2 February 2023

Reunions and new horizons at the II World Conference of Sostenipra PhDs

Since 2008, 42 PhDs in Environmental Science and Technology have been awarded at Sostenipra. The topics of their theses are very diverse, from composting to urban furniture, but they all have one thing in common: they aim to solve environmental problems demanding urgent solutions. PhD-holders trained at Sostenipra have ended up working in various fields, from academic research in universities and research centers around the world to consultancies and private companies. At the same time, about a dozen PhD students are currently being trained in the group. Two start-ups have also been the result of the entrepreneurial spirit of Sostenipra PhDs: inèdit, a successful strategic eco-innovation studio, and Tectum Garden, a young urban agricultural company with a promising future.

To share experiences and facilitate interaction among (future) Sostenipra PhDs, we organized a reunion on January 26 and 27, 2023, at ICTA-UAB. We planned for two intense days full of interactive sessions and presentations with current lines of research that resulted in new collaborations, emotional reunions and, especially, lots of smiles. About 42 PhDs from different generations participated in the event either online or in person, including a good number of their thesis supervisors.

As event highlights, we gave the PhD’s T-shirts to Dr. Neus Puy (number 8) and Dr. Montse Núñez (number 10). We also discovered the connections between directors and PhD students in the “Constellations of Sostenipra” and participated in a trivia session with interesting facts about the research group. Participants affiliated with other institutions and companies gave presentations about their current work.