CIVIS Open-Lab UB project “Traveling Laboratory”, won by the Faculty of Chemistry, publicly launched

On Thursday, November 4, 2021, the public launch of the CIVIS Open-Lab UB project entitled “Traveling Laboratory” took place, won by the Faculty of Chemistry, and coordinated by Associate Professor Irina Zarafu, PhD. The meeting was attended by representatives of the management of the University of Bucharest, the Ministry of Education, the National Association for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Children and Adoptions (ANDPDCA), the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, the management of the Faculties of Chemistry, Geography, Biology and Pharmacy (Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila” Bucharest), the Association of Professors of the Faculty of Pharmacy (ACDFFB), the Association “pH Chim” – Prahova County, the Association “St. Nicolae” Gorgota – Prahova, the “Young Volunteers” Association – Valea Călugărească, as well as the representatives of the Student Associations of  the Faculties of Chemistry-ASCUB, Biology-ASBUB, Geography ASG-UB and the representative of the Prahova County Students’ Council.

They were joined by university and pre-university teachers, students and pupils.

The direct beneficiaries of the project will be middle school and high school students from educational institutions in Prahova County, volunteer students of the applicant and partners, teachers of selected students, pre-university teachers and representatives of partners and other entities interested in the project.

Facilitating students’ access to alternative teaching methods or sources

The “Traveling Laboratory” project consists in identifying children with a disadvantaged financial status and co-opting them in a program of multidisciplinary courses and laboratories, which include theoretical aspects in the fields of biology, chemistry and geography, but also laboratories with practical experimental activities. It will facilitate students’ access to alternative teaching methods or sources, in order to improve their knowledge of the environment through STEM approaches.

“Traveling Laboratory” is the project selected in the Education and Culture category following the evaluation of the applications submitted under the second call for proposals CIVIS Open Lab-UB for the co-financing of social responsibility projects.

Following the same call, for the field Sustainability and Urban Resilience, the project “Urban lakes micro scouts. Identification and quantification of microplastics in urban aquatic systems for sustainable development”, which belongs to the Faculty of Biology within the University of Bucharest, while the British Council Romania will receive funding for the project “Science for all”, included in the category Research and Digital Transformation.

More details on the CIVIS-UB Open Lab can be accessed on the website of the University of Bucharest, and the list of winning projects in the first and second call, as well as more information about them can be found here and here.

The CIVIS Consortium, selected in the first wave of the Erasmus + initiative for European universities, includes, together with the University of Bucharest: Aix Marseille University, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Free University of Brussels, Autonomous University of Madrid, Sapienza University of Rome, Stockholm University, Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen and the University of Glasgow, as an associate partner. CIVIS brings together a community of approximately 450,000 students and 65,000 employees, of which over 30,000 are professors and researchers. Recently, the Consortium was joined by Paris Lodron University in Salzburg.