SciCultureD final conference
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Climate change, overdevelopment, loss of green spaces are challenges that our society needs to overcome. Co-creation between sectors is essential to find opportunities to face these challenges. Key to addressing them is bringing diverse groups of differently knowledgeable people together and developing their creativity skills and mindset to implement positive change in their own communities.
Education is vital in driving social impact : by fostering transdisciplinary collaborations with local communities and with the private/public sector, and by experimenting artistic approaches to engage society in activism and democratic participation.
Join us!
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29th October 2024
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9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
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Valletta Campus, Malta
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3 key focusses
Are you interested in transdisciplinary education focussed on social impact?
The SciCultureD’s Final Conference that will delve into these topics by bringing together educators, artists, researchers, public engagers and entrepreneurs to explore how collaboration between sectors and creative approaches in university education can drive sustainable development and positive impact in society. Revolving around the theme of “Embedding transdisciplinary approaches to education focused on social impacts in Universities”, this event will finalise four years of the Erasmus+ funded project SciCultureD and the work of the partner organisations University of Malta, city2science (Germany), HVL (Norway) and ScienceView (Greece).
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On Tuesday 29th October 2024, project partners, SciCultureD ambassadors and invited keynote speakers will share and discuss the achievements and contributions of the projects to emerging approaches within Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). Focus will be on: artistic embodied approaches, social entrepreneurship and embedding transdisciplinary socially-focussed approaches to university curricula and structures through work with communities.
Work in progress – more speakers will be announced soon!
Lindsay Hetherington
Lindsay Hetherington is Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of Exeter, where she is Deputy Head of Department and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in STEM Education. Her research interests focus on sociomaterial and transdisciplinary approaches to learning in science and environmental education, in particular with respect to creativity. Alongside her research and leadership roles, Lindsay teaches on the PGCE and MA Education courses and supervises PhD students.
Isabelle Gatt is an educator and theatre practitioner with roots in a theatre lab company where she trained with John Schranz in Malta. She has also produced children’s edutainment TV series. Isabelle is a resident professor at the University of Malta, where she set up and runs the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) in Drama Education besides lecturing in Youth Studies and Adult Education. Beyond the university, Isabelle contributes to the academic landscape by delivering masterclasses s
and seminars in creative processes, theatre for social change and process drama at various European universities. Her research spans applied theatre initiatives in schools, youth centers, rehab centers, and Active Aging Centers, exploring the transformative potential of drama across diverse age groups and contexts.
Zsuzsa is a Managing Consultant, Thematic Lead for Higher Education, and partner in the Technopolis Group. Zsuzsa is also the project manager of HEInnovate overseeing the daily running and its continuous development. Zsuzsa and her team have been supporting the take up of HEInnovate through the mobilisation of the expert network, the development of the website, the preparation of new case studies and learning materials, the organisation of workshops and train the trainer sessions as well as webinars and continuous social media activities since the launch of the initiative.
Conferences focusses
Harnessing the potential of Artistic Embodied Approaches
Social Entrepreneurship
Embedding transdisciplinary and socially-focused approaches to university education and structures
- How do we harness the full potential of the arts?
- How does creativity manifest differently between the sciences and the arts and how do we better work with these to harness their full potential?
- How can we better understand the role of embodiment and materiality in disciplines?
SciCultureD explored how artistic approaches promote creative thinking processes, problem-solving, and innovation alongside the sciences and entrepreneurship.
In front of complex societal challenges, the arts bring a unique combination of factors to the thinking process, such as aesthetic understanding, cultural awareness, embodiment, and artistic creativity.
The Conference will discuss the nuances of the interaction between the sciences, the arts and their inherent creativity and how we can better understand their potential within teaching and learning.
- How can we integrate social entrepreneurship in University and training curricula?
- What is the impact of social entrepreneurship on learners?
By fostering a culture of social entrepreneurship within higher education institutions, students are cultivated to be not only knowledgeable across various disciplines but also driven by a commitment to social good. This holistic approach equips future generations with the skills to develop sustainable solutions that bridge gaps between sectors and address the root causes of social issues.
The conference will bring forward this discussion to emphasize how social entrepreneurship in university curricula and CPDs encourages the integration of diverse fields of study, promoting a comprehensive understanding of complex societal problems and the collaborative efforts required to solve them.
- What is transdisciplinary education?
- What impact can it have on society?
- How can we embed it in Higher Education curricula and structures?
Highly complex challenges affecting society – climate change, social injustice, and so on – are impossible to address using a single disciplinary approach. They require collaborative strategies between social, scientific, artistic and technological interventions – made possible, in part, through transdisciplinary approaches in higher education.
Drawing on the experience of three intensive courses and research, the SciCultureD conference subtheme 3 will discuss and explore how university education and structures can be adapted to equip students with transdisciplinary competencies, including knowledge co-creation and collaborative skills to enable social impact.
Programme
Arts exhibition
The ‘CONNECT – Communities for Change exhibition’ includes works of various art forms, and enhances the SciCultureD project’s effort to drive positive change and impact the wider community.
The exhibit, curated by Hans Mark Svedal, music lecturer at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, will bring forward artworks in the context of local communities, with the expressed aim to encourage reflection on EU society and its environment to instigate critical thinking and dialogue. To achieve this, the SciCultureD project will support a wide community of professional and up-and-coming artists, of different ages, cultural backgrounds and choices of expression.
The exhibit will be inaugurated during the SciCultureD conference on October 29 2024 in Malta, and the artworks will be expounded until November.
Objectives
Venue
The Valletta Campus, commonly referred to as the Old University building was originally built at the beginning of the 17th century to serve as a Jesuit College and Residence. Huddled between St. Paul, St Christopher, Merchants and Archbishop streets, this historical building lies in the heart of Valletta.
Location: St Paul Street. Valletta VLT 1216. Malta
Tel: +356 2340 7500.