IE University’s Sustainability Week to Focus on Art and Sustainability, the Future of the Planet, and Social Impact

This week, IE University celebrates IE Sustainability Week with analysis and debate of issues related to the planet’s future challenges, the connection between art and sustainability, and the importance of volunteer and social impact initiatives. Throughout the week, the university will present initiatives in collaboration with institutions such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum and the Embassy of Monaco in Spain.

The theme of this year’s IE Sustainability Week is “The Chain of Change” and it promotes collaboration between IE University students, alumni, faculty, and staff, as well as companies and institutions in an effort to forge a more sustainable future via debate, analysis, and commitment. With the objective of reinforcing the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda, IE University has organized workshops, events, and conferences at the IE Tower in Madrid, which was recently inaugurated in the north of the city, as well as in the historical campus of Segovia, in the convent of Santa Cruz la Real from the 15^th century.

“Sustainability is not only an integral part of our organizational culture”
Isabela del Alcázar, Global Director of Sustainability at IE University

“IE University is among those global educational institutions with a significant amount of sustainability content in the general curriculum. Likewise, social and environmental issues are embedded in our academic content and the research published by IE University faculty in specialized journals,” said Isabela del Alcázar, Global Director of Sustainability at IE University. “We endeavor, every day, to help our students make informed decisions in regards to sustainability and to have a positive impact on the world. It is therefore our duty as an academic institution to generate support for the World Climate Summit, the COP26, taking place in Glasgow in parallel to this event, and raise awareness not only of the environmental challenges but also the social and economic.” 

Today, IE Foundation in collaboration with the IE Art & Humanities Division and the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum is launching an initiative to bring art to the IE Tower. The new campus will host/showcase an exhibition of large-scale reproductions of works from one of the museum’s permanent collections. Evelio Acevado, Managing Director of the Thyssen-Bornemisza, Gonzalo Garland, Vice-president of the IE Foundation, Manuel Muñiz, Provost of IE University, and Catalina Tejero, Associate Director of the Arts and Humanities Division of IE University, will inaugurate the exhibition, composed of five artistic replicas: 

• The Grand Canal from San Vio Venice by Canaletto
• Simultaneous Contrasts by Sonia Delaunay
• Unloaders in Arles by Vincent Van Gogh
• Pastoral Landscape with the Flight into Egypt by Claude Lorraine 
• Sunday after Sermon by Romare Bearden

The reproductions have all been made with sustainable and recyclable materials and are part of the museum’s artistic sustainable tour.

With the support of IE Campus Life and the IE Sustainability Office, members of the IE community will participate in a planting workshop organized by The Nurture Hub on the Segovia campus. Moreover, they will be able to use the En-Roads simulator developed by Climate Interactive and MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative to visualize proposals for environmental solutions.

In collaboration with the Embassy of Monaco in Spain, IE University will host a conference on “The Future of the Mediterranean.” The panel will discuss the importance of marine conservation to protect the planet’s future, and will include expertise from Catherine Fautrier-Rousseau, Ambassador of Monaco in Spain, Bernard Fautrier, Councilor for the Environment to Prince Albert of Monaco, Isabela del Alcázar, Global Director of Sustainability at IE University and Concepcion Galdon, Director of Social Innovation at IE University.

The Segovia campus will also host a volunteer fair this week, which will provide information on various collaborative projects and social impact opportunities in collaboration with NGOs. The 2021 IE Sustainability Week will conclude on November 6 with IE University Global Clean Up Day, a project in which the IE community around the world will raise awareness about the importance of protecting the planet.