The Department of Psychology, University of Palermo, deal about 100 workers: teachers, researchers, PhD students and technical and administrative staff committed to improving and defusing sustainability knowledge across the curriculum.

The Department has a Library and a Newspaper and periodical library that count about 50,000 volumes and 400 periodicals. It is the administrative center of two PhDs and contributes to the implementation of other Doctoral programs established in other universities. A variety of Masters have been realized in recent years in order to offer opportunities for the specialization of young graduates.

In addition to research activities, the university has established over the years several partnerships with public and private institutions interested in the themes of psychology, the study of social, educational and pedagogical processes, selection and development of human resources.

The Department has as its primary objective, the relationship with civil society and with public and private institutions, offering its expertise to other administrations.

Into the department is active the laboratory Ecolab on Sustainable Development that was created as a multi-disciplinary teaching and research project at the University of Palermo.

ECOLAB has the following objectives:

• Improve and diffuse knowledge on Sustainable Development;
• Assisting the teachers and students on the subject;
• Research, both theoretical and empirical on the contents of ESD;
• To promote dialogue with the business community and public administrations.

These objectives will be pursued through the planning and the implementation of:

• Research and experimental studies;
• A documentation center;
• Information and training activities;
• Research and cooperation agreements with companies and public administrations and the social partners;
• Interdisciplinary organization of scientific meetings, conferences and seminars.

ECOLAB is open to dialogue with other Universities, organizations and structures that work in the same sector in Italy and abroad.

ECOLAB laboratory promotes the Department entering into agreements for scientific collaboration with qualified subjects to carry out specific searches.

Role of UNIPA in the project:

• Contribute the mapping exercise in Italy.
• Assist in the development of an online platform of resources as well as get familiarised and review the online tool.
• Contribute to the bi-annual newsletters.
• Provide feedback to the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework.
• Contribute to the dissemination and exploitation of the project outputs, outcomes and future network activities.
• Participate and actively contribute to the discussions generated in regional and annual meetings, seminars and conference.

Operational and financial management:

• The project team will coordinate the above administrative and academic project activities.
• Financial administration will be handled by the project team who will liaise internally with the institution’s finance department.