HCI Pillar 3 Mid-Term Conference: Collaboration Nation
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) launched its mid-term evaluation report on the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) Pillar 3 projects on 29 June 2023, as part of the Collaboration Nation conference event at the Convention Centre Dublin.
The HCI Pillar 3 project Building Change was one of 24 projects that showcased during the conference event and featured within the mid-term report. Each of these HCI Pillar 3 projects work to develop innovation and agility within higher education institutions or groups of institutions, as well as aligning with various national strategic objectives in their application. Many of these projects, including the Building Change project, aim to directly respond to objectives and challenges outlined in Ireland’s Climate Action Plan and wider climate policy.
In terms of the alignment of the project, Building Change supports the following government policies as they relate to the manufacturing sector in Ireland:
- UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030: Climate Action (13.3) and Sustainable Housing (11.1)
- Ireland’s Climate Action Plan
- Housing for All
Read the full report here
As a part of the Navigating Change conference panel, Building Change Project Lead and TU Dublin Vice President for Sustainability, Jennifer Boyer, discussed higher education’s adaptation to a rapidly changing world. Speaking of the collaborative Building Change project Jennifer Boyer said:
As part of the HCI Project, Building Change, students, educators, and project partners from across the six schools of Architecture in Ireland, have demonstrated the valuable impacts of funding from the Higher Education Authority Human Capital Initiative. As we look to the future of higher education projects, we must endeavour that all project funding aligns with national targets and time horizons (2030, 2040, and 2050) to ensure lasting benefits for future generations.
The Building Change project brings all the Schools of Architecture in Ireland, including Technological University Dublin, University College Dublin, the University of Limerick, South East Technological University, Atlantic Technological University and the Cork Centre for Architecture Education (a joint initiative of University College Cork and Munster Technological University), with the aim of refocussing the architecture curriculum to have a sustainability focus. The project has two focus areas: reconfiguring the professional curricula in architecture to empower future graduates with the knowledge, skills and, most importantly, the mind-set, to address the sustainability challenges society faces; and the provision of related Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to support educators, architecture graduates and those in related fields. Find out more on the Building Change project here.
