Sustainability has become one of the priority action areas for most universities in the world.
The effectiveness of the action requires cooperation between different scientific disciplines, entities (universities, business, NGOs and governmental organizations), as well as different countries. An example of such cooperation is the project ‘Sustainable, social design’ initiated by the Embassy of the Netherlands and Dutch Culture as part of the Netherlands’ international cultural policy.
The main idea of the project ‘We as a species, only have a future if our societal model changes… We need to rethink the fundamental pillars of society and do so from both theory and bottom-up through design, allowing both to communicate with each other (Kaethler, Boelen, 2020)’ focuses on the necessity of changing the way we think about the society of the future. Meeting the challenges of sustainable development requires cooperation and effective communication. The main idea of the’ Sustainable design’ project, which brought together the universities to collaborate, is the exchange of knowledge, experience and best practices from the perspective of different scientific disciplines and countries.
The partner study visit from the Dutch universities: Royal Academy The Hague, Design Academy Eindhoven took place at the partner Polish universities on September 18-21. The guests visited the School of Form of SWPS University, the Polish-Japanese Academy of Computer Technology and the Faculty of Organization and Management, TUL
. The visit to our university was an opportunity to meet the Vice-Rector for Development, Prof. Paweł Strumiłło, while we presented the work of the Rector’s Team for Sustainable Development and talked about cooperation within various scientific disciplines. The guests visited the TUL campus and saw the Equal laboratory (Ergonomic quality, Usability and Accessibility) in the Institute of Marketing and Sustainable Development at the Faculty of Organization and Management.
The representatives of the Dutch universities recognized the potential for sustainable design and appreciated the latest research apparatus in the laboratory. With it the guests realized how the elderly or those suffering from the Parkinson’s disease see the world, with all its diversity and limitations.
Another potential area of cooperation is sustainable packaging design. Plans for student and staff exchange were also discussed.
The guests were also impressed by the pro-environmental solutions in the thermally modernized building of the new headquarters of the Faculty of Organization and Management where the meeting with Prof. Agnieszka Zakrzewska-Bielawska, the Dean was held.
Just this October we will have the opportunity to visit the Dutch universities and cultural institutions. The programme of the visit organized by the Embassy of the Netherlands starts on October 22 in Eindhoven during the Dutch Design week.
Assoc. Prof. Małgorzata Koszewska TUL