Losantos, Climate Action Technician, responsible for the UPC Sustainable programme and Elena Boadas, PhD in Education, specialised in environmental entities from Ramon Llull University, also participated in the conference. All of them have shared experiences of good practices in sustainability that they perform in their daily tasks, in many cases invisible and difficult to measure.
At the beginning of the event, the vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer at UIC Barcelona, Conrado Aparicio, highlighted the importance of holding conferences such as this one, which “promote transversal actions toward global sustainability with the involvement of citizens in science”.
This conference is one of the knowledge transfer activities of the SGR in Sustainability and Comprehensive Education (SEI) with the project “Measuring the positive impact of action to mitigate climate change. Climate education at the University and from the University”, financed by the Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants (AGAUR).
The conference “Science with conscience” represents only a tip of the iceberg of UIC Barcelona’s commitment to working on this area, promoting collaboration between researchers, institutions and citizens.
