Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology has been announced as the winner of the Global Universities Partnership on Environment and Sustainability (GUPES) Green Gown Award for the European region.

The prize was awarded during a ceremony held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on 13 September.

The theme across Europe this year was Student Engagement – promoting staff and student partnerships in environmental and sustainable initiatives. In this field, Chalmers University of Technology stood out because of the development of its Challenge Lab – an area where Masters students can work with industry, the public sector and the university to design and create sustainable strategies, aimed to resolve the challenges facing the 21st century.

“In the Challenge Lab we take on society's grandest challenges”, the university stressed in a statement. So far the Challenge Lab has focused on innovative storm water handling techniques, introducing a climate rating system for produce, determining how electromobility can be implemented into cityscapes, and sustainable urban design. The project has received funding for the next three years and will continue to encourage original ideas and projects into the future.

The GUPES Green Gown Award is supported by both UN Environment and the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges, with the aim of driving sustainable initiatives across educational institutions around the world.

It will be interesting to see the projects that develop from the Challenge Lab – and it is promising to know that Chalmers University of Technology is up for the challenge.

For more information about the winner of the GUPES Green Gown Award for the European region contact wondwosen.asnake@unep.org or vanessa.burrows@unep.org