The Széchenyi István University, which promotes its strategic goal of sustainability exhibited its education, research, development, and innovation activities in this field with its own stand and various multimedia presentations during the Planet Budapest event, the only sustainability event of its kind this year in Central Europe. Several of the institution’s projects, which are also of international significance, serve the cause of creating a liveable future.
The Planet Budapest exhibition raised awareness of the importance of the growing number of sustainability actions for the turnaround impact on climate change. The event presented the latest solutions in an accessible way by not only serving as a professional forum but also offered practical and tangible solutions to the public. The Széchenyi István University presented its efforts and achievements in the field of sustainability at the Planet Budapest conference.
“Sustainability plays a central role in our university’s strategy, which aims to actively contribute to reducing environmental pressures in our city, its region, the country and even internationally by making sustainable solutions more widely available and in turn improve people’s well-being,” said Dr. András Torma, Head of the Department of Applied Sustainability at the Széchenyi István University. He added that the Sustainability Competence Centre, a key player and catalysator in this field integrates its activities into the university faculty, but moreover the drive to serve our future is present at all levels of the institution.
“Within the university, we are working closely with the different operational departments and academic faculties to ensure that this approach is applied in education, research, development, and innovation activities,” he said.
Dr. András Torma went on to further explain that the Széchenyi University is implementing significant projects within the field, such as the Insula Magna – Complex Water Management and Sustainable Development Programme, a civil development project in the Szigetköz-Csallóköz region as well as a global developmental programme for the approach to waste management and the circular economy. Also notable are the H2 and EFuels projects, the latter of which involves participation in the development of renewable synthetic fuels and testing their use in vehicle engines and complete powertrains.
“In addition to these, there is also a wide range of sustainability-related research being carried out at the university, including in the fields of precision agriculture, water management, including the building of international reservoir capacity inventory and effective usage efficiencies. In a very practical way, our institution also plays an important role in developing sustainability strategies for municipalities and governmental institutions,” he said.
During the parallelly held conference within the Planet Budapest exhibition, Dr Adrienn Buruzs, Associate Professor at the Széchenyi István University, gave a presentation on the link between the circular economy and industrial performance, while Dr Renátó Kalocsai, Associate Professor, spoke about the link between our food supply and sustainability in a roundtable discussion. In addition to the presentations, the institution had its own stand at the expo.
“As well as our career guidance and teaching colleagues, environmental engineering students and doctoral candidates also played their part in showcasing the university’s involvement in sustainability issues. On top of the general training and academic program material offered by our institution at the exhibition stand, visitors were able to learn about our specialised training courses with a particular focus on sustainability, such as the ESG – Environmental, Social, and Governance Expert Master’s program, the Precision Agricultural Engineering specialisation, and the Energy Loss Detection Auditor specialisation. Visitors were also given an insight into sustainability-related research at the Széchenyi University. Our active representation at the event will almost certainly contribute to the development of new domestic and international partnerships,” said Dr Judit Pécsinger, adjunct professor at the institution and organiser of the university’s presence at the exhibition.
She went on to further underline the critical point that finding the properly fitted sustainability solutions is a key issue for more and more disciplines, therefore the Széchenyi University’s courses offer a valuable marketable knowledge for future professionals, while the institution’s research contributes to an increasingly global knowledge on sustainability issues, methodology and both avoidance & prescriptive activities.