EELISA Communities are at their best going through an increase of collaborations and joint activities towards their missions. But how is this exchange happening and impacting their members?
Prof. Irene Martín Rubio, from the Department of Organizational Engineering, Business Administration and Statistics of the UPM School of Engineering and Industrial Design: Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería y Diseño Industrial (ETSIDI) is one of them as part of the EELISA Community SusCo: Interdisciplinarity for Sustainability competencies in Engineering. Last March, she invited two members of this Community to visit her class of “Industrial Organization” of the UPM Bachelor Degree in Industrial Electronic Engineering and Automation.
Here is a first-hand account of the experience.
Sustainability is a complex challenge, and for this reason engineers need skills based on exploratory and critical thinking. An open mind will enable them to solve engineering challenges from different perspectives, and values related to social, environmental and governance care of the organizations.
At the end of March, UPM’s School of Engineering and Industrial Design (ETSIDI) received two visitors from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME): Prof. Mária Szalmáné Csete, Vice Dean of International Relations and professor of the Environmental Economics and Sustainability Department at BME, and Prof. Orsolya Barna, Coordinator of the EELISA SusCo Community.
Both Prof. Szalmáné and Prof. Barna presented the SusCo Community in front of a class full of students. In order to energize the presentation, and in addition to myself, we had two people acting as rapporteurs: Sara Khiar Souri, a student of the group, and Prof. Ernesto Juliá Sanchis, from the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). The event was also broadcasted for PhD students of the ETSIDI’s Industrial Electronic Engineering and Automation Programme.
Prof. Szalmáné presented her university, its evolution, its faculties and her own interest in sustainability. She also shared the names of BME’s outstanding students and their Nobel Prizes such as Gäbor, Wigner and Olàh, as well as famous inventions such as the Rubik’s cube, the Magyar Masat I satellite, and the Gömböc lifeboat. She highlighted the orientation towards the ESG (environmental, social and governmental) objectives of sustainability adopted by her university through various organizational mechanisms such as the creation of a Sustainability Committee, the celebration of a Congress on Sustainability, two-way approach (top-down & down-top), interdisciplinary & voluntary work groups, among others. She also showed the “Green Certificate” offered by her university Programmes and how students can achieve it by completing at least five electives. She explained how they relate to climate change and its policies and interventions, with a view to the understanding of biodiversity and nature, and a scientifically-based monitoring and evaluation of different intervention programs in society through innovations and their investments. She highlighted the need for an open mind, critical thinking, and the ability to interact constructively with multiple professionals.
Next, Prof. Barna explained the objectives of the EELISA Community SusCo and its agenda to achieve sustainability skills through interdisciplinarity in engineering education. She clarified that the overall goal of SusCo is to emphasize interdisciplinary education in engineering curricula to enable future engineers to achieve the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) by 2030. She also encouraged students to participate in our EELISA Community through different tasks: secondary research and review of the literature, investigation of the best practices in each university, discussion of results, generation of recommendations for universities, as well as their participation in international mobility programs offered by the universities involved in the Community.
The student Sara Khiar Souri showed interest in the courses related to the BME “Green Certificate” while Prof. Ernesto Juliá Sanchis (UPV), encouraged the students to follow the international programs related to sustainability at BME.
After the presentations, we visited the innovation lab FABLAB where our visitors had the opportunity to meet and learn about the strong presence of ETSIDI’s students who participate in the biannual MotoStudent International Competition. The working agenda in Madrid was completed with the EELISA SusCo’s traditional virtual meeting to check on the milestones set in the conception of the group, and schedule our next meeting at BME at the end of June, and at ITU in September.
In the social program, some professors, such as Prof. J.A. Lozano, Prof. C. Fonseca, Prof. T. Rangel, and Prof. C. Gimeno from ETSIDI joined the group and participated in the intercultural exchange. Together, we enjoyed the view of the iconic Cibeles Fountain from the rooftop of the Madrid City Hall while tasting some tapas, and savoring strawberry liqueur (“madroño” liqueur from Madrid).
Without a doubt, this has been an exceptional academic experience, both for the UPM students and academics that received the visit of BME professors. We thank Sara Khiar, and Prof. E. Juliá from the Universitat Politècnica de València for the interest in the EELISA Community SusCo. From SusCo, we want to also thanks the ETSIDI management team, in particular the International Relations Sub-directorate, Piera Maresca, and Alberto Orozco, the Deputy Director of Research, Cecilia García Cena (Research Manager), and the ETSIDI Center Director, Isabel Carrillo. Congratulations to the EELISA teams for making this Alliance possible and allowing students to enjoy the development of their profession in connection with the SDGs.
As a UPM professor, it is great to be part of the EELISA Community SusCo and work with such relevant objectives towards the training of a new generation of engineers. All in collaboration with colleagues from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, and Istanbul Technical University (ITU).
Professor Irene Martín-Rubio
ABOUT PROF. IRENE MARTIN-RUBIO
Prof. Martín-Rubio enjoyed an Erasmus experience at Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien in 93/94, having previously worked at RTVE and Alcatel-Austria (Stockerau) in the 90s. Later, she developed her PhD in Business Management at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM). In 2000, she earned a grant from the UCM to visit Harvard. She has worked at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, C.U. Cardenal Cisneros, Universidad Europea de Madrid, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and since 2002 she has her tenure at ETSIDI- Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
ABOUT PROF. MÁRIA SZALMÁNÉ CSETE
Dr. habil. Mária SZALMÁNÉ CSETE holds an MSc degree in Engineering and Management (BME, 2004); an MSc in Spatial and Settlement Development (BME, 2007); a Master 3 degree in Regional- and Urban Development (Sorbonne-Paris IV, 2007) and obtained a PhD in Business and Management from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) in 2009. She is a habilitated Associate Professor at the BME Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Department of Environmental Economics and Sustainability, as well as the Vice-Dean for International Affairs at BME Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences. Her fields of interest include sustainability management, environmental economics, sustainable regional and urban development perspectives, climate innovation, digitalization, mitigation and adaptation-oriented evaluations.
ABOUT PROF. ORSOLYA BARNA
Orsolya Barna holds an MA in French literature and teaching and an MSc in Environmental Engineering. She is a certified trainer and currently a PhD candidate in the field of sustainability innovation and education at the Doctoral School of Business and Management of BME GTK. She has more than 10 years of experience in climate change and sustainability related to education management.
Her fields of interest include sustainability management, sustainability education, sustainability competences and green skills, climate innovation, and digitalization in education. She has participated and led several national and EU funded projects (Sustainability Project Week, EIT Climate-KIC). She is founding member of SusCo EELISA community.
The members of the EELISA Community SusCo are:
1 Orsolya Barna International Coordinator / PhD Student BME GTK
2 Mária Szalmáné Csete, PhD habil. V Referencias:
3 Pierre Bertrand, PhD Academic Director, Department of Economics, Finance and Management at École des Ponts P ParisTech École des Ponts ParisTech
4 Hamza Salih Erden, PhD Associate professor Istanbul Technical University – İTÜ
5 Börte Köse Mutlu, PhD Associate Professor, Sustainability Office Coordinator, Faculty of Civil Engineering Istanbul Technical University – İTÜ
6 Ebru Acuner Türet, PhD Assistant Professor, Sustainability Office Vice-Coordinator Istanbul Technical University – İTÜ
7 Semra Ahmetolan, PhD Associate Professor, Center for Excellence in Education ViceDirector Istanbul Technical University – İTÜ ahmetola@itu.edu.tr
8 Şule Itır Satoğlu, PhD Vice-Rector of Students and Academic affairs Istanbul Technical University – İTÜ
9 Irene Martín Rubio, PhD University Professor ETSIDI-UPM