ENHANCE Climate Change - Climate by Design: Can global climate goals succeed without local creativity? (Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme)

The aim of the course is to provide knowledge:

· on understanding the significance and complexity of issues related to climate change;

· on the basic ideas and theoretical concepts of climate change research;

· the latest technological solutions used in climate issues;

· enabling the identification of factors influencing climate change in the local environment, with an emphasis on the university campus;

· enabling an understanding of how local actions can influence long-term global changes;

In the stationary part in Warsaw, the knowledge and insights from the online part will be used to design innovative spatial solutions for adaptation, mitigation, and resilience to climate change. The design part will consist of tool blocks guiding groups of students through the process of deepening their understanding of the problem and creating unconventional solutions. In this part, the emphasis is on international and interdisciplinary interaction between students, which aims to create synergy in the design process.

• Understanding the importance and complexity of climate change issues
• Understanding the basic ideas and theoretical concepts related to climate change research
• Knowledge of the latest technological solutions related to climate issues
• Ability to identify aspects affecting climate change in the local environment (city, campus, neighborhood)
• Understanding how local actions affect long-term global change
• Understanding and sensitivity to civic attempts to address climate issues
• Ability to analyze the potential of university campuses and the role of academic communities
• Ability to integrate ideas into solutions and propose an action plan in selected areas of climate change
• Ability to analyze and decompose challenges in selected areas of climate change
• Ability to solve identified problems in teams based on the knowledge and skills of team members Understanding the importance and complexity of climate change issues

Required criteria for participants:

• Level of study: BSc or MSc;
• Desire to work in a multi-disciplinary community;
• Be open to use innovative methods and data sources (open-minded teams);
• Be receptive to more than one potential solution;
• Good communication skills;
• Being able to give honest and positive feedback;
• Willingness to share expertise;

Desirable criteria: interdisciplinary teams will be formed of individuals with diverse skills/competencies, for example: architecture and design, computer science and information technology, sustainable development and ecological solutions.

The two-level mutual trust-based quality assurance scheme has been adopted:

• at the university level: Warsaw University of Technology has applied its internal quality assurance procedures and structures to the proposal of Climate Change – a Global Challenge (Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme) it submitted to ENHANCE and to its implementation - the related learning activities,
• at the Alliance level: the body composed of Education Officers has made decisions regarding the inclusion of Climate Change – a Global Challenge (Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme) proposed by Warsaw University of Technology to the Innovative Learning Campus part of the joint ENHANCE educational offer, based on the compliance with the formal requirements and ENHANCE goals.

The Summer School will consist of two online phases and a 1-week onsite phase.

The online phase 1 will last from 01.09 until 03.09 (22 hrs of meetings).

The on-stie phase will last from 07.09 until 11.09.

The online phase 2 will last from 14.09 until 18.09 (23 hrs of meetings).

Forseen assessment methods cover:

 - group and public presentations;  - discussions;  - engagement and project responsibility;  - individual (partial) project tasks.

Students will be selected to participate in the summer school based on their answers in the application questionnaire. Particular attention will be paid to previous experience related to the subject area of the school and the student's specialisation during their studies.

The on-site phase of the Summer school will take place in Warsaw.

The online part of the Summer school will be conducted via MsTeams.

Registration to this ILO will be provided through MsForms questionaire that will be provided closer to the application starting date.

Students will work in 7-person interdisciplinary teams, supervised by faculty academic teachers. The task of each team will be to create the project and present the results of the developed solution at the end of the course. 

The activities of the Summer School were divided into three blocks:

• a content block, with lectures delivered by tutors; participants will also be provided with training materials prepared by the tutors, 
• a project block, during which participants will work on a solution to the main task, 
• a soft skills block on topics related to team building and teamwork.

As part of the Summer School, in addition to the substantive part (lectures, workshops and project activities), there will also be a cultural part, including animation and integration activities, a virtual tour of the cities, a trip around the Eco-resort and a get-to-know-you evening.