On April 18, as a part of the “Social Innovation Linkages for Knowledge Exchange Networks (SILKEN)” project, DTU held a workshop entitled: “Active Citizenship: Student Perspectives on Social Innovation in Multi Disciplines”. The event provided students with a clearer understanding of social innovation and their responsibilities as citizens, and raised their awareness of how they can contribute to sustainable social development worldwide.
The workshop was attended by Mr. Mark Anderson, Research & Innovation Office Director and a representative of SILKEN Vietnam; and Ms. Natalia Popielska, EU/International Projects Coordinator at the Research & Innovation Office, both from Glasgow Caledonian University in the UK. DTU was represented by Hospitality & Tourism Institute Vice-Dean, Dr. Bui Le Anh Phuong; Global Student Exchange Office Head, Nguyen Thi Lan Anh; lecturers and students.
Mr. Mark Anderson speaks
SILKEN Vietnam is a project sponsored by the British Council in Vietnam, in partnership with two UK universities, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Northampton and six Vietnamese universities, DTU; the National Economics University; the Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture & Forestry; the Hue University of Agriculture & Forestry; the University of Social Sciences & Humanities; and the University of Languages & International Studies (ULIS), at the Vietnam National University (VNU) in Hanoi. The project aims to create and operate social innovation support centers at universities, with the objective of developing curricula, research, academic exchange, internationalization, and incubation, to establish a global network to solve the problems that afflict society today.
“I’m delighted to visit DTU today and meet the students,” said Mr. Anderson. “I find that Vietnam, like many other countries, is an extremely beautiful and special place, but facing many problems that we still can’t solve. I hope you won’t be afraid to discuss the obstacles that you are personally facing in your communities and country, because these will germinate and infect our world later. We need to identify the advantages and disadvantages of these challenges and come together to find ways to solve them, which will then contribute to the stable development of society in general.”
Participants included DTU Hospitality & Tourism Institute students, and others online, from Denmark; two from Scotland; Spain, two from ULIS at VNU Hanoi; and two from the Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture & Forestry.
They talked about:
- Nguyen Le Ngoc Han, the benefits of technology applications such as VNeID, TikTok, and ChatGPT for social innovation and active citizenship
- Pham Thi Khanh, activities, like DTU activities cleaning of Danang beaches, fundraising, and the Lovely Full Moon and the Mid-Autumn for You festivals.
DTU student Nguyen Duc Thinh presents
The also identified the benefits of participating in the SILKEN Vietnam project, such as gaining self-confidence, opportunities to meet and learn from their international counterparts, and the acquisition of essential life skills. Finally students were awarded 2022-2023 Certificates of Participation in the workshop.
On April 19, DTU organized another workshop for lecturers, on Intercultural Competence in Social Innovation and Ms. Natalia Popielska, EU/International Projects Coordinator at the Research & Innovation Office, gave an informative presentation on intercultural competence.
(Media Center)