After weeks of intense work, first-year undergraduate students at La Salle-URL presented their projects as part of the SDG Challenge, the practical component of the Thinking and Creativity course, a core subject across all undergraduate degrees taught on campus. In total, more than 800 students from different degree programmes worked in 141 transdisciplinary teams, made up of students from the four schools and faculties, on topics such as social responsibility, ethics, sustainability and social impact from a humanistic perspective, one of the pillars of the campus.
The projects, developed over several sessions, addressed real challenges proposed by different companies and social organisations. This year’s edition included the participation of Caixa d’Enginyers, Consorci Zona Franca Barcelona, FC Barcelona, NTT DATA, Simon, Nestlé, Ader Foundation, Fundación Adsis, Fundació Ared, Arrels Fundació, Fundació Comtal, Fundació Habitatge Social, Institut Català del Sòl (INCASÒL), La Salle Catalunya, Mans Unides, Pastoral La Salle and Fundació Proide.
The SDG Challenge project is one of La Salle-URL’s academic initiatives that reinforce its positioning as an epicentre of transformation and its commitment as an entrepreneurial and engaged university accredited by ACEEU.
Real, creative and innovative solutions
The campus recently hosted the closing event of this transformative learning process, which encourages students to foster social responsibility and sustainability through innovation and creativity. During the event, 150 finalist students grouped into 25 teams presented their solutions before a jury made up of La Salle-URL educators, in the presence of the companies and organisations that proposed the challenges.
As a new feature this year, five awards were presented in different categories:
- Best SDG company solution: the winning group responded to the Nestlé challenge and is made up of Abdulmohiman Naser Abdusasalam Elferjani; Victor Fernandez Jimenez; Arif Gafarov; Luka Santiago Leon Hines; Kseniia Ponomareva; Martina Pujadas Surinyac.
- Best SDG NGO/Foundation solution: the winning group responded to the Arrels Fundació challenge and is made up of Raul Benito Rodriguez; Carlos Bertran Herranz; Marc Cucala Muñoz; Margorie Abigail Jhade Espiritu Torrico; Victor Lopez Muñoz; Camila Rangel Caicedo.
- Best SDG team NGO/Foundation: the winning group responded to the Proide challenge and is made up of Íngrid Esteve i Mestres; Jiachen He; Isaac López Pérez; Alejandra Sánchez Pol; Àlex Tannous Vidal de Llobatera; Jan Vila Vilà.
- Best SDG team company: the winning group responded to the INCASÒL challenge and is made up of Xavier Bosch Galilea; Marc Giménez Abellà; Silvia Hita Galán; Julia Palacios Calvo; Ariadna Sanz Falcó; Ainhoa Torres Cardenas.
- Winners of SDG Rome trip: the winning group is made up of Abdulmohiman Naser Abdusasalam Elferjani; Victor Fernandez Jimenez; Arif Gafarov; Luka Santiago Leon Hines; Kseniia Ponomareva; Martina Pujadas Surinyac.
The team that won the trip to Rome will present its project at the Casa Generalizia in Rome, La Salle’s global headquarters, as part of a meeting between institutional representatives of the International Association of La Salle Universities (IALU).
