Winners of this first edition were Özge Gönlugur, alumni, TFM winner of the Master’s Degree in Biodigital Architecture; and Marta Rovira, of the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education. These awards aim to recognise the academically excellent projects linked to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the local or global level.
The event began with a welcome from the vice-rector of the University Community, Dr Esther Jiménez, who congratulated the students and said, “Education is key to raising awareness and generating solutions. Scientists can describe problems that will affect the environment based on available evidence. However, the solution to these problems is not exclusive to scientists, but concerns all of us. We all impact the world around us. The awards we are giving today show the commitment the participants in caring for people and the environment.”
During the event, the award-winning students presented their projects. Marta Rovira’s project, titled “Analysing the classroom environment: Instrument creation, validation, and implementation”, analysed the classroom mood to evaluate how elementary students feel. A sample of 46 classes and 724 students was analysed.
Özge Gönlugur’s project titled “Future Applications of ELMS (Engineered Living Materials) in Architecture,” dealt with biointegrated architecture, and investigated how material from living algae cells can be useful in our built environment.
Presentation of the award-winning projects was followed by presentation of the book Metodologías docentes activas para implementar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de manera interdisciplinaria en UIC Barcelona.
María Jesús Castel, director of the Service of Innovation and Educational Quality (SIQE), made the introduction, highlighting three strong points of the publication: the cross-disciplinary and coordinated work supported by the extensive teaching and research experience of the teachers who cooperated in preparing the project; the integration of students (470 UIC Barcelona students participated in the research); and the objective, “which is none other than contributing to and facilitating the transfer of knowledge and good practices in the implementation and promotion of the SDGs,” he remarked.
Dr Sílvia Albareda presented the book highlighting that the general objective is “to promote implementation of active teaching methodologies that stimulate development of sustainability skills and encourage student entrepreneurship.” Albareda pointed out that it is indeed possible to execute an interdisciplinary project, replicable to other areas, with active methodologies that contribute to a transformative education. “Students can be protagonists of their own learning and contribute to the achieving the SDGs,” she concluded.
The book, which is published in hard copy (a few copies) and digital format, is the result of a teaching innovation project under the same name that received an award in the Third Puig Foundation Teaching Innovation Grant call, held in 2020.
