The UPF Centre for Sustainability Research, recently approved by the University’s Board of Governors, will concentrate its activity in the fields of sustainability and sustainable development, values found amongst the 21^st-century international community’s main political objectives. It will do so using a variety of methodological approaches.

The Centre, which seeks to encourage interdisciplinary research on the subject, is open to all interested lecturers and researchers. Initially, it will have 17 researchers affiliated with four different UPF departments (Law, Political and Social Sciences, Communication, and Information and Communication Technologies), as well as the Barcelona Institute of International Studies (IBEI), offering proof of its cross-disciplinary nature.

‘The UPF Centre for Sustainability Research’s main mission is to champion and promote the importance of valuing sustainability and sustainable practices in our society and in the international community. The aim is to further understanding of the economic, social and environmental consequences of unsustainable practices, resulting from human activity’, said the Centre’s coordinator, Angel Rodrigo, a lecturer in the Public International Law and International Relations Area of the UPF Department of Law.

The new research centre’s objectives also include being a tool for managing knowledge related to teaching and research on sustainability and sustainable development at UPF and strengthening and expanding the community of researchers at the University already independently pursuing work in this field. It will also help disseminate the main studies, measures and proposals drawn up and implement educational and awareness-raising programmes, in addition to playing an advisory role and seeking to influence socio-political decision-making.

Rodrigo, who is currently the UPF rector’s delegate for Sustainability, explained the rationale for creating the research centre thusly: ‘The Centre will be a good tool for approaching different areas of the social sciences from the vantage point of sustainability. This analytical perspective will help integrate different teaching and research activities in a new way that yields better results. Furthermore, it will help position UPF as a leader in the field of social sciences, which will increase its visibility and give it a competitive edge.’ He concluded, ‘If UPF wants to be one of the top universities in this field, tackling issues in different disciplines with this sustainability-based approach is one thing it can do to achieve that goal.’

Bringing together the University’s research in this area

The researchers at the Centre, which will also act as a tool to address the current fragmentation of research in this field at the University, have focused on issues such as sustainable development, environmental protection, climate change, the environment and international trade, governance of sustainable development, food security, sustainability and public and private investment, environmental ethics, and information and communication networks.

The creation of a repository to disseminate researchers’ past publications, including information on sustainability-related issues, measures, publications and calls on the University’s website, organizing research and outreach activities, and offering training courses are some of the projects and activities planned by the Centre.

Both sustainability and sustainable development are addressed in the 2016-2025 UPF Strategic Plan. They permeate the research and teaching carried out at the University and are included in the content of undergraduate and master’s degree subjects. UPF was one of the signatories of the Barcelona Agenda 21 agreement and it has included sustainability in its management since 2007. To this end, the University has created an entire sustainability structure, consisting of the vice-rector for Social Responsibility and Promotion, the rector’s delegate for Sustainability, the Property Service and the Sustainable UPF network.