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Description
The main aim of the project is to strengthen institutional cooperation between universities in Slovakia (Slovak University of Technology) and Norway (University of Stavanger) to enhance both the quality and relevance of education and training in the focus areas of green innovations in urban - regional planning education and of assisted living technologies, and thus contribute to increase of education and employment potential of young people within these two spheres. Building more intensive cooperation between universities aims to bridge the gap in the education system and practice and to support quality research and the career development of academic staff and young professionals. Project consists of activities: (1) and (2) innovations in study curriculas, (3) innovations in education methods, (4) joint research and training teams, (5) dissemination workshop, (6) publicity, (7) website, (8) communication and project management. Promoting social inclusion of vulnerable groups is at the core of this project. The field of assisted living technologies is directly focused on solutions that promote independence, safety, and improved quality of life for elderly and individuals with special needs. Therefore, in the project this topic will be present in all of the activities, with the major focus in Activity 1, Activity 3 and Activity 4. Activity 4 reflects on the topic of exclusion of marginalised Roma communities in the sphere of access to green technologies and energy poverty. The part of this activity will be direct on-site research and involvment of the community members with an aim to analse the situation and to design solutions for improved accessibility.
Summary of project results
During the implementation of the project, supplementary activities proved to be very important, perhaps even crucial. These activities were not directly related to or connected with the measurable indicators of the project, but it became evident that they are absolutely essential for achieving real results and impact in practice. Therefore, our recommendation and lesson learned for the preparation and realization of future project activities is to focus on this type of activity as well. It is necessary to pay them sufficient attention—especially from the perspective of the budget, which we found lacking during the implementation of this project.
These supplementary activities, which often have an informal nature, are key for establishing cooperation and building relationships. This, in turn, leads to qualitatively better results and outputs from the collaboration, as well as to the education and engagement of younger generations. These younger generations—young researchers and young academics—represent a very specific group with whom educational and professional systems still have limited experience (due to the technologies they grew up with, the conditions, and life during the pandemic). Therefore, it is necessary within this type of project to allow for much more experimentation, to involve informal methods, and to discover what works in activating this target group.
The overall outcome of the project was more than satisfactory from our point of view and from our partner''s point of view and exceeded our expectations. First of all, we managed to establish a really genuine and constructive cooperation between the two partners. Particularly beneficial was the fact that the cooperation was not only formal and superficial, but also in-depth - we managed to understand the contexts in which both institutions work, which gave us a better understanding of each other and of the methods, techniques with which we engage young researchers, young academics, young professionals, or students. As well as, we were also able to gain an understanding of how and why the topics that were the subject of our grant - green assisted living technologies are used in practice in real situations in Norway, how our partner handles them. We have also gained an understanding of other topics and challenges that are common in Norway and Slovakia - and on which we want to collaborate in the future.
This cooperation also proved to be very effective from the perspective of our end target groups - young colleagues, professionals, students and all (including the public) who participated in the courses, workshops (etc.), to whom we were together able to convey not only new content, but also new methods and forms, and thus also bring the Slovak target groups more in line with European standards.
The issue was further dealt with also with the porject target group - young professionals and students in the field of architecture and urban planning. On the case studies in the settlements in Rimavská Sobota districts, part of Design Studios (courses involved in UCSPA project), workshops between FAD STU teams and local Roma communities were held in order to together deliver solutions of urban design and development of local potentials. Part of the results were also presented , as a dissemination activity, as a part of conference in March in Rimavska Sobota, open and visited by borader public.
Summary of bilateral results
We are also particularly positive about the cooperation on the partial topic of marginalised Roma communities, which also attracted the interest of the target groups and the Norwegian partner, also in terms of the topic of of green technologies and their implementation and innovation reflected in professiona interest of a joint research team consisting of FAD STU BA (Faculty of architecture and design Slovak university of Technology) and UiS (University of Stavanger) in UCSPA project. Particularly, the team focused on the issues of access of green technologies in marginalised Roma communities. What is the energy sistuation in these communities? And is there any know-how transfereable from Norway to Slovakia, or vice versa, that we can learn from, in order to find solutions to improve this access ? The team, including the Norwwegian partner, visited and analysed the situation in marginalised, segregated area in Trnava, Coburgova district and discussed with community as well as municipality of Trnava, the situation and possible solutions.