From 25-26 April 2022 the SDG-iLevel project partners met for the kick-off meeting in Girona, Spain. The project consortium involves six partners from five countries with broad areas of expertise: Three universities (University of Girona, Spain; University of Rijeka, Croatia; Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania), the COPERNICUS Alliance, as a network of higher education institutions, ACEEU (Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities), an international quality assurance body, and Senior Europa/Kveloce I+D+i, an SME specialized in the development, implementation, and exploitation of R&D projects and their funding.
The kick-off meeting was organized by the lead partner University of Girona. During two days, the participants discussed the project objectives and concretized tasks and activities to achieve the project's objectives:
- Develop a conceptual framework for linking university roles and responsibilities to individual SDG contributions.
- Empower university staff with an improved understanding of their actual and potential roles and contributions to the SDGs.
- Equip university staff with effective online tools to discover, promote and strengthen their individual SDG contributions.
- Build and strengthen capacity at the university and departmental level to strategically promote individual SDG contributions.
- Facilitate the implementation of relevant policies in the departments of participating universities.
- Improve mental well-being, job satisfaction and productivity of university staff.
- Raise overall awareness of and commitment to sustainable development in higher education institutions.