- I’m expecting interesting and exciting entries, says Ann Åkerman, LUCSUS.
On Thursday (16h February), Ann Åkerman and Chad Boda, also from LUCSUS, will travel to the high school ProCivitas in Helsingborg to nominate best student entry for a project called Sustainable Innovations. As part of the project, which runs throughout the spring, first year students have to come up with creative innovations to address different environmental problems.
As part of the nomination of ‘Best Innovation’, Ann Åkerman and Chad Boda will facilitate a discussion about all of the entries. They will also give the students feedback.
- Nominating a winning entry is only a small part of our work. Our main focus is to start a discussion amongst the students: what innovation is good, and why? What have they learnt about sustainability in the process?, says Ann Åkerman.
Yet, the stakes are high for this year’s ‘Best Innovation’, she adds, since 2016’s winning entry went on to win a study trip to Hong Kong in the regional competition Innocarnival, which focuses on engaging youth in sustainable development.
This is the third year that Ann Åkerman and Chad Boda work with the ProCivitas high school on the Sustainable Innovations project. Apart from acting as judges, LUCSUS staff also takes an active part in teaching the students about sustainability. Recently, LUCSUS researcher Heather Schoonover gave the students an appreciated introduction to the concept of planetary boundaries.
- We do this as part of our outreach programme. We want to reach out to, and engage the students. One way of doing this is through teaching on sustainability, says Ann Åkerman.