15 February, 2024

MTU's Hincks Team Rebecca Robinson, Fiacre Muller and Wei Xiong, travelled to Kerry on the 15th of February to accompany the INGENIUM WP7 Partners on the INGENIUM Junior Winter School trip.

The Hincks Team joined our MTU colleagues - 59 students, 10 mentors, 22 WP7 members, 3 rectors from 10 Universities - to join like-minded peers who have sustainable development as part of their core activities within their Universities.

Thanks to Catherine Carty, MTU UNESCO Chair Manager, for the invitation to join this dynamic group as they discussed their WP objectives. The objectives included proposing concrete measures to enhance the Alliance contribution towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by:

1) Raising the awareness and the policies of our organisations through the creation of a Sustainability Committee, the launch of an INGENIUM SDG Challenge Lab and the elaboration of an INGENIUM Green Deal Agenda.

2) Support the surrounding society and industry in their transition to greener and more sustainable businesses.

3) Extension of the cooperation networks with third countries' HEIs through the INGENIUM Global Partnerships.

4) Promote student engagement in sustainable development issues through actions such as the INGENIUM SDG Hackathon.

The Hincks Team were invited to present the Centre's project work that addresses the UN SDGs. Rebecca presented on Get-Ahed, Digital Skills Wallet, Enactus and Enterprise Camp, Wei presented on Senior Eco-Nect and Blue Shuttle and Fiacre presented on 3F Green Model, CresCine and Target Circular. 

We visited MTU Kerry North Campus and after a WP meeting, we travelled to Tralee Golf Course where we heard about the sustainability initiatives onsite there, and received a presentation on The Angel Shark Project. We also heard about the importance of sustainable development from the Fishermans Co-op in Fenit, a local fishing village nearby, and how Tralee Bay is widely considered to be the last remaining natural, self-seeding oyster bed in Europe. We learned that Fenit is the first town, village or city in Ireland to display the SDG logo on its village sign with a promise to promoting people, planet, and prosperity and even got to see the sign as we took a short trip to Fenit on our way to Tralee town in the late afternoon.

After our trip to Fenit, we visited Ballygarry Estate where they source all their meat and vegetables from local grocers and butchers who are supplied by local farmers and where they are taking steps to reduce their carbon footprint towards carbon neutrality by the end of 2024.

Rebecca Robinson

Hincks Centre Researcher