Mission
The Hub strives to intensify efforts across the university community to overcome current crises, taking an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to achieve excellence in university education and broader learning opportunities across society, as well as in scientific production and innovation. We put the resources of the University of Barcelona at the service of society to accelerate progress towards sustainability in collaboration with key partners and stakeholders.
Our route map
- We organize meetings and workshops with our members to discuss and identify priority challenges from a cross-disciplinary approach.
- We channel communication between researchers from different faculties and departments to build synergies.
- We encourage collaboration between disciplines in order to develop new research approaches that overcome the fragmentation of current research structures, contributing to the development of innovative tools.
- We are committed to social innovation in all our projects.
- We establish associations with industry and business in order to harness academic research for practical solutions, promoting the adoption of sustainable technologies.
- We integrate content related to sustainability into academic programmes.
- We work to establish collaborations with local and global organizations.
- We create spaces for dialogue and debate to address current issues.
- We incorporate citizen science into our research to educate and raise awareness among the public.
- We use our social media channels to publicize activities related to sustainability and encourage our research groups to share and disseminate their results.
- We work with business and industry to develop sustainable technologies and innovative solutions.
- We provide a platform for connecting university experts with the specific needs of industry.
- We support the creation of collaborative networks between researchers, students, companies, government organizations and NGOs interested in sustainability.
Our impact
- A reference point in the knowledge and communication about climate change, climate justice, biodiversity conservation, pollution, energy transition, risk prevention, circular economy, nature-based solutions (NBS), land management and planning, and social and cultural transformations.
- Dissemination and education, both in the university context and in society at large, of scientific knowledge generated in the academic field related to sustainability. Establishment of new curricular designs for education on sustainable development, at all educational levels, in collaboration with all involved stakeholders.
- Changes in behaviours and lifestyles to be more sustainable and healthy, activating society's responsibility towards sustainability. Design and promotion of cultural programs to raise awareness of the values, challenges, and opportunities of sustainability in economic, social, environmental, and cultural aspects.
- New sustainability and transformation approaches in companies, regulatory agencies, political organizations, third-sector entities, and other institutions, through advisory actions from the SG Hub.
- New models of inclusive, resilient, and sustainable development for communities, cities, and territories.
- Revitalization and sustainability of rural areas, also considering them as providers of quality and "guardians" of the land.
- Improvement of the communication of sustainability by the media, businesses and institutions, in order to identify the most effective messages and communication strategies for scientific dissemination and social awareness.
- Prevention and conservation of biodiversity and ecosystems, prioritizing the highest-risk areas. Improvement of knowledge about biodiversity and its interrelationships, and the impact of climate change on biodiversity, for a better understanding of ecosystem processes and the origin, evolution, and function of species, ecosystems, and their classification. Development of more effective tools for the assessment and management of biodiversity.
- Territorial planning that harmonizes biodiversity and land use. Development of tools and methodologies to respond to future natural resource demands, mitigation of natural risks, and control of pollution.
- Better understanding of cultural frameworks and the political and economic environments that produce inequalities due to the effects of environmental impacts. Understanding the links between different sociopolitical relationships and cultural meanings, and environmental transformations.
- Protection of human health by studying the response to environmental changes, pathogens, and emerging contaminants, and the development of new tools to combat diseases. Prevention of epidemics and the emergence of new pathogens, protection of health within the One Health framework, integrating biodiversity preservation and the role of human activity. Analysis of the role of ecosystems in health, from a global ecology perspective.
- Improvement of food production security and sustainability, and the development of new foods. Advisory services for the transition and accounting of an efficient food production sector.
- Advances in the fight against climate change. Development of predictive models that improve risk prevention, resource use, and long-term planning, from the dual perspective of adaptation and mitigation. Technological and biosystem development for emissions mitigation and carbon capture and utilization.
- Provision of sustainable solutions for water management and valorization, water-energy-waste relationship, and preservation of the ecological quality of aquatic ecosystems.
- Advances in the development and application of circular economy and bioeconomy models: promotion of reduction, reuse, and recycling, and utilization of agricultural and industrial by-products, as well as new forms of sustainable energy. Support for inclusive sustainability models and sustainable development in low-income countries.
- Advances in the decarbonization of industry: promotion of alternative energies and resources and processes in which carbon is a raw material.
- Advances for the energy transition and for a new model of local and global transport. New proposals for regulatory solutions in the framework of ecological transition and new urban models.