INSPIRED 2020: ULisboa’ students in a virtual trip to the stars

Beatriz Farinha, Cecília Pedro, Francisco Miguel Caldas, Mariana Bento, Marta Narciso, Nádia Rei, Sara Simões, Soraia Lopes and Xavier Viana are the nine students from ULisboa who are part of this project.

For three weeks these students from ULisboa are doing research in interdisciplinary groups to design a sustainable and efficient bioreactor that can generate the special nutrients and therapeutics required under the extreme conditions in space stations.

This programme has two phases: a virtual e-Learning phase and the so-called “Do phase”. In the e-Learning course, the participants with different specialist backgrounds prepare themselves independently to complete the task that awaits them during the programme. In the “Do phase”, the main aim is to research an unusual and challenging (bio)engineering issue together – in international and interdisciplinary project teams.

The preparatory e-Learning course took place between March 30th and June 14th, and at this moment students are already fully involved in the practical component. Skills such as creativity, originality and cooperation are severely encouraged throughout the program.

“Nobody imagined six months ago that we would have to hold a summer school study project in virtual form. All of those involved deserve a lot of praise for enabling us to hold the event in this creative way. In particular, the fact that we are able to offer the students a fantastic teaching and learning programme in an international context during a period characterised by immobility is truly outstanding”, says Biology Professor Heribert Warzecha, one of the founders of INSPIRED and TU Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity.

The Inspired project is one of the UNITE! -University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering- initiatives. TU Darmstadt as the coordinator and Aalto University (Finland), KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden), Grenoble Institute of Technology (France), Politecnico Di Torino (Italy), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain) and Universidade de Lisboa (Portugal) have joined together in UNITE! (University Network for Innovation, Technology and Engineering) as part of the European Universities of the European Commission.

As is also the case in the INSPIRED project, the focus is a innovative pedagogic concepts, e-Learning in a trans-European – and currently primarily virtual – campus, greater interdisciplinary collaboration and international cooperation.