In this cooperation project between Nils Ratnaweera's team from the Geoinformatics research group and the OER team from the university library, existing scripts and teaching materials are being further developed on GitHub together with students and published as OER Open Educational Resources. Students' projects on environmental sustainability topics will also be developed using open-source tools and made available as OER under open licences. Students become co-developers in the seminar, they are trained in dealing with open education and open source and play a significant role in the design of materials for teaching. This allows them to participate in the open exchange of knowledge on sustainability topics while they are still studying. In order to make the project scalable and stimulate exchange among lecturers, training courses are also organised on the effective use of open-source tools in teaching. 

Liveable and sustainable cities require experts with empathy for all project participants. Interdisciplinary collaboration for sustainable urban development - this is the core of the joint module EcoUrbanism of the two departments of Architecture, Design & Civil Engineering and Life Sciences and Facility Management. In the search for synergies between the city and nature, planners repeatedly come up against boundaries, be they, e.g., disciplinary, linguistic or cultural. The aim of the module is therefore to teach students integral planning and to promote systemic and critical thinking. Joint excursions, exchange in mixed groups and interdisciplinary discussions are intended to strengthen dialogue and interdisciplinary exchange in the long term.

As part of the BioMat Summer School, Bachelor's and Master's students from various natural science courses have the opportunity to approach the topic of bio-based materials in a practical way for ten days. The entire life cycle of materials up to recycling is examined in seven practical courses and supplemented by inputs from experts from research and industry. In addition to an introduction to writing one's own research proposals, social activities are also planned to enable networking and a lively learning atmosphere at the Department of Life Sciences and Facility Management.

Using a training platform, Martin Schnauss and Laura Archer aim to help their Banking and Finance students understand what sustainable investing means. The recent climate catastrophes demonstrate how important it is to financially support projects that preserve habitats and secure sustainable communities. For this, the team of the School of Management and Law is cooperating with the Swiss stock exchange SIX. Together, a concept is being developed for the didactic further development and use of the SIX teaching platform to enable optimal training in sustainable investing. The focus here will be on the selection and combination of sustainable financial investments.

In computer science study programmes, the focus is usually on technical aspects. In his teaching project, Josef Spillner uses the example of a public transport trip planner to teach students how to create socially relevant software services that are both autonomous and resilient as well as computationally efficient. Integrated into an elective module, the students encounter topics such as 'Green IT' and service resilience. Furthermore, a trip to a regional application operator and several short guest lectures on the topic of 'SDGs 9 and 12 in the IT context' are also part of this project.​

Claudio Beretta's project plans food waste tours with an interactive walk through the foodwaste.ch exhibition. Initially, they will be conducted on a mobile basis at schools, and starting at the end of 2023 they can also be visited on site in the new RD building at the ZHAW in Wädenswil. The tour provides pupils, students and other future decision-makers and consumers with awareness and know-how on how to avoid food waste. Participants also learn about practical food production from by-products. The project aims to reach around 20 school classes or groups, i.e. around 400 to 600 participants, by the beginning of 2024.

In his teaching project, Jens Baier wants to introduce the students of the School of Engineering to ecological sustainability and in particular the topic of the circular economy. Every student project supervised at the Centre for Product and Process Development should also deal with the topic of the circular economy. The possibilities are many, but the effects are often unclear. Is a different material needed? Are eco-design principles taken into account? Is an alternative business model needed and how can the impacts actually be assessed? The project serves to develop a guideline to facilitate the discussion of the topic of circular economy in student work.

The project "Students 4 OER" by Nicole Krüger and the OER team of the university library introduced students to the practice of publishing OER - Open Educational Resources. As motivation, prices for the creation of high-quality OER were announced with the requirement that the OER have a connection to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. By publishing OER on a sustainability topic, students have the chance to contribute to equal opportunities in education. In addition, they can become part of to the public dialogue with their perspective and how they prepare knowledge, thus increasing the diversity of existing teaching materials on their topic.

Whether it's haute couture in Paris, leather studios in Italy or watchmaking in Switzerland - craftsmanship is deeply rooted in Europe and provides a livelihood for many people even beyond the continent. But craft traditions do not have it easy in an increasingly fast-paced and technologised world. With the help of his teaching project, Fabio Duma wants to contribute to raising awareness and finding interdisciplinary solutions. As part of a module in the Master's programme in International Business, students learn about the current and future significance of handicrafts in an international market and, as potential future managers, deal with the challenges and opportunities of handicraft professionals.

In the International Virtual Course "Tackling Climate Change through Global Learning" with partners in Brazil, India and Kenya, project leader Claudia Veith and her team train students to become global change agents who contribute to sustainable development with their skills. With the support of the SIP, the course is being expanded to include the aspect of "Climate Negotiations". The aim is for the students to develop an understanding of the different negotiating positions by participating countries and to experience the challenges but also the opportunities of international climate negotiations. Each year, at least 50 students and ten coaches thus expand their expertise and build up sought-after methodological and social skills through this international practical experience.

The basis for good cooperation between school and home is a functioning exchange. Language barriers, intercultural hurdles or a lack of media competence can make communication between schools and foreign-language parents and guardians difficult. The research project led by Nicole Rosenberger Staub and Caroline Lehr thus seeks to contribute to more equal opportunities in the school system: Based on guideline interviews with different stakeholder groups, fields of action shall be identified that are relevant for the further development of communication. For this purpose, the interdisciplinary project team from the departments of Applied Linguistics and Social Work is working closely with two QUIMs schools. This allows the findings to flow directly into practice.

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Nitrogen is a greenhouse gas and is often used in agriculture for fertilising. So far, synthetic fertilisers have often been the first choice, as biological fertilisers are not directly absorbed by the plants. The use of biological fertiliser leads to planning uncertainties, which in turn result in additional use of fertiliser and thus higher emissions. To optimise the use of organic fertiliser as a more environmentally friendly alternative, Martin Schüle and Adrian Rutzer, Institute for Computational Life Sciences (ICLS), are investigating complex plant-soil models to determine which nutrients are available to the plant and when. This is a first step towards the development of models with computational and data-driven methods that enable the estimation of the optimal nutrient content.

For social and impact entrepreneurs, access to networks and resources is crucial to realise their potential for innovative project ideas. This is the starting point for the new research project by Richard Bläse and Matthias Filser. With the help of a virtual map, the most important support services and key players in the field of social entrepreneurship in Switzerland are made visible. The methodical, two-stage approach aims to identify the core needs of social entrepreneurs and overcome barriers to innovation. This helps to sustainably anchor and promote social entrepreneurship at the ZHAW and in Switzerland.

Agrivoltaic (APV) is a method to produce both solar power and agricultural products on the same patch of land. So far, life cycle assessments to evaluate the environmental impact have only been based on existing APV installations. In his project "Green!Tea", Grégoire Meylan is conducting a prospective LCA to identify environmental hotspots and improvement potentials of APV for green tea production in Vietnam. Green tea is a promising crop for APV because it requires shading. APV can increase the quality of tea in an economically efficient way and improve the livelihoods of farming families.

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After the Department of Life Sciences & Facility Management competed in a climate duel with another university in 2021, Linda Burkhalter and David Koch and their project team are scaling the project to the entire ZHAW. The aim of the Climate Duel 2.0 competition is to motivate university members to adopt climate-friendly behaviour in a fun way. The pilot of the climate duel has shown that gamification is an effective approach to motivating university members to adopt sustainable behaviour. During the initial implementation, around 2.3 tonnes of CO2 were saved together with the "opponent" - the Eberswalde University of Applied Sciences. For the ZHAW-wide climate duel, the project team is developing corresponding challenges and will followingly examine their effectiveness

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In her project, Alice Delorme Benites explores how machine translation tools can be used to communicate with refugees. Providing services to newly arrived refugees is a linguistic challenge for public administrators, NGOs and educators. Interpreters are not always available for all languages. Although machine translation is free and efficient for European languages, it is not available or of lower quality for less common languages. In cooperation with native speakers, Benites is investigating which systems and device configurations are particularly suitable for written (email) and oral communication in different settings. The analysis includes criteria of quality, data protection and usability.

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Packaging causes CO2 emissions and environmental pollution. Sustainable packaging should nevertheless fulfil all functions required for the product, be safe for people and the environment, but also sell the product in an appealing way. In order to meet all these expectations, an interdisciplinary approach is necessary. This is exactly what Selçuk Yildirim is pursuing with his project, which he is carrying out together with students. In the project, he combines sustainable packaging material and process development activities from his food packaging research group with the design expertise of the ZHdK and the communication expertise of the ZHAW's environmental psychology group.

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In her project, Claudia Müller is developing a database that enables students and researchers to compare high-protein foods with respect to various sustainability aspects. This will help to identify which products can contribute to a more sustainable protein supply for the population and to what extent. The knowledge of a wide range of people can flow into the database and be made available to future generations of students and employees. The aim is to create a continuously growing collection of reference material that contains the latest findings on the topic of protein sources.

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Nadine Klopfenstein's project aims to promote sustainability in the work behaviour of employees at the ZHAW Department of Applied Linguistics. To achieve this, brief information, tips and surveys are to be communicated via the interactive, digital communication channel Beekeeper. Employees are thus encouraged to make their working lives more sustainable and to participate in building a community. The project will be scientifically evaluated to provide research-based evidence on whether this digital nudging leads to more sustainable employee behaviour. The evaluation will also provide new insights into possible scalability for the entire ZHAW.

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As part of the project funding, the Real-Lab MobILE is built. It aims to enable the experimental development of sustainable rehabilitation and assistive technologies for people with disabilities. The project team, led by Martina Spiess, provides a toolkit of hardware and software, including 3D printing, sensors, motors and human-computer interfaces. Furthermore, it offers teaching and technical support. Through joint interprofessional research and knowledge transfer with researchers and students, the project promotes a culture of developing sustainable, inclusive and human-centred solutions.

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With the development of a "Swiss Non-Financial Reporting Standard" (SNFRS), the Institute for Financial Management under the direction of Gabriela Nagel wanted to create a concrete orientation framework, especially for SMEs, in order to create up-to-date, meaningful sustainability reports. The anticipated solution is based on existing international regulations, which are broken down as simply as possible to Swiss conditions. The criteria of measurability, comparability, upward and downward compatibility were to be observed.

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The construction industry generates a lot of waste and emissions. Digital fabrication methods in combination with the use of alternative building materials offer great potential for the development of more sustainable constructions. However, in order for industry to adopt these innovative systems, their technological maturity must be demonstrated through applied demonstration projects. David Jenny from the Centre for Building Technology and Processes is introducing a new hybrid research and teaching format with his "earth to earth" project. In cooperation with other universities and industry partners, workshops are held annually to apply current research findings on sustainable building methods to a real design and construction project, thus promoting the acceptance of industry and architectural practice for the implementation of new technologies.