Education, communication and cultural production for sustainability

Objectives

Education, communication and culture are important transforming agents and accelerators of social change. The commitment to the promotion of sustainability allows us to develop innovative strategies to promote environmental literacy and changes in societies that contribute to the construction of a sustainable future. The challenges we face include the promotion of education for sustainable development in all subjects and areas, the promotion of behaviours and lifestyles that promote the culture of sustainability, and the commitment to the promotion of citizen participation and different strategies for societal communication.  

We work on the design and evaluation of educational programmes, communication and awareness campaigns, and cultural projects that address the present and future challenges and promote sustainable practices.

Areas of expertise

Environmental education; climate change education; environmental literacy; curricular sustainability; interdisciplinary projects; active methodologies; formative assessment; service learning; education in schools; media treatment; responsible conduct; marketing and advertising strategies; denialism and fake news; awareness; sensitization; literacy; education.​​​​​

Research Lines

Related to education

  • Informational literacy and critical thinking of teenagers in social networks. 

  • Education for sustainability in secondary and high school education.  

  • Education for sustainability and empowerment of university students.  

  • Education for sustainability and social responsibility in the business field.  

  • Implementation of an education for sustainability in university degrees.  

  • Active methodologies in education for sustainability.  

  • Cognitive neuroscience and educational processes for future citizens.  

  • Social representations of sustainability in educational contexts. 

Related to communication

  • Communication of the environment and health in the mass media.  

  • Communication and media education of gender, sexual and reproductive health in young people.  

  • Transmedia narratives and media convergence. 

  • Pragmatics of communication: reception and impact of information.  

  • Social representations, speeches, processes of awareness and participation around sustainability.  

Related to culture

  • Demographic trends, sustainable mobility and urban transformations.  

Coordination

 
Ángela Castrechini has a PhD in Psychology from the University of Barcelona. Currently, she is an associate professor in the Social Psychology and Quantitative Psychology Department and a member of the Consolidated Research Group in Social, Environmental and Organizational Psychology. She is the coordinator of the postgraduate programme “Environmental Management in Business and Public Administration. Resources, communication and change” (UB-UAB-IL3). She is the author of several national and international publications. Her main lines of research include the study of perceptions, social representations and discourse on issues of social and environmental relevance: environmental problems, sustainability, climate change, perception of insecurity and quality of life.  
 
Genina Calafell holds a degree in Environmental Sciences and a PhD from the Autonomous University of Barcelona as part of the inter-university doctoral programme in Environmental Education. She is an associate professor in the Linguistic, Scientific and Mathematical Education Department at the Faculty of Education. Her research, innovation and teaching focuses on the field of environmental education and scientific education. Her lines of research are the introduction of education for sustainability in educational institutions and educational programmes, interdisciplinary projects and teams, and active methodologies. Calafell has participated in more than seventeen competitive research projects and was the main researcher in two of them. She has also directed seven doctoral theses and has published numerous articles on research, innovation and educational teaching.  
 
​​​​​Marta Consuegra has a degree in Biology and a doctorate in Biomedicine. She has also a master's degree in communication. She is an associate professor of the Communication and Cultural Industries degree and the master’s degree in Specialized Communication at the Faculty of Philology and Communication. She has been a researcher for 12 years, with more than twenty-five academic publications and currently focuses on science, health and environmental communication. Consuegra has an extensive professional experience in scientific dissemination in both written press and audiovisual media such as Investigación y Ciencia or El Cazador de Cerebros (RTVE) and has recently won the Joan Oró grant for scientific culture promotion (FCRI).  
 
Contact mconsuegra@ub.edu
 

José Luis Menéndez is an associate professor in the History of Art Department at the University of Barcelona. He is an ANECA accredited university professor. Menéndez is the director of the Research Center on Culture and Sustainability and the Observatory on the Didactics of the Arts. He has directed twenty-two research and innovation projects in the field of art didactics in higher education and has participated in more than one hundred and ninety publications and conferences. Currently, he is directing two projects on the implementation of sustainable development objectives in university degrees that have so far generated eighty-seven results in different academic dissemination formats.