DECODE Updates and Events
October 2023
Final
DECODE NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 6
The sixth and last issue of the DECODE Sustainability project has been published!
The DECODE Sustainability project that started in 2020 now has come to its end. In this last newsletter we summarize the recent project activities and highlight the outcomes that were achieved. However, we expect the work on embedding sustainability in higher education to continue, based on the tools we developed and the community of deans that has been built in the past three years. This newsletter also provides an opportunity to thank all the partners involved in DECODE and the people who made it possible.
DECODE Multiplier Event
As the DECODE Sustainability project is coming to its end, we are excited to announce that we will be hosting the final Multiplier Event in Barcelona. The event will be embedded in the ACEEU Stakeholders Forum and the Triple E Awards. In that context, two sessions will be organized.
28th June: Panel Session
29th June: Workshop
With the two sessions, we will present the results of the DECODE project and provide an overview of the tools and methodologies developed to support deans across Europe to embed sustainability in their academic units.
INTRODUCTION TO THE ONLINE DECODE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
The online DECODE Sustainability Empowerment Program aims at providing deans, heads of departments, programme directors, and delegates with the methodology to embed sustainability in their academic units. With this session, you will get a sense of the methodology and elements that have been developed along the project. All in all, we will provide you with the tools you will need to institutionalize Sustainable Development in your academic unit.
Save the Date: 15th of June 2023, 11:00h to 12:10h.
Register Now: https://forms.gle/USv64L5EXLMWrZJy7
AGENDA
11:00h. Introduction
11:10h. Webinar 1. Impacting your institution through DECODE Tools
11:30h. Webinar 2. Structured transformation through DECODE Pathways
11:50h. Q&A
12:10h. End of the short webinars
After the webinars, you will be well equipped to follow the online Empowerment Program and start applying the methodology to your faculty or department.
DECODE SUSTAINABILITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM IN BARCELONA
22nd – 24th March 2023
The DECODE Empowerment Program is a learning and training activity directed to deans, heads of departments, and their representatives for sustainability from universities across Europe. The program is designed to be an online course containing the knowledge base and tools developed along the DECODE project. In order to test and improve the contents of the course, the DECODE team organized a three-day event in Barcelona, from the 22nd until the 24th of March 2023. This pilot event was attended by 25 representatives from 12 different universities across the continent, and it was hosted by the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC).
The course was built in a combination of theory, shared knowledge, and group work. This allowed our group of participants to, first of all, get to know each other, and also share doubts and experiences. The course started with a theoretical session on sustainability in higher education, which was based on the work done during the DECODE project with the Literature Review and the Deans and Academics Survey Report (both documents available here). The second day of the program was dedicated to present the DECODE tools, namely the Self-assessment Tool, the Impact Tree, and the Impact Pathways. This was combined with group work, where the participants explored the main challenges to institutionalize sustainable development in their academic units and, later on, shared tools and ideas to tackle them.
With this base in mind, the final day of the event was dedicated to explore the DECODE Connect platform and the Self-assessment tool, which gave the participants a general picture of which were the strengths and weaknesses of their academic unit in terms of institutionalization of sustainable development. The Empowerment Program concluded with individual work, were the deans started building their own Impact Roadmaps. That is, the specific actions that one’s academic unit would need to take in order to advance in their implementation of sustainability measures.
All in all, the DECODE Empowerment Program was a success in attendance, with a very diverse and engaged group that allowed the DECODE partners to gain knowledge and feedback, which will be very useful for the implementation of the online Empowerment Program. The human quality of the group was, definitely, another great highlight of the three-day meeting in Barcelona. Thank you all for joining us!
If you want to know more about the DECODE Tools and the DECODE Connect platform, follow this link for more information on how to become a DECODE Council member.
DECODE NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 5
Februrary 2023
The fifth issue of the DECODE Sustainability project has been published! In this Newsletter, you can find information on the DECODE Empowerment Program, which will be held in Barcelona from the 22nd until the 24th of March 2023, at Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC).
DECODE SUSTAINABILITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
22nd to 24th of March 2023
A program intended for active deans from European Higher Education Institutions (HEIs); heads of faculty, department, or school in HEIs; representatives appointed by deans or heads of faculty, department, or school of HEIs to drive Sustainable Development at the management level of the academic unit. Download the flyer for more information.
DECODE NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 4
January 2023
The fourth issue of the DECODE Sustainability project has been published! In this Newsletter, you can find information on the development of Impact Pathways and Roadmaps for Sustainable Development, as well as some hints about the lasts steps of the project!
Watch the recording of the 3rd DECODE Webinar!
Launch of the DECODE Toolkit (IO3)
In this webinar, the Rīgas Tehniskā Universitāte (RTU) presented their work developing the DECODE Toolkit and Self-assessment tool to an audience of Deans and Sustainability delegates at the faculty and university levels from across Europe. After the presentation, the attendees had the chance to work in small groups and discuss their thoughts and best practices related to the DECODE Toolkit and their work in their institutions. During the webinar, we also had a presentation by Dr. Maria Kirrane, Sustainability Officer at University College Cork (UCC), who shared their whole-institution approach to Sustainability.
If you missed the webinar, you can watch the recording and find out more about the DECODE Toolkit.
Webinar: Launch of the DECODE toolkit
13th October 2022 – 15:30h to 17:00h
The webinar will foster the exchange among the participants, who will have the chance to test the DECODE self-assessment tool beforehand. This will give them the opportunity to get a picture of their institution or faculty in terms of sustainable development and share thoughts about it with other participants. During the webinar we will also have the chance to explore some best practices from European universities. With this session, a part from fostering the debate and provide tools to the participants, we hope to get useful feedback for the improvement of our tools.
Do you wish to participate? Register to attend the webinar and we will send you all the instructions to self-assess your institution and participate in the session.
DECODE NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 3
July 2022
The third issue of the DECODE Sustainability project has been published! In this Newsletter, you can find the summary of what the project has achieved in its second year.
First Face-to-Face Transnational Project Meeting
June 2022
On the 20th and 21st of June, the DECODE consortium met in Riga, Latvia, for the first in-person meeting. Our Erasmus+ project had so far been fully online due to the pandemic, so this was a great opportunity to see each other and exchange after more than a year working together.
The meeting was hosted by Riga Technical University (RTU), leaders of the work on Intellectual Output 3 (IO3) of the project, which is currently being finalized according to schedule and will soon be presented. Their work has focused on the development of a self-assessment tool and a toolkit that will help universities to get an image of their current situation in terms of sustainability and some tools to help them move forward and improve.
In the gathering, we also talked about the next steps, which will be to get started with the development of impact pathways and roadmaps to better accompany and implement the improvements suggested by the self-assessment tool in IO3. The partners in charge of this work will be University of Naples Federico II (UNINA).
The meeting in Riga was a great occasion to update each other on the achievements of the DECODE project so far and on the work that is left to do. At the same time, meeting in person allowed for a more personal exchange to create stronger links amongst the partners. Hoping that there will not be more impediments in the coming months, we will keep working to foster departmental change to institutionalize sustainable development at the academic unit levels (faculties, schools, and departments) and to better contribute to its impact. Get to know more about the core elements of the DECODE project and stay tuned for more news and events by following us on social media (Twitter and LinkedIn) and subscribing to our newsletter.
DECODE NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 2
April 2022
The second issue of the DECODE Sustainability project has been published! In this Newsletter, you can find the summary of what the project has achieved in its first year.
The Call for Funding chair and vice-Chairs of the DECODE Deans Council
Join us in our mission to push the boundaries of higher education by leading a vibrant “Sustainability Community” of deans and their representatives.
Are you interested in leading the co-creation of impactful and meaningful pathways for sustainable development in higher education? Self-nominate yourself to become part of the Council Leadership.
The call for nominations was open only for *FULL Founding Members of the council and open until 31.05.2022. Detailed information about the Call, roles and responsibilities of DECODE Deans Council Founding Chair and Vice-Chairs can be found in the flier.
*Full members: Active deans, vice-deans, representatives for Sustainable Development (appointed by the deans) and other leaders of academic units (heads of departments/ faculties/ schools) in European Universities)
Not a Council member yet? Register yourself to join the Council as a Founding Member!
Missed our Second Webinar?
Full Recording and presentation slides are now available!
Embedding Sustainability in Academia: Deans as Change Makers
The DECODE Project organized an open webinar for HEI deans and academics and those who are interested in the topic of Sustainable Development (SD) in HEI academic units on January 13, 2022.
In this webinar, the results of the project’s first work package, HEI Sustainable Analysis, were presented and Prof. Daniella Tilbury, Commissioner for Sustainable Development and Future Generations – Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar, joined as a special guest speaker highlighting the roles of deans as changemakers.
Watch the recorded session and download the materials below.
Webinar Materials:
DECODE NEWSLETTER: ISSUE 1
December 2021
The first issue of the DECODE Sustainability project has been published! In this Newsletter, you can find the summary of what the project has achieved in its first year.
DECODE Second Webinar
Save the Date: 13.01.2022
Embedding Sustainability in Academia: Deans as Change Makers
The DECODE Project is organizing an open webinar for HEI deans and academics and those who are interested in the topic of Sustainable Development (SD) in HEI academic units on January 13, 2022, at 15.00 – 16.30 Central European Time.
The webinar will be focused on the results of the project’s work package, HEI Sustainable Analysis, which discusses the barriers and opportunities to embed sustainable development within the academic units of higher education. Prof. Daniella Tilbury, Commissioner for Sustainable Development and Future Generations – Her Majesty’s Government of Gibraltar, will be invited as a special guest speaker in the webinar.
The registration has been closed. You can find the program but clicking the button below.
DECODE Press Release 03
11.11.2021
Find out how the DECODE Deans Council Launch Event was held and the key topics discussed by reading the newly published Press Release of the DECODE Sustainability project.
Official Launch Event of the DECODE Council
Marking the Official Start of the Deans Council with an informative and interactive webinar
Wednesday, November 3rd, 2021 has marked the official start of the DECODE – European Deans Council for Sustainable Development.
In one and a half hour event featuring a special guest speaker, the Deans Council celebrated its founding with an interactive and insightful webinar on the objectives of the project, the importance of the initiative and the core values, vision and mission of the Council itself. The webinar was attended by 10 panellists, the project core team members and the guest speaker, and 37 Council founding members.
The Council founding members can watch the recorded session of the event and download the presentations in the DECODE Connect Platform.
Read more about the Launch Event in our third press release. Download here.
DECODE Press Release 02
21.10.2021
The DECODE Sustainability project has published its second press release. This news item informs the founding members and public on the upcoming Official Launch of the European Deans Council for Sustainable Development.
