07 May 2025
Bilbao Campus
The University of Deusto participated in the UNIC Thematic Conference 2025: Urban resilience, sustainability and the future of inclusive post-industrial societies hosted by the University of Malmö (Sweden) from 7 to 9 May. This is the first in a series of academic conferences of the UNIC Alliance which, on this occasion, addressed the unprecedented challenges and opportunities faced by cities in an era marked by rapid urbanization and the pressing need for sustainable development. Specifically, it focused on two of the thematic lines that UNIC is working on: Sustainability and Green Cities and Urban Resilience and Smart Cities.
A delegation of 11 people from the University of Deusto community attended the event, including the Rector, Juan José Etxeberria, members of the UNIC coordination at Deusto, academic and research staff from the faculties of Social and Human Sciences, Education and Sport and Engineering as well as from Orkestra and one UNIC RePIC MA student.
The University of Deusto had a prominent presence at the conference, as it actively contributed with several presentations. Thus, Roberto San Salvador del Valle was one of the two keynote speakers with a session entitled "pH Factor. Active and involved people in transformative innovation of cities". Additionally, Yazari Agudelo Cano, Asier Divasson, Jon Legarda and Diego López de Ipiña presented researches on green budgets, the impact of climate change on quality of life, urban resilience to mitigate risks and citizen observatories and data collection for the Green Deal respectively. Ana Goytia participated in a workshop for the co-creation of an academic book on resilient post-industrial European cities to be developed among UNIC universities.
At the same time, and taking advantage of this occasion, the General Assembly was held, which brought together UNIC's board of directors. On behalf of Deusto, the Rector Juan José Etxeberria attended these decision-making meetings on the future of UNIC.
The UNIC Thematic Conference 2025 concluded with very positive feedback from its participants, especially valuing the ideas shared and the development of proposals that have resulted from the exchange of knowledge between academics, professionals from various sectors and urban policy makers. This event has thus laid the foundations for a series of UNIC Thematic Conferences, with the next edition being scheduled to be held at Koç University (Istanbul) in spring 2026.
