In the global trend towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), NYCU is a top-ranked university that fulfills its responsibility in long-term environmental, social, and campus governance by investing considerable resources to support innovative, sustainability-oriented teaching and research. This year, two teams representing NYCU achieved outstanding results at the Asia-Pacific and Taiwan Sustainable Action Awards (APSAA) organized by the Taiwan Institute for Sustainable Energy.
The 2022 Taiwan Sustainable Action Awards (TSAA) and Asia-Pacific Sustainable Action Awards (APSAA) had 136 participating units (247 submissions) and 41 participating units (63 submissions), respectively. NYCU won four major awards, demonstrating its robust strength and commitment with respect to integrating SDGs in local practice and social work. Specifically, the submission “The Making of Hsinchu Living Museum for Social Inclusion and Common Good,” which centered on SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, won the Golden Award at the TSAA and the Bronze Award at the APSAA, and the submission “Tribal Star Incubation Knowledge Construction on the Ground,” which centered on SDG 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, won the Silver Award at the TSAA and the Bronze Award at the APSAA.
“The Making of Hsinchu Living Museum for Social Inclusion and Common Good” was submitted by the Sixth Fuel Factory team led by Associate Professor Wen-Shu Lai of the Institute of Applied Arts. It focused on preserving the urban history and cultural space and ecology of the Hsinchu Branch of the Former Imperial Japanese Navy’s Sixth Fuel Factory (a historic site in Hsinchu that dates back to the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule) and its surroundings. Centered on the notions of symbiosis, integration, reconciliation, the project aligns with SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. The Sixth Fuel Factory team preserved the local habitats of frosted bats as well as the cultural characteristics of local military dependents’ villages by employing approaches that incorporate humanistic reflection, smart technology, artistic practice, sustainable design, and ecological conservation. Furthermore, market events, international interactive theatrical performances, and promotional activities for life education were organized, and collaborations with governmental and non-governmental organizations were established to achieve integration and promote the common good among various groups and people as well as between humans and non-human species. These measures are consistent with SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 15: Life on land, and SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals.
“Tribal Star Incubation Knowledge Construction on the Ground,” which is a part of the University Social Responsibility Program of the Ministry of Education, was headed by Distinguished Professor Ying-Mei Liu of the School of Nursing and implemented by a team comprising outstanding teachers from the School of Nursing, School of Medicine, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and College of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Through the application of medical education, smart technology, community power, and cultural research in the context of the Atayal people living in Nan’ao Township, the team implemented medical education for local school children and launched health promotion and smart health care programs that targeted at older adults, thereby promoting the health of indigenous people in remote villages, realizing the local revitalization of these villages, and working toward the main objective of SDG 3: Good health and well-being. The components of the project included promoting health care and entrepreneurship among indigenous people during the pandemic by researching and developing masks with indigenous totem designs, localizing drug safety knowledge for indigenous people, and guiding local children to learn about the pandemic through videos. All of these measures contribute substantially to SDG 4: Quality education, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, and SDG 10: Reduced inequality.
NYCU will continue to work on its university social responsibility goals by inspiring more faculty members and students to engage in sustainable development and help the university to create a sustainable future through partnerships.