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Universities in Dialogue for Inclusive and Resilient Societies
Professor Iscte Technologies and Architecture
Director and Researcher ISTAR-Iscte
Vice-Rector Internationalization
Researcher CIES-Iscte
By networking with European universities, the InCITIES Trailblazing Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Cities project, which Iscte leads, seeks to enhance teaching, research and dissemination capacity to benefit more sustainable cities and stronger universities. It also wants ecosystem organisations to work closely with academia to solve concrete problems.
What does InCITIES consist of?
Maria das Dores Guerreiro (MDG) This project has peculiar characteristics. It is institutional and encompasses all Iscte's activities, going beyond what is usual in a research project. It is part of Iscte's internationalisation strategy, covering its various activities, having a very strong component in the valorisation and development of research, our teaching programs and innovation so that we can contribute to deepening dynamics with the ecosystem. It also seeks to promote the improvement of internal operating processes, namely at the administrative and management level of our various services. It involves human resources for the management of people and careers, the management services of teaching and support to research units, and the services of international relations for the exchange of students, teachers and technical and administrative staff.
The project has been structured so that it produces institutional transformations in line with European standards and with what will become the universities of the future, which will be in closer connection with society - universities working in a network.
Does the project also involve universities from other countries?
MDG The project is part of the Pioneer Alliance, through which we applied for the European Universities Initiative. We started the consortium at the end of 2019, and the application for the InCITIES project was submitted in 2021 and started in 2022. Five universities of the Pioneer Alliance are involved: in addition to Iscte, the Technische Hochschule Köln (Germany), Laurea-Ammattikorkeakoulu (Finland), Université Gustave Eiffel (France) and Zilinska Univerzita V Ziline (Slovakia).
InCITIES funding comes from the Horizon Europe WIDERA (Widening Participation and Spreading Excellence) programme in the European Excellence Initiative intervention area, aimed at enlargement countries, where Portugal is part of Slovakia. It was designed with objectives like those intended to be achieved in the Pioneer Alliance in terms of joint teaching and research programs, allowing our students, teachers, researchers and technical and administrative staff to circulate among the universities of the consortium.
What other important aspects do you highlight in this project?
Catarina Ferreira da Silva (CFS) The project encompasses all aspects of a university, whether teaching, research, or the relationship with the rest of society, for example, the transfer of technology and knowledge with the so-called ecosystem.
In this project, ecosystem partners have various profiles, ranging from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to public entities and companies. We have a company in the IT area, the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, CP, and some NGOs such as Inovar Autismo, the Portuguese Confederation of Culture and Recreation Collectivities or the Portuguese Confederation of Volunteering. There are two Finnish organisations, others from Slovakia, and we also have the University of Sherbrooke in Canada as an associate partner outside Europe.
MDG The philosophy of European universities and their connection to the ecosystem pushes us beyond dissemination: we want the partner organisations associated with the project to collaborate with us and bring their problems for students to study and solve in the classroom. They are expected to provide students with knowledge of their metier that is important to what is being taught. It allows students to get in touch with the challenges and processes the ecosystem faces, better preparing them for the job market.
CFS Some companies come to us to reach Informatics and Information Systems students. They ask to go to the classroom to explain what they do and what skills they are looking for. I have always taught combining theoretical concepts with a strong practical component. The way I teach is also close to the 'learning by developing' methodology proposed in this project: students are challenged, and they must work as close as possible to the processes of the extra-academic professional world. If a company exposes a need, students should try to solve this challenge, not in a simulated way, but in a concrete and practical way.
Is this methodology also applicable in the social sciences?
MDG In some areas, it applies clearly. The social sciences study social relations and society, identifying problems and potential solutions. The InCITIES Trailblazing Inclusive, Sustainable and Resilient Cities project focuses on cities; in them, we have the physical infrastructure and the people. The inclusion component, for example, addresses the problems of city residents, the characteristics of these populations where there are vulnerabilities, and the social sciences, which are particularly attentive, seeking to find answers to inform public policies.
This is a transversal project because, from an institutional point of view, it encompasses several services and missions of the university – teaching, research, extension and internationalisation.
Iscte researchers from different areas are involved in the project, namely sociology, economics, digital technologies, computer engineering, information systems, research methods, data analysis, architecture, etc.
We hope that the project will contribute to thinking about future cities, finding solutions, and solving problems with a strong component of innovation.
With the diversity of people and skills involved, is this a more complex project?
MDG There is some complexity. However, since it is a typology of the Coordination and Support Action project, which involves several aspects of the university, the organisation of the project's work packages allows us to articulate several areas and people. The two of us have a permanent dialogue. In structuring this project and the different work packages, people who contributed to various domains were identified.
We want the partner organisations associated with the project to collaborate with us, bring their problems for students to study and solve in the classroom
What are the major themes identified for InCITIES?
CFS There are seven hub themes as a starting point for the research, which is intended to build a road map (work map of collaborations) and create workshops in the context of the project to foster dialogue between researchers from the five universities benefiting from the funding. The seven hubs are as follows: 1) Questioning urban transitions; 2) Nature in the city; 3) Energy in the city; 4) Vulnerability, inclusion and health in the city; 5) Mobility; 6) Digital transition; and 7) Sustainable and resilient cities
In this process, online Scientific Cafés were created, in which researchers presented their work topics and scientific interests and interacted with colleagues from partner universities. This is to get to know each other, to see points of confluence and continuity, and even to launch new project themes and other types of collaboration. Dialogue and sharing are generated that enriches everyone. The second InCITIES Scientific Café was held in March 2024 with the topic of Mobility and the third in April on the theme of Energy.
What are the areas of knowledge predominantly chosen by PALOP students in Portugal?
MDG It was from this partnership with the universities involved in InCITIES that the European master's degree developed at the Sintra School was born: ManagiDiTH – Master of Managing Digital Transformation in the Health Sector. It was created with two other partner universities – Gustavo Eiffel and Laurea – and was born to put colleagues from various universities and areas of knowledge in contact, fostering interknowledge and exploring possibilities for collaboration. In a master's degree of this type, there is a way to go for the homologation of the new teaching product, including the approval of the programs, in three different countries, we must always have the approval of A3ES.
Can you elaborate on the work packages the InCITIES project has committed to?
MDG The work packages and the countries that oversee them are:
1. Management (Iscte Portugal).
2. Research (Université Eiffel, France).
3. Research Career Management/HRS4R (TH Köln, Germany).
4. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plans (LAUREA Finland).
5. Factors that facilitate the collaboration of InCITIES partners (Iscte Portugal).
6. Pedagogical Methodologies of Teaching-Learning/learning by developing tested in intensive exchange programmes between universities (UNIZA Slovakia).
7. Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation – Capitalizing on project results for the future (UNIZA Slovakia).
We hope that the project will contribute to thinking about the cities of the future, finding solutions and solving problems, with a strong innovation component
When the project ends in 2025, what evidence will endure?
CFS One of the objectives of the European Commission, in the spirit of Digital Europe, is to have dematerialised processes and easier partnership agreements, even for new master's and doctoral degrees. The University should study, propose recommendations and potential solutions to policy makers.
There is also a strong focus on learning by developing to encourage students to work on ecosystem challenges and needs.
MDG In the end, as we mentioned, this is an institutional project intended to align with the European Universities Initiative. We will have specific results from each work package in the spirit of the defined guidelines. For example, at the level of HRS4R (Human Resources Strategy for Researchers), taking the necessary path to obtain this accreditation will be an output; another output will be to have an updated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan.
As I mentioned, InCITIES was born from the involvement of the Pioneer Alliance’s initial five universities and feeds into the Pioneer Alliance's practices of interest.
CFS In terms of research, one objective is to have an observatory for collecting, analysing, and visualising data on the cities involved in the project. Through this observatory, we would monitor several indicators related to sustainability, inclusion, and resilience. These translate, for example, into the analysis of data on heat peaks, green spaces, floods, transport, etc., which are partly collected using sensor technologies. We also plan to collect and group statistical data from cities, which can be transformed into research and teaching problems.