Intelligent Marine systems – a Pathway towards sustAinable eduCation, knowledge and empowermenT Erasmus Project

Project Title

Intelligent Marine systems – a Pathway towards sustAinable eduCation, knowledge and empowermenT

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; Gender equality / equal opportunities; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The oceans cover 71 percent of the Earth’s surface and contain 97 percent of the Earth’s water. Marine systems are pivotal in the interaction and stewardship of this environment. They currently play a key role in climate research, conservation of marine environments, exploration and exploitation of marine resources as well as security applications. The European Commission has estimated that the economic impact of the “blue” economy, which considers all activities linked to the sea, is worth more than 400 billions € annually, with more than 150 billions € in activities directly related to marine activities.
With this in mind, advancing intelligent marine systems, mobile and stationary through HEI, is a necessity in order to monitor, assess and inform us to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, put forward in the 2030 UN Agenda.
This project brought together eight key HEIs in Europe for a 2.75 year cooperation in the field of marine systems with objective to:
– Create a sustainable, international, and cross-field network in the area, to foster cooperation, exchange of good practice and innovative approaches, providing a platform to discuss key topics in the area, linking them to the UN SDGs;
– Create novel study material in the field of marine systems
– Foster entrepreneurship mindset and creative thinking;
– Bridge the communication gap between academia and industry
– Create opportunities for students to participate, in person and remotely, in international Intensive Study Programs, with renowned speakers;

The activities of the partnership are organised in the following way:

Each transnational project meeting focused on a specific topic relevant to the network, and with particular reference to the UN SDGs, due to pandemic conditions meetings starting in 2020 were held virtually :
– Employability – a discussion about how the current courses link the students to potential companies and employers will bring concrete recommendation about the active involvement of industries and companies – SDG 8: decent work and economic growth;
– Gender Equality – a discussion about current strategy and new options to reduce the gender unbalance, which is still quite high in the robotics field, will bring a concrete action plans and recommendations for future actions – SDG 5: gender equality;
– Education, Teaching & Research – teaching courses and approaches across the partners will be presented to identify synergies and best practices; ways to integrate the teaching and the research aspects will be discussed to foster a virtuous system of reciprocal reinforcing – SDG 4: quality education;
– Environment and sustainability – a discussion and brainstorming on how to include sustainability aspects in marine systems curricula, and the role that marine systems can play for an environmentally sustainable planet – SDG 14: oceans, SDG 13: climate change;
– Entrepreneurship; compare approaches to give the right tools to students and empower them, drafting conclusions about the study course developed and its test trial as ISP – SDG 8: decent work and economic growth.

The partnership has worked on five intellectual outputs:
– An interdisciplinary study course on marine systems
– An engaging study course on entrepreneurship
– An innovative study course on marine systems for industry
– Several publications from IMPACT partners related to education in marine systems, with a particular attention to the results and the topics analysed in the project life.
– a mechanism for accessing remote marine robotics infrastructures for education

Students participated in two Intensive Study Program (ISP) session:
– Marine Systems: organised as interdisciplinary summer school, with renowned international teachers, with a student-centric approach which will also allow hand-on experience
– The second ISP, on Entrepreneurship could not take place in person because of contact and travel restriction during the pandemic, instead it was integrated with online offerings of our partners and collaborators.

The main outcomes of the project are:
– For the staff point of view, the development of educational practices to improve knowledge and skills, and to foster employability and entrepreneurship, with an inclusive approach, in the field of marine systems;
– For the students, the possibility to participate in an international dimension to high-quality study programmes, increasing their chances of employability
– For the wider HEI community, the availability of coherent courses in marine systems and entrepreneurship
– For the industry, the availability of ad-hoc course tailored explicitly for their needs. It is expected that in the future a pilot course aimed at existing staff in the private sector will be offered based on the structure developed in this project.
– Develop and engrain a deeper knowledge and understanding in all project participants of the UN SDGs and encourage the development and implementation of sustainable practises.

Project Website

http://impact.uni-bremen.de

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 227305 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET BREMEN & Country: DE

Project Partners

• UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU FAKULTET ELEKTROTEHNIKE I RACUNARSTVA
• JACOBS UNIVERSITY BREMEN GGMBH
• UNIVERSITAT DE GIRONA
• TALLINNA TEHNIKAULIKOOL
• NATIONAL TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS – NTUA
• KING’S COLLEGE LONDON