Plastic Justice: a new dimension in art and design education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Plastic Justice: a new dimension in art and design education

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Social/environmental responsibility of educational institutions; Cooperation between educational institutions and business; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

The Plastic Justice project brings together six project partners at HEIs across Europe and associate partners in local government and NGOs to explore how graphic design and visual communications can shed light on the urgent problem of microplastic pollution. The presence of microplastic particles in the environment and the human body presents a significant long-term hazard that needs to be widely communicated in order to change current practices and regulations to safeguard the environment and public health. This Strategic Partnership Project presents an opportunity for art and design schools to develop a science-based communications through collaboration with experts in the area of microplastics and health and to develop networks between science, relevant NGOs, policy-makers and the arts. This will be achieved through collaboration aimed at generating communication material that is well-informed and up-to-date and through developing a collaboration model that will serve as a precedent and later be used to address other complex issues.

The project’s objectives are to develop educational practices by creating teaching tools and materials to promote environmental knowledge and consciousness; to create a collaborative learning network by bringing together design teachers with experts, activists, professionals and policy makers for joint knowledge exchange and discussion; to communicate complex issues to a broader audience through design thinking and visualization; and to influence policy on the topic of micro-plastics and their effect on health.

The intellectual outputs of the project will be: a teacher’s guide on teaching and learning on environmental issues in graphic design through consultation with experts; an online repository where knowledge about the topic and the discourse will be shared; and a policy brief developed by students and teachers in consultation with policy-makers to inform decision-making on environmental issues.

The project’s learning and training activities will be held in Spain, Iceland and Lithuania with around 40 students and 10-12 teachers, whose activities will inform the intellectual outputs and support concurrent activities at the partner institutions during the project development. The multiplier events will be held at the start, mid-term and of the project in the form of seminars and a final conference and exhibition.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 190644 Eur

Project Coordinator

LISTAHASKOLI ISLANDS & Country: IS

Project Partners

• FUNDACIO PRIVADA ELISAVA ESCOLA UNIVERSITARIA
• STICHTING HOGESCHOOL DER KUNSTEN DEN HAAG
• VILNIAUS DAILES AKADEMIJA
• THE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON
• EUROPEAN LEAGUE OF INSTITUTES OF THE ARTS VERENIGING