The University of Girona (UDG) is a public institution devoted to excellence in teaching and research and to participating in the progress and development of society through the creation, transmission, dissemination and criticism of knowledge related to sciences, technology, humanities, social sciences and arts. It has around 13000 students and 2000 employees.

The University of Girona, deeply rooted in Catalonia and Catalan culture, is one of the primary economic and cultural motors of the region. At the same time, it pursues a vocation of universality and openness to all traditions and cultures.

The participation of the University of Girona in this project will be leaded by the Research Group in Environmental and Science Education (GRECA) and the Institute of Educational Research (IRE).

GRECA is a multidisciplinary research group with expertise in the following strands:

• Teachers' and educators' education for sustainability
• Evaluation of formal and non-formal education programs in environmental knowledge and in education for sustainability
• Science education, innovation and assessment.
• Social sciences education, innovation and assessment.

GRECA participated in previous projects related to the domain covered by the project, including in previous Comenius Project CSCT Competencies for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) teachers. A framework to integrate ESD in the curriculum of teacher training institutes (Sleurs, 2008). GRECA also have expertise in leading university networks in Education for Sustainability in Higher Education projects: Our research group was the coordinator of the Alfa Project ACES (international network with European and Latin-American Universities), and of the Catalan Network ACEU.

IRE groups more than a hundred researchers working in all the spheres and dimensions of education, and on its interdependence with other disciplines. IRE researchers and professors work collaboratively with other institutions and schools to better understand and improve education.

Both GRECA and IRE are located in the Faculty of Education and Psychology and the majority of their professors and researchers give courses and lectures to future teachers (Initial Teacher Education) and take part in courses addressed to in-service teachers. This double expertise in teaching and researching is one of the most valuable contributions of our Institution to the project.

Role of UDG in the project:

• Contribute to the mapping exercise in Spain.
• 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 project team who will liaise internally with the institution’s finance department.