Photo: Balint Holecz Photography/Shutterstock.com
Embracing the Sustainable Development Goals through Creative Arts was an Erasmus+ project that the Department of Artificial Intelligence within the Faculty of ICT was part of.
The project focussed on three of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to Life Below Water in an effort to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development; Quality Education to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; and Gender Equality to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
The idea behind the project was to employ three creative art forms, namely, digital games, storytelling and dance in order to raise awareness of these global issues through innovative methods of learning whilst in an informal environment.
Professor Matthew Montebello, Professor Alexiei Dingli, and Dr Vanessa Camilleri, from the AI Department collaborated with seven other entities, three others from Malta, namely, the Malta Council for Science and Technology/Esplora, Lignin Stories and Fondazzjoni Ċentru Kreattività; together with four organisations from other European countries, namely, Copernicus Science Centre in Poland, Picapipe GmbH in Austria, Seven Stories in United Kingdom, and OFF Foundation / Hodworks in Hungary.
The project was thirty eight months long, from October 2018 till December 2021, and created a unique way of how students, educators and the general public can learn more about these SDGs which the European member states are working towards achieving by 2030.