Expanding the Impact of Research Through Education: Sustainable Production of Student Exhibitions and Projects

In 2024, the research project Sustainable Production of the Graduation Exhibition at UL ALUO received funding from the University of Ljubljana’s HUD Fund. Among the supported activities was a training programme for staff from various UL member institutions who are involved in exhibiting student work. Below is a summary of the training report and a few photo highlights.

Transferring Knowledge on Sustainable Exhibition Production to Students and Educators

The training was attended by teaching staff from three University of Ljubljana faculties: UL ALUO, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering (UL NTF), and the Faculty of Architecture (UL FA). More than half of the participants teach practical subjects. When asked whether they already include sustainability topics in their teaching, 42.9% responded “no,” 28.6% incorporate them only marginally, and 28.6% include sustainability regularly. None indicated that sustainability is a central theme of their course content.

After the training, participants rated their likelihood of passing on the acquired knowledge to their students with an average score of 9 out of 10. When asked whether they would encourage their colleagues to adopt more sustainable practices or teaching approaches, 42.9% answered 7, 14.3% gave a score of 9, and 42.9% responded with 10.

Noticeable Improvement in Participants’ Understanding of Sustainability

Before the training, participants rated their knowledge of sustainability in the context of cultural production as moderate: 14.3% rated it 4, 42.9% rated it 5, 14.3% rated it 6, 14.3% gave a 7, and 14.3% an 8 (on a scale from 1 to 10). At the same time, all participants considered sustainable practices to be very important, rating this between 8 (42.9%), 9 (14.3%), and 10 (42.9%). The discrepancy between their self-assessed knowledge level and the high importance they assign to sustainability highlights the need to expand research and knowledge-sharing in this area.

Encouragingly, after the training, participants rated their knowledge significantly higher, with 42.9% giving a score of 8, 14.3% a 9, and 42.9% a 10. The training thus demonstrated that a format combining lectures and interactive workshops is effective in disseminating research results and equipping educators with guidelines for sustainable practices.

Examples of Unsustainable Practices at UL and Potential Solutions

When asked to assess the current state of sustainability at their faculty or academy (on a scale from 1 to 10), participants gave varied responses: 2 (14.3%), 4 (14.3%), 5 (14.3%), 6 (28.6%), 7 (14.3%), and 8 (14.3%). Examples of unsustainable practices included excessive material consumption in model-making, overproduction of models and printed materials, use of toxic substances, high water usage, and lack of recycling. Additional issues raised included the inefficiency of the building and the physical dispersal of UL ALUO’s departments. A key challenge identified was a general lack of awareness among both students and educators. After the workshop, participants suggested several ways to address these problems, including the use of proposed alternative materials for creating and presenting work, increased collaboration between faculties, dissemination of new knowledge among colleagues, and public awareness-raising.

Sustainability Goals for the Future

The training was well received, and a desire for inter-faculty collaboration emerged during the session itself. In the short term, participants expressed a wish to reduce model production and use fewer toxic materials and cleaning products. In the long term, they aim to establish a transparent system for the procurement and storage of materials to enable better control and facilitate reuse, thereby reducing their carbon footprint. Participants also voiced a need for a more connected collective and a shared space to enable more effective material management. Through open-ended responses, it was confirmed that participants were actively engaged during the training and contributed excellent sustainability ideas—relevant and applicable to the faculties they represent.

Research team: Urša del Cott, Tina Dernovšek, Žan Girandon, Pia Groleger, Emilija Meserko, Luka Pleskovič, Eva Popit, and Irina Pozdorovkina
Supervisors: Prof. Dr Petra Černe Oven, Assoc. Prof. Dr Barbara Predan, and Anja Radović
HUD Fund Application Team: Tina Dernovšek, Pia Groleger, Žan Kobal, and Tamara Lašič Jurković