**Develop Sustainable Nanotechnology Solutions with a Global Team**

This course challenges you to co-create innovative, eco-friendly products using nanotechnology tools. Working in international and multidisciplinary teams, you’ll tackle real-world challenges with guidance from expert teachers. Your mission: to design a green product that contributes to solving society’s most pressing issues.

**Why Nanotechnology?**

Nanotechnology plays a pivotal role in sustainable development, offering solutions for **clean water, air, soil, and energy**—key pillars of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. By integrating advanced technology with a multidisciplinary approach, this course equips you with the skills to address global challenges collaboratively.

**What You’ll Do:**

- **Focus on four key areas:** Develop sustainable products targeting **water** purification, remediation, and reuse; **air** purification; **soil**remediation; and **energy** solutions.
- **Apply what you learn:** Use life cycle analysis and recyclability principles to design impactful solutions.
- **Collaborate globally:** Work in an international team to solve problems and learn to navigate cultural and time-zone differences.

**Skills You’ll Gain:**

Through a challenge-based learning approach, you’ll master teamwork, time management, and product development. You’ll also learn to apply academic knowledge to real-world problems, ensuring your solutions are both innovative and actionable.

Join this Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) course and be part of a global effort to create a sustainable future through nanotechnology! For more information, contact Arturo Susarrey Arce (a.susarreyarce@utwente.nl).

CV (Curriculum Vitae) is a document that summarizes your educational and professional history. It must provide a detailed overview of your academic and work experience, skills, achievements, and qualifications.

Motivation letter is a personal statement and it might include a brief introduction of yourself, explanation why are you interested in the learning opportunity you are applying to, any relevant experience or skills that you have, your goals and how this opportunity will help you achieve them, This document should not be more than 400 words.

Motivation Letter

University of Twente

Sustainable Nanotechnology

Help co-create sustainable solutions using nanotechnology tools.

Energy and sustainability

Circular economy

Entrepreneurship, technology and innovation

Critical and innovative thinking

Inter-personal skills

Media and information literacy

Intra-personal skills

Global citizenship

This challenge is a collaboration between 6 ECIU universities: UAB (Spain), KTU (Lithuania), UiS (Norway), Unitn (Italy), INSA (France), and UT (the Netherlands). This means you get to gain knowledge from experts of all these different universities! This is therefore a unique opportunity that offers multiple perspectives and an intercultural experience.

### Why do Interculturality and Citizen Science matter?

Interculturality is a crucial skill in today’s globalized world, enabling effective communication and collaboration across cultural boundaries. It fosters empathy, helps navigate differences with respect, and is essential for addressing global challenges like climate change and migration. In professional settings, intercultural competence is highly valued, supporting teamwork in diverse and international contexts. Personally, it enriches your worldview, enhances self-awareness, and opens you to new perspectives. By embracing interculturality, you contribute to a more inclusive and collaborative global society.

This brings us to Citizen Science as well, which democratizes knowledge by engaging the public in scientific research. It bridges the gap between academia and society, empowering citizens to contribute to solutions for the mentioned pressing issues like climate change. By combining diverse cultural perspectives with participatory research, we can create inclusive, innovative solutions that truly resonate with and benefit global communities. Together, Interculturality and Citizen Science inspire collaborative action and a shared responsibility for the future.

### What you'll do

When you get accepted to this challenge, you will automatically also get all the information and learning activities of the online micro-module "Introduction to Citizen Science". That part has a study load of 1 ECTS, the other 3 ECTS will come from the Citizen Science project and mandatory mobility week.

**Please only apply to one of the two: this challenge OR the micro-module Introduction to Interculturality.**

**Introduction to Interculturality**

This online part is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of interculturality through a structured blend of expert-led lectures and interactive discussions. There are three thematic blocks, each building on the previous one to create a cohesive learning experience:

**Block 1: Understanding cultural differences**

You’ll start by exploring foundational theories of culture, learning what defines and distinguishes cultures around the world. This block highlights the importance of cultural diversity in today’s globalized world, helping you develop an awareness of how cultural differences shape interactions and perceptions.

**Block 2: Global perspectives**

In this section, you’ll examine the effects of migration, media representation, and the concept of global Englishes. These topics will give you a broader perspective on how cultural narratives evolve and influence societies across the globe. You’ll gain insights into how these factors contribute to both challenges and opportunities in intercultural communication.

**Block 3: Practical intercultural skills**

The final block focuses on practical workshops to equip you with effective communication techniques for interacting across cultures. You’ll learn how to navigate cultural nuances in professional and personal settings, ensuring your interactions are respectful, clear, and impactful.

By the end of this part of the course, you’ll have a deeper understanding of cultural theories, a global perspective on societal changes, and the practical tools to engage effectively in intercultural settings. This combination of theoretical and hands-on learning prepares you to adapt in diverse environments and address the complexities of global communication

**Citizen Science Project**

You will select a preferred Citizen Science project from a curated list, which serves as the focus of your group work. The project groups are formed based on these preferences, ensuring diverse and multidisciplinary teams. Over the course of the challenge, you:

- Explore the core concepts of Citizen Science through expert-led sessions on its methodologies, applications, and potential impact;
- Investigate your selected Citizen Science project to understand its design, research goals, and current level of citizen engagement;
- Develop an outreach strategy aimed at increasing citizen participation, taking into account cultural diversity, ethical considerations, and inclusivity.

**Mobility week**

A key highlight of the challenge is the **mandatory** mobility week, during which students come together on-site to collaborate intensively, interact with project researchers, and participate in workshops that enhance their project outcomes.  

Scheduled in the seventh week of the challenge, the mobility week is a pivotal moment for team collaboration and cultural immersion. Held at the University of Twente, this week includes:

- Meetings with researchers from the selected Citizen Science projects.
- Workshops on interculturality, citizen engagement, and other relevant skills.
- Time for cultural exchange, group work, and networking with peers from other universities.

Students will also have the chance to pitch their initial ideas, gaining feedback from experts and refining their plans.

Intercultural Competences through Citizen Science Challenge

Contribute to ongoing Citizen Science projects while enhancing your intercultural skills.

This micro-module is a collaboration between 6 ECIU universities: UAB (Spain), KTU (Lithuania), UiS (Norway), UniTn (Italy), INSA (France), and UT (the Netherlands). This means you get to gain knowledge from experts of all these different universities! This is therefore a unique opportunity that offers multiple perspectives and an intercultural experience.

### **Why learning about interculturality matters**

Interculturality is a crucial skill in today’s globalized world, enabling effective communication and collaboration across cultural boundaries. It fosters empathy, helps navigate differences with respect, and is essential for addressing global challenges like climate change and migration. In academic and professional settings, intercultural competence is highly valued, supporting teamwork in diverse and international contexts. Personally, it enriches your worldview, enhances self-awareness, and opens you to new perspectives. By embracing interculturality, you contribute to a more inclusive and collaborative global society.

### **What you'll learn**

This online micro-module is designed to give you a comprehensive understanding of interculturality through a structured blend of expert-led lectures and interactive discussions. The course is divided into three thematic blocks, each building on the previous one to create a cohesive learning experience:

**Block 1: Understanding cultural differences**  

You’ll start by exploring foundational theories of culture, learning what defines and distinguishes cultures around the world. This block highlights the importance of cultural diversity in today’s globalized world, helping you develop an awareness of how cultural differences shape interactions and perceptions.

**Block 2: Global perspectives**  

In this section, you’ll examine the effects of migration, media representation, and the concept of global Englishes. These topics will give you a broader perspective on how cultural narratives evolve and influence societies across the globe. You’ll gain insights into how these factors contribute to both challenges and opportunities in intercultural communication.

**Block 3: Practical intercultural skills**  

The final block focuses on practical workshops to equip you with effective communication techniques for interacting across cultures. You’ll learn how to navigate cultural nuances in professional and personal settings, ensuring your interactions are respectful, clear, and impactful.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a deeper understanding of cultural theories, a global perspective on societal changes, and the practical tools to engage effectively in intercultural settings. This combination of theoretical and hands-on learning prepares you to adapt in diverse environments and address the complexities of global communication

Introduction to Interculturality

Explore interculturality in an international context

**The Content**of this Micro-module is organized in 3 packages: 

- **Package 1 : Philosophy and Law**

Conceptual introduction to the ways in which knowledge is produced and disseminated without paying attention to gender, age, race, and class differences and sexual difference as regards relations among subjects and among bodies, and, thereby, becoming what might be understood as rigid, immaterial, and disaffected knowledge. The impact of producing and disseminating knowledge in these terms will be made clear by analyzing the so-called neutrality of the Law and its effects in gender equality policy making.

- **Package 2 : Psychology and Literature**

(1) Applied critical consideration of epistemic violence, that is, of how gender differences have an effect on subjects and bodies and how they have an effect in their well being depending on the role that gender is given in Psi Disciplines.

(2) Applied critical deconstruction of gender stereotypes and of prejudices that symbolically limit the imaginary field of subjects and bodies and tie them to the immateriality of heteronormativity. 

- **Package 3: Anthropology and Pedagogy**

Attention will be payed to a specific challenge in order to (1) make clear how to take into account diversity, difference, and inequality by means of situating knowledge and of feminist methodologies and feminist data analysis and how to (2) validate and make epistemically relevant different kinds of agency by gendering it (including age, class, and race differences).

There are 3 **assessment**files, one for each package, that need to be completed in order to pass the course.

Member universities may require additional information from applicants. Please read the application information section carefully and include any extra required information in this section.

Other

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Gender as a cross-cutting tool for understanding, diagnosing, and solving challenges

SELF-PACED OPEN MOOC (6TH EDITION)

Resilient communities

Energy has become an increasingly important factor in recent years. We have transitioned from a world where energy was cheap and readily available to one where it is becoming more difficult to obtain. Furthermore, **energy consumption has dramatic consequences for the environment,** as its use leads to an increase in CO2 concentration and subsequently, **global warming**. Understanding this factor and being able to manage it quantitatively is becoming increasingly necessary for the next generation.

In this course, we will be studying**transportation and analyzing it in terms of energy**. We will learn how to **calculate the impact of our transportation systems**in terms of energy, and explore the best strategies to reduce their impact.

Energy in transportation

3rd Edition

Transport and Mobility

The increase in rental housing prices is a complex phenomenon influenced by a combination of economic, social, and legislative factors:  

Among the economic factors, we can identify a demand that exceeds the supply of housing due to the lack of policies that incentivize and promote the existence of an affordable rental housing stock, as well as the strong interest from investors in investing in the rental property market, which drives prices up. Both factors contribute to rising prices. Additionally, difficulties in obtaining mortgage loans to buy homes can increase the demand for rentals.  

Among the social factors, the high population concentration in cities also contributes, making prices higher in urban areas. In Spain, the prices in cities like Madrid and Barcelona stand out. Changes in family structure, with the increase in single-person households or nuclear families, also play a role. Furthermore, the rise in tourist rentals (such as through platforms like Airbnb) can reduce the supply of housing available for long-term rental, increasing prices.  

Among the legislative factors, regulations that set limitations on the rental price can reduce the incentive for owners to enter the rental market or invest in building maintenance, thus reducing supply. Tax regulations can also affect the rental price, in the event that tax rates are passed on to tenants.  

During this challenge we will try to find out what initiatives, proposals and measures could be taken by local governments to solve this problem in urban communities, starting with the Spanish city council of Terrassa as a pilot

Transcript of Records is an official document issued by your home university. It specifies the name of the institution, the academic programme you are enrolled in, the list of courses taken up until the current period, the exams or tests you passed, the grades and the credits you earned. 

Transcript of Records

Tackling the Housing Crisis: Strategies for Lowering Rent in urban communities.

How can Terrassa's City Council address high rental prices to ensure housing access and stability for residents?

In a context of global inequalities, armed conflicts, hate speech, and xenophobia, human rights violations against migrants, especially women, children, and LGBTQI+ individuals, are alarming. These issues are more evident in territories around European borders, currently considered zones of non-law. The social narrative on refugees and migration is influenced by media and partial readings, undermining the fight for their rights. Exclusion, xenophobia, and criminalization in fortified Europe make migrants and racialized individuals more vulnerable.

**Therefore, this course is a strategic opportunity for future professionals to be critical citizens addressing human rights violations and rising racist and xenophobic discourses.**

This course aims to strengthen university's community role in generating, appropriating, and promoting knowledge and critical analysis. It provides tools for a resounding, sustained, and efficient response to deactivate racist and xenophobic attitudes and discourses and defend the rights of refugees and migrants, especially women, children, and LGBTQI+ individuals.

Fortress Europe: human rights violations against migrants and refugees at Europe's borders.

Understanding forced displacement and migration from a human rights perspective.

This course will provide to students basic knowledge of Catalan and Spanish languages and their cultures. The main objective is to enables students to understand and use everyday expressions of very frequent use and simple sentences aimed at satisfying immediate needs. It will also introduce them to some key aspects of the Catalan and Spanish cultures.  

The linguistic and cultural background of students is used as the ground to build upon and to maximize their learning. They will work using a communicative and challenge-based learning methodology. 

This course is not intended for students who have lived in Catalonia, even for a short period. It focuses on discovering the basics and essence of the culture. Therefore, if you have lived there, we do not recommend enrolling

Exploring Catalonia: An introduction to its language and culture

Language learning

**Content**

**Package 1 : Philosophy and Law**

Conceptual introduction to the ways in which knowledge is produced and disseminated without paying attention to gender, age, race, and class differences and sexual difference as regards relations among subjects and among bodies, and, thereby, becoming what might be understood as rigid, immaterial, and disaffected knowledge. The impact of producing and disseminating knowledge in these terms will be made clear by analyzing the so-called neutrality of the Law and its effects in gender equality policy making.

**Package 2 : Psychology and Literature**

(1) Applied critical consideration of epistemic violence, that is, of how gender differences have an effect on subjects and bodies and how they have an effect in their well being depending on the role that gender is given in Psi Disciplines.

(2) Applied critical deconstruction of gender stereotypes and of prejudices that symbolically limit the imaginary field of subjects and bodies and tie them to the immateriality of heteronormativity. 

**Package 3: Anthropology and Pedagogy**

Attention will be payed to a specific challenge in order to (1) make clear how to take into account diversity, difference, and inequality by means of situating knowledge and of feminist methodologies and feminist data analysis and how to (2) validate and make epistemically relevant different kinds of agency by gendering it (including age, class, and race differences).

SELF-PACED OPEN MOOC (5TH EDITION)

At the heart of the modern lifestyle lies a growing concern for health and well-being, coupled with an ever-increasing dependence on technology. Recognizing this intersection, we have crafted the TechFit Challenge: **Empowering Healthy and Sporty Lifestyles through Technology, a transformative learning offering aimed at harnessing the power of technology to inspire and facilitate the adoption of healthier habits by the university community.**

This learning initiative is born out of a fundamental desire to address the pressing need for individuals to prioritize their health amidst the fast-paced, technology-driven world we inhabit. We believe that by leveraging technology effectively, we can empower individuals to take control of their physical activity, nutrition, and overall wellness. 

University campuses usually have a large amount of equipment and activities with the aim of helping students lead a healthy life. However, many of these possibilities are not sufficiently known or do not have as much reach as they deserve.

**The importance of this initiative cannot be overstated. In an era where sedentary lifestyles and poor dietary choices are prevalent, the TechFit Challenge serves as a beacon of hope, offering practical solutions and guidance to combat these issues, from the point of view of technology. Our overarching goal is to instill in the community a newfound sense of agency over their health and equip them with the tools and knowledge needed to cultivate sustainable habits for a lifetime.**

Students should eagerly embrace this opportunity to be part of the TechFit Challenge because it offers a unique and invaluable learning experience. Participants will not only enhance their technological literacy but also develop crucial skills in goal-setting, data interpretation, and decision-making pertaining to the well-being of the university community.

By the end of the TechFit Challenge, participants will emerge with a heightened awareness of the health status of the university community, a repertoire of strategies for improving fitness, sport and wellbeing, and the confidence to navigate the intersection of technology and wellness in the digital age. Join us on this empowering journey to transform your lifestyle and unlock your full potential for health and vitality.

TechFit Challenge: Empowering Healthy and Sporty lifestyles through Technology

Embracing the power of technology to contribute to wellness.

2nd Edition

As part of international migrations, according to UNHCR, in 2022, disasters caused a record 32.6 million displacements. Remarkably, 98% of these were triggered by climate-related hazards as documented by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. 

In fact, 84% of refugees and asylum seekers in 2022 fled from countries highly vulnerable to climate change, marking a 61% increase compared to 2010. Most people forced to flee their homes move within their own countries, but international migrations are increasingly common. 

Currently, the right to asylum due to the effects of climate change is not yet recognized, unlike protection for those escaping war conflicts, as defined during the 1951 Geneva Convention.  This lack of recognition, coupled with the complex and multi-causal nature of migration reasons, makes it challenging to assess how much climate change is influencing new international migration trends and its role as a decisive factor. 

With this challenge, we aim to demonstrate/quantify the existence of forced displacements due to climate change, to provide consistency and contribute to the debate surrounding climate change migration.

Member university

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Member university

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Learning opportunities of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona