ATTUNE
Activate the University for Climate Change
Programm and call
Erasmus+, KA220-HED – Cooperation partnerships in higher education, 2022, Round 1
Ongoing project
Brief description
ATTUNE is a programme that directly addresses Climate Change on the university campus and promotes as well as encourages action by all members of the university community. It is an innovative learning programme that contributes to a university becoming increasingly sustainable. The project is aligned with the new New European Bauhaus initiative that connects the European Green Deal to our daily lives to build a sustainable and inclusive future.
The original ATTUNE programme formed part of a project Re-Activate+, which GAP Spain conducted in the Basque Country. This project aimed at changing people’s habits using the Ecoteam approach, branching out into other communities (schools). In 2018, the first version of the programme was launched at the Leioa campus of the University of the Basque Country (UPV) and its success compelled other UPV campuses to adopt programme, followed by other universities around Spain.
University life goes beyond formal educational activity. Campuses are not only places where people gather to study and work, but also affect many other areas, such as recreational & sports activities, mobility, consumerism, food, leisure, etc. Universities also impact on the local population and directly influence the sustainability of the area where they are located. The university community is an ideal environment to influence behavior to produce a more sustainable society.
ATTUNE recognizes that each university is different, not only in the way it functions, but also in its objectives in responding to the Climate Crisis.
ATTUNE specifically addresses the following priorities:
– common values, civic engagement, and participation: the programme is designed to involve and engage all members of the university community – students, teachers and staff – based on common values that help to mitigate the impact of climate change.
– promotes interconnected higher education systems: whereby the programme not only unites faculties and campuses of the participating university, but also other universities in the numerous existing networks.
Objectives
The main objectives are:
- to enable members of the university community to move from knowledge to action;
- contributing to the Green transition: in addition to their traditional functions (teaching, research, etc.), universities can also be a role model for environmental sustainability based on their infrastructure and operations. To ensure that they become increasingly sustainable, it is vital that all the community participates in the process.
Other objectives include:
- Create a methodological framework that can be used by any European university
- Develop actions adapted to the university community so that they can act against Climate Change in their daily activities
- Test & validate the programme in 5 European universities that will act as an example for other universities in their networks
Activities
ATTUNE is structured in two different phases to promote change in habits:
- Phase 1: during the first academic term, the entire university community (students, teacher and staff) are invited to join an online program – structured as a set of questionnaires and manuals – focusing on environmental and social issues relating to sustainability. The objective is to reduce the carbon footprint in the context of daily activities on the campus
- Phase 2: the second and third academic term is based on creating 1 or more “research-action” teams that focus on a particular issue, such as waste, mobility, etc. They research the problem, design an action program and deliver the action program to the rest of the university community. This “research-action” team is made up of students, lecturers, and staff. At the end of this Part results and impact measures are collected and then shared with the stakeholders and the public at large.
The materials and structure of the program, which are based on projects previously implemented by GAP Spain, are in place and don’t need to be re-invent.
The main activities are:
- 3 Meetings: The kick-off meeting in Bilbao, LTTA in Italy and dissemination event in Germany
- Development of contents, materials, and methodology
- Online platform development in 6 languages. The structure will involve 2 parts: Implementation and validation process by testing in the participating universities, and the development of guidelines which will include several manuals
- ATTUNE programme set up & running in 5 universities.
Expected results
The main expected results are:
- Proven & workable methodology: a valuable tool to mitigate the impact of the Climate Crisis in the European higher education sector
- Reliable data: the validation process will generate a wealth of data which can be collated and analyzed
- Motivated participants: the users will experience behavioral changes
- Online platform: a working tool that can be adapted to different cultures and easily translated to make it more accessible and local.
The programme can be repeated on the campus over many years. So, it’s not a one-off program for the university.
Coordinator Asociación Plan de Acción Global para la tierra GAP (ES)*
Partnership
- InEuropa Srl (IT)*
- Agado Gesellschaft für nachhaltige Entwicklung UG (DE)*
- Fundacja GAP Polska – Plan Globalnego Dzialania na rzecz Ziemi (PL)*
- Mikado Danismanlik Hizmetleri Ltd. Sti. (TR)*
- Università degli studi di Siena (IT)
- Universidad del País Vasco/ Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (ES)
- Ozyegin Universitesi (TR)
- Akademia Pedagogiki Specjalnej IM.MARII GRZEGORZEWSKIEJ (PL)
- Stiftung Universität Hildesheim (DE)
*GAP organisations
The GAP organization in each country will lead the programme and work closely with the university, either through its sustainability office or the team / person responsible for sustainability in the university. The university role will be one of promoting the programme and encouraging participation and action, while the GAP organization provides the material and delivery systems.
Duration
The project has a duration of 26 months.
Budget
The grant is € 400,000.00
