The University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university, teaching and research institution officially founded in 1980. The university employs over 7.500 people in 31 faculties and schools distributed on three different campuses, with more than 57.000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. The UPV/EHU offers the highest number of doctorate programs of all Spanish universities, one-third of which have received a mention of excellence from the Spanish Ministry of Education. The UPV/EHU has been recognized as an International Research Campus of Excellence by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN), and in 2021 was awarded the HRS4R award by the European Commission for human resources excellence in research. EPV/EHU offers different MA and doctoral programs and conducts extensive research in environmental and social studies relevant to our project’s issues (e.g. Environmental Change and Human Impact, Environment, Sustainability and SDG, Participation and Community Development, Social Communication). UPV/EHU has been involved in numerous EU-funded programs on sustainability and social inclusion both as a coordinator and as a partner (e.g. Citizen Science for Education in Sustainable Development, FemPower: gender equality in the Clean Energy Transition, Social Innovation Academy 2.0, Go Green). It has extensive experience in innovative teaching methods, sustainable education, and participatory and citizen engagement methods.
Project role
UPV/EHU will be responsible for conducting and summarizing local research, organizing the educational trainings and practice-oriented workshops in Spain, recruiting to and managing local participation in the international hackathon and the visual storytelling events, contributing to the preparation of the final town hall meeting, and preparing local participants for discussions with policymakers. UPV/EHU will also be involved in local communications and disseminating project results both locally and internationally using its extensive academic network.
Project activities
In Spain, project events will be implemented in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The Country has a diverse variety of rural areas, including agricultural valleys, livestock areas, historical and cultural villages, rural tourism centers, nature reserves and protected areas, and traditional agricultural communities. In recent years, there has been an increase in the adoption of ecological and sustainable agricultural practices in rural areas of the Basque Country. Some rural areas are also undergoing a process of economic diversification and rural development, focusing on organic farming, handicrafts, and cultural tourism. The new Basque Law on Rural Development has a rural proofing approach and considers the sustainable development of the Basque rural environment as a fundamental factor in the development and economic, social, and territorial cohesion of the Basque Country as a whole.