Last 25 and 26 April 2022, the consortium partners from Austria, Croatia, Germany, Lithuania, and Spain met at the University of Girona in Spain to develop the kick-off meeting of the project. SDG-iLevel (Leveraging Individual SDG Contributions by University Staff) in an Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnerships project that will run for three years (2022 to 2024).
This project aims at driving innovation and achieving sustainable impact in three topical areas of higher education: (1) sustainable development, (2) digital innovation and (3) mental well-being of higher education staff. The project will create approaches, methods and tools aimed at uncovering, harnessing and strengthening the individual contributions of higher education employees to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) to improve their mental well-being, job satisfaction, productivity and teamwork and to promote further SDG contributions.
By recognising and celebrating individual SDG contributions, the project will help higher education staff to better understand and leverage their position concerning the SDGs, increasing their commitment to sustainable development, enhancing mindfulness and a sense of purpose, improving mental well-being and overall job satisfaction, and fostering teamwork based on shared values and goals. While the primary focus of the project is on individual contributions to the SDGs, many of these contributions occur through collaborations involving groups, academic units, and entire organisations. This demands that individual SDG contributions should be analysed as complementing and strengthening the collective effort to achieve the SDGs.
During the two days of the kick-off meeting, the participants discussed the project objectives, expectations, activities, concepts and approaches to create a shared view of the work to develop. ACEEU was represented by Hugo Buitrago Carvajal, project officer, who will coordinate the diverse activities in which ACEEU will contribute to the project. The consortium developing the project is composed:
Three academic partners: University of Girona, (Spain), University of Rijeka (Croatia), Kaunas University of Technology (Lithuania);
Three non-academic partners: the COPERNICUS Alliance (Austria), Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities-ACEEU (Germany), and Senior Europa/Kveloce I+D+I (Spain).
The next steps of the project are: first, the development of a comprehensive methodological framework to align university roles and responsibilities with direct and indirect individual contributions to all 17 SDGs (SDG iLevel Maps). Second, it is the creation of a web-based tool to enable staff to easily discover and immediately promote SDG contributions to social media. Third, the construction of a catalogue of 30 nudges (small behavioural pushes) to increase staff awareness and behaviour concerning their role in the SDGs. Third, implementing training activities with university staff in soft skills and competencies to help them identify and leverage their personal SDG contributions. Fourth, the project will create guidelines for universities and departments to use when designing and implementing initiatives to recognise and support individual SDG contributions. Finally, each partner university will promote the SDG-iLevel project and its main outcomes at a Multiplier Event at the end of the project.
