In-Person Kick-Off Meeting in Heidelberg
25th until the 27th of March 2024
Last week, just before the Easter break, the ACT4SDGs project held its in-person kick-off meeting at the Heidelberg University of Education in Heidelberg, Germany. From the 25th until the 27th of March, 14 representatives from each partner institution, plus 10 researchers and personal from the host institution, came together to discuss the projects implementation over the next three years.
After welcome speeches by Prof Dr Alexander Siegmund Vice-Rector for Research, Sustainability, and Digitalisation, Department Lead, and Project Lead, as well as Henrike Schön, Head of the International Office, many technical points (e.g., project management, coordination and communication plan) as well as financial aspects (e.g., lump sum grant management) were discussed during the first sessions. In the afternoon of day one, representatives from each partnering institution gave a small presentation about their respective awareness raising campaign. Here, tremendous results have been achieved by all institutions, with some maybe even reaching millions of people in their respective communities. On the second day, the core work packages of the project were presented by each responsible institution and their implementation deliberated upon within the consortium.
Prof Dr Karin Vach, rector of the Heidelberg University of Education, stopped by and addressed the representatives from around the world, congratulating them on securing the project, wishing everyone a smooth implementation, but also emphasising the need to closely work together to make this project work. In the afternoon of day two, the consortium learned about another SDG project, which is in its last year at one of the partnering institutions in Colombia and listened to a presentation from a PhD student from the Department of Geography – Research Group for Earth Observation (rgeo), who presented a recent project about ESD competencies of multipliers at universities in Germany, which is being conducted in close collaboration with the Heidelberg Centre for Education for Sustainable Development. Following that, the committees of the ACT4SDGs project were set up and the three reports (raising awareness, kick-off meeting, communication and management plan, as well as dissemination and sustainability plan) were being worked on.
On day three, the internal and external monitoring plans for quality assurance and groups were being discussed and set up and the sustainability and continuation procedure deliberated upon. Additionally, inter-project collaboration with similar CBHE projects, also focusing on the overarching priority of “Green Deal” or on other priorities such as “digital transformation” or “governance, peace, security and human development” in Latin America, were discussed. At the end of the in-person meeting, the consortium wrapped-up the conference and looked at the tasks, which must be completed in the next couple of months. Overall, the kick-off meeting was a success and all attending parties depart with more clarity and motivation for the next steps.
Online Kick-Off Event for ACT4SDGs Project
5th of February 2024
On Monday, the 5th of February 2024, all partners met via Zoom video conference for a kick-off meeting of the ACT4SDGs – Professionalisation of Academic Teaching to Infuse SDGs in Latin American Universities project. The meeting was chaired by Prof Siegmund, project lead, and chairholder of the UNESCO Chair on Observation and Education of World Heritage and Biosphere Reserves at the Heidelberg University of Education. Lasse Grimmer, coordinator of the UNESCO Chair in Heidelberg, and project coordinator of the ACT4SDGs project, outlined all work packages, milestones, and deliverables, which need to be achieved throughout the project’s three-year period. Additionally, the consortium decided on the official logo, elaborated on the partnership agreement and the planned in-person kick-off conference in Heidelberg, and talked about the awareness raising campaign, which already started. All partners are excited that this amazing project finally starts off and are looking forward to meeting in-person at the end of March in Heidelberg.
