On 18 and 19 May 2017, the Slovenian PEOPLE partners organised and attended a PEOPLE training for university staff of the University of Ljubljana. This is the first of four trainings for university that will be delivered prior to the commencement of PEOPLE learning cycles – one in each of the four participating countries.

Overall, 44 different participants attended the PEOPLE training for university staff. The training was delivered by Dr Limia Shunia, Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Design, Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), who shared her experience in organising, delivering, and coaching at IIT’s Inter-Professional Projects Program (IPRO), an innovative and comprehensive approach to providing students with a real-world project-based experience. Representatives of 14 different Faculties of the University of Ljubljana, representatives of the student body, and the three Slovenian PEOPLE partners (IRI UL, ZRC SAZU, and Metronik) attended the training programme.

The first day of the PEOPLE training was dedicated to structural and organisational issues of incorporating interdisciplinary and applied student projects into the teaching curriculum, while on the second day, Dr Shunia focused in greater detail on the content and process of actual IPRO projects. IPROs bring students an opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams, apply their existing knowledge, and gain practical experience in projects that respond to actual needs of the society or the environment, or are identified as relevant by the industry (sponsors). In October this year, PEOPLE project’s Slovenian case study will already bring together the first interdisciplinary team of students, university and industry mentors to work on a real-life project in an industry environment; IIT’s vast experience with IPROs also provided valuable lessons and insights for making such projects sustainable and part of the University of Ljubljana’s curriculum.