General Course - Sustainability Ambassadors. Learn, Promote, and Practice Sustainability
The general course Ambassadors of Sustainability. Knowing, Promoting, Practicing Sustainability is a teaching aimed at students from all bachelor and master degree programs at the University of Padua and citizens who may enroll in the teaching as a single course.
It is presented as a 6 ECTS course embedded within the degree program in Environmental Sciences and Technologies. The course consists of eight educational modules, structured in ten lessons of four hours each, and four laboratories, typically held on Fridays and distributed over the period from March to June 2026. Each teaching module is developed through various interventions conducted by expert professors on the specific topic and representatives of local entities that actively participate in the implementation of the course. Each module delves into a specific theme of urban sustainability.
Conceived and implemented in collaboration with the Municipality of Padua and AcegasApsAmga S.p.A., with the support of the Communication and Marketing Area - Public Engagement Office; it has also received the patronage of the Network of Universities for Sustainable Development (RUS).
Why this general course
The course is aimed at those who want to explore the topic of sustainability, through didactic modules and practical activities, with the aim of stimulating greater awareness of the responsibilities of everyone and offering concrete tools for more effective engagement in solving environmental problems in urban areas (i.e. resource consumption, waste production, urban well-being and health).
The didactic workshops included in the course, arranged also with the organizational support of the Public Engagement Office, are particularly important, as they allow for concrete application of the content explained in the lectures.
It has a multidisciplinary structure and relies on the collaboration of faculty members belonging to eight different departments of the University: Chemical Sciences (DISC); Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering (DICEA); Developmental and Socialization Psychology (DPSS); Geosciences (GEOSCIENCES); Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology (FISPPA); Agronomy, Food, Natural Resources, Animals and Environment (DAFNAE), Biology (DIBIO); Biomedical Sciences (DSB); and Department of Economics and Business Sciences "Marco Fanno" (DSEA).
Those who will participate to the course to the extent of 90% will be assigned an Open Badge.
The program
The course consists of 8 modules structured in lectures and workshops. Each didactic module is developed through several lectures, given by experts in the specific topic and representatives of the local authorities that actively participate in the implementation of the course. Each module delves into a specific theme of urban sustainability.
Committing to Sustainability: general introductory module of the course on the essential concepts underlying sustainability science and research.
- Committing to Sustainability: This is the general introductory module of the course, covering the essential concepts underlying sustainability science and research.
- Measuring Impacts: indices for measuring sustainability at the individual and global level are explained and discussed in the classroom, supplemented with practical activities, with the aim of raising awareness and responsibility for one's own environmental impact
- Food: the module explores the theme of food sustainability, production, nutrition and waste and how these elements are interrelated. The proposed activities will develop the theme of food as a social tool of acceptance by involving specific territorial realities (e.g.: popular kitchens, last minute market…)
- Urban resources: the sustainable supply of nonrenewable resources is addressed by delving into the theme of the unsustainability of the linear vision of the production of goods and the possibilities offered by the circular economy, a new sustainable economic paradigm.
- Water: water an indispensable resource for life, and as such to be known, preserved and protected. How water moves around the city and how it is used, what are the characteristics of drinking water and that which we return to the environment as waste: the presence of contaminants hazardous to health and the environment.
- The new mobility: mobility of the present and future, what impacts sustainable mobility solves by making travel faster and more efficient. Smart mobility by implementing new technologies and raising awareness of citizens moving in an increasingly congested urban environment.
- Health in the city: starting from the assumption of the strong dependence between physical, psychological and social well-being and the urban environment in which one lives, we discuss the lifestyles and behaviors of the individual that affect personal and collective health in relation also to the environments one frequents.
- Effective communication: different forms of communication (from paper to digital) and safety; verbal and nonverbal communication; how to communicate effectively among peers. The sustainability of digital communication.
Recipients
The General course Ambassadors of Sustainability. Knowing, Promoting, Practicing Sustainability is aimed at students of all bachelor and master degree programs at the University of Padua and citizens who can register for the teaching as a single course.
When and how to enroll
The students enrolled at the University of Padua will be able to include the course in their Study Plan according to the timelines provided for their degree programs. Registration for the single course for university staff and all interested individuals is open until February 25, 2026.
The registration request must be made exclusively online by sending an email to carriere.studenti@unipd.it and attaching the documents indicated in the "Registration Procedures" section on the dedicated page.
Registration methods and frequently asked questions for staff
The University reserves free participation for permanent and temporary university staff, for the first 20 places in order of arrival (only the stamp duty should be paid). Subsequent positions may register by charging the full cost. There are also 5 free places for employees of the Municipality of Padua and 5 free places for employees of AcegasApsAmga.
Schedule of classes and workshops
Start of lessons: March 6, 2026, from 2:30 PM to 6:30 PM at the Sala Paladin in Palazzo Moroni, via VIII Febbraio 6, Padua, and ending on June 5, 2026.
Lectures: Fridays, from 2:30 PM to 6:30 PM.
Laboratories: will be presented during the first lesson.
Course coordinator
Maria Cristina Lavagnolo
