The E+DIETing_LAB project of the European University of the Atlantic (UNEATLANTICO) won fourth place in the jury’s vote in the EDI Community Engagement Initiative of the Year category and first place in the votes on social networks during the Triple E Awards gala. On behalf of UNEATLANTICO, the director of the degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics (NHD), Iñaki Elío, attended the awards ceremony, held in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Triple E Awards are a worldwide recognition of efforts made in the pursuit of entrepreneurship and commitment in higher education. It is the first award to focus specifically on different dimensions of the third mission of universities. Applied on a regional scale, the Triple E Awards aim to foster change in universities and highlight their role in their communities and ecosystems.
In addition, the ACEEU Europe-Africa 2024 Forum was held during the event, bringing together experts and pioneers to advance the frontiers of entrepreneurship and engagement in higher education. This year’s theme, ‘Engaged research and intrapreneurship for social impact: Creating a legacy through action’ highlighted the role of engaged research and the creation of a system that enables academics and non-academics to act as an entrepreneur within the university.
Elío highlighted that the UNEATLANTICO project has three clear specific objectives; to produce practical experiential learning scenarios around the most relevant clinical cases and the general practice of the community dietitian, to produce educational technologies for the training of practical and interpersonal skills in health issues related to dietetics and to increase the social responsibility of higher education institutions by responding to the mission of the University and promoting healthy and sustainable eating habits.
Although he was in charge of collecting the award, Iñaki emphasised that ‘the award is the result of the work of a great team’. This team is made up of Arturo Ortega, director of the Projects Department; Sandra Sumalla, coordinator of the E+DIETing_LAB project; Thomas Prola and Milena Dávalos, project managers; Kilian Tutusaus, technology coordinator; Ruth Congregado, communication coordinator; and Imanol Eguren and Álvaro Lasarte, interns from the Food Department.
Together with UNEATLANTICO, the following European institutions also participate in the E+DIETing_LAB project: the University of Valladolid (UVA) in Spain, St. Pölten University in Austria, the University of Porto (U.Porto) in Portugal, AP Hogeschool Antwerpen in Belgium and Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) in Poland.