Kuopio, Finland – February 29, 2024
The first EU4DUAL International Staff Week was held from 22 to 29 February in Kuopio, Finland, in the facilities of our Alliance partners at the Savonia University of Applied Sciences.
44 participants from 16 different nationalities took part in this enriching event, which was organised for staff from the 9 Alliance partner universities as well as from any other institution. Thanks to this open approach, participants from Costa Rica, China, Kosovo and Ukraine also joined the week.
In order to serve as a kick-off event for one of the major challenges that the EU4DUAL Alliance aims to address, 16 workshops related to the Green Economy were prepared as part of a very extensive and varied agenda. Among the topics developed were: optimisation of energy production, secondary waste streams in mining, social sustainability, virtuality in tourism, agricultural and forestry residues, etc.
These workshops were combined with 2 campus visits and 5 lab visits, including the Bio and Circular Economy Lab and the Water Lab, as well as with an inspiring speech given by Pekka Reinikainen, the European Climate Pact Ambassador in Finland.
In addition to a lot of interesting workshops and teamwork, the participants also had great opportunities to get to know each other and network while ice skating on the famous Lake Kallavesi or trying an authentic Finnish sauna.
Thanks to these interactions, the participants rated the week very positively and strongly recommended that their colleagues attend the next one. They’ve all returned to work full of new ideas on how to apply what they’ve learned to their daily tasks and programmes, and make a real positive impact on our stakeholders.
Have a look at this video for a summary of the Staff Week.
