“Green engineering for a brighter future” Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) block week took place in March 2025 in Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL Lisbon). The students of Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts participated in this block week. Liubov Timoshok, a EuroMPM-IT student from FH Dortmund, shared with us her very detailed and rich experience about this BIP.
“During the BIP in Portugal there were educational presentations from lecturers (Monday to Thursday), presentations by teams reporting on research work they have done in virtual component of the course (Monday) and, lastly, same teams presenting work on business model (Friday). All lectures were highlighting different parts of the problems or solutions for more sustainable future, but the most interesting and useful for me presentation was Introduction to sustainable design. Since design of products lays in the base of the products lifecycle, it is crucial to start using innovative ideas to implement sustainable materials and design solutions, to help solve the pollution problem. The strategies for design that were highlighted gave an overview of ideas changing the world already by some companies or which can be used in. <…>.
Some presentations from professors were not new for me personally (for example, Business Model Canvas, Life Cycle Assessment), some presentations needed deep technical knowledge (for example, Green Chemistry, Advanced Composites) but nonetheless the theoretical presentations left me impressed. Especially I can highlight countless examples of innovative sustainable design of products, packaging or business models, insights from calculation of average Environmental Footprint of the class and personal, always makes you think what can be done better. From presentations of my fellow participants, I was amazed to see some projects being very detailed, technically developed.
Unfortunately, we did not get to see and test any new materials but got to expand our knowledge about them. Examples of sustainable materials are FSC certified wood, bamboo, hemp, cork, while examples of innovative materials were self-healing concrete, cross-laminated timber, photovoltaic glass, carbon nanomaterials and more. The most exciting and interesting for me material was cork, of which Portugal is main exporter. I was not aware about application of such unique natural material other then as stopper for wine bottles. But as it turns out, cork is renewable, biodegradable and recyclable material, which provides thermal and acoustic isolation and water resistance, therefore is used in buildings, furniture, football fields, musical instruments, cars, airplanes, space shuttles, fashion (wallets, backpacks, hats, etc.) and more. In production of cork, the cork oak trees are not cut down, they continue to retain carbon emissions, because only tree bark which can regenerate in 9 years is used. Obviously, I could not leave without a souvenir and bought a pouch for glasses from cork, which is now my favorite accessory for it is compact, functional and reminds me of the trip.
The format of workshop was divided into lectures and teamwork, during which the teams have been collectively brainstorming ideas for innovative solutions in a form of a new product or a new business. Our team had first developed many ideas for the topic of Batteries and Vehicles. For example, our idea was to apply “Pfand” system to batteries to provide motivation to bring batteries for recycling, accumulation of leftover energy, transportation to recycling facilities, ability to buy unpackaged batteries in size and amount needed (reducing overconsumption). However, after reading provided case studies, our team voted to work on a new topic and within one day developed a business model for Smart Water Management System company which supplies IoT sensors for speedy identification of waterpipes’ leaks to industries, individuals and Smart City Initiatives.
Lectures helped us with brainstorming and development of ideas. Firstly, the theoretical presentations showed us many case studies of companies making a chance in conditions of heightened agenda of climate change. I am sure that helped us believe that some measures are being taken, and such business ideas are needed and are not pointless. Secondly, detailed explanation of Business Model Canvas helped everyone (not only project management students like me, but engineers of different fields) understand how it is needed for business idea formation, any startup or company. With focus on how business can be useful for achieving sustainability goals or how it can implement ESG principles within, that lecture helped activate our idea generation process directly. Lastly, an additional presentation took place to give practical tips for dealing with fear of public speaking and presenting better. I can say this presentation helped each team improve their narrative and engagement of the audience. Additionally, visit to the real chemical industry left a big impression on me how sustainable innovations can be developed and implemented as a real-world example.
My first 24 hours in Portugal were very intense, but first day at ISEL university was intense in a good way. As for the intensive first days of Lisbon it was Saturday with nice local cuisine dinner and Sunday filled with an early morning wake up to go to Belem (1 hour away from centre of Lisbon by ÖPNV) before the rest of the tourists, trying the original Pastel de Nata (Pastel de Belem there), exploration of Belem Tower and neighborhood around, visit of beautiful Cape Roca viewpoint (40 minutes away by taxi), return to city centre. <…> The key points of first days were that Lisbon has a lot to offer but tourists should be extra careful, taxi in Portugal is pretty cheap, especially if using first time coupons, Pastel de Nata is a must-try fresh at 9 am before the crowd at 10.
On Monday, first day of the physical course, we had met all students and professors from Lisbon university and invited ones. As a welcome gift we received a shopper, notepad, pen and glass water bottle, very nice and useful. We had a first lecture introducing us to the Green Engineering, 12 principles it follows, and some projects ISEL implements (e.g. Green Carbon Dots). Then we got to see university in a guided campus tour, we were shown automotive engineering, chemistry, physics, substances analysis classrooms full of equipment which is up to date to what is used in industry. We also saw a construction site of a new campus building ISEL Zero Carbon Living Lab (which will serve as Technology Research and Development Hub and as residence for students and professors in mobility). planned in a sustainable project. After provided free lunch at the campus canteen, where there were standard and vegan options. We then grouped up by the teams we worked in prior weeks in virtual component of the course to practice our presentation. Soon after presentations were held in 3 rooms with 3-4 teams each. Presentations of teams we heard and ours were very well prepared, giving overview of how deep the topics were researched, especially impressive was how many new solutions were found. There was a detailed feedback system, where an online form is to be filled by each professor, evaluation by each student towards their peer teams and towards their own team (self-reflection). So, my key takeaways were that university is specializing in practical engineering and keeps focus on sustainability, everyone from professors to students came well prepared even in conditions of time constraints, there are exciting lectures ahead from practitioners, lastly, in Lisbon you need waterproof shoes, because being in wet after rain shoes whole day makes you sick.
Being united by the same goal to expand our knowledge in sustainable engineering, the ice was already broken. It brought us closer to work on research for weeks prior to meeting personally, plus people were motivated to work together each time we have time for group discussions. Activities like tour around the campus, gala dinner, industry visit and visit to oceanarium also gave us opportunities to casually get to know people outside of our teams better, some evenings students gathered to explore Lisbon too.
Our collaboration in teams was well-coordinated, smooth and without conflicts. It was fun to hear people speaking new for me languages and sometimes understanding what they talk about, when my teammates were speaking Dutch. Vice versa they would say that Russian (my native language) sound like Portuguese to them, but why does it not help me understand Portuguese better then? I had no cultural shock but was just a bit surprised when heard a local professor saying, “no need to come for dinner earlier, it’s 7 o’clock, no restaurant in Portugal is open this early”. <…>
I think intelligent, diverse and international collaboration such as was on this course on idea development must be implemented overall in modern enterprises. Our research and development work were very productive even in short time, still some great ideas were suggested. The best ideas that I hope will see the light and be implemented around the world were: recycling facilities for batteries and Electric Vehicle batteries, modular and recyclable building systems, functional biodegradable packaging.
In conclusion, I wish more people regardless of their study background participate in such workshops on one hand to gain an overview of reality where the changes are absolutely needed and on the other hand experience that collaboration on such burning issue is profitable, valuable and rewarding”
