PIRI REIS UNIVERSITY CONTINUES TO LEAD EU-WIDE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS

The modernisation of the Customs Union stands out as an important opportunity to revitalise relations between the European Union and Türkiye. Achieving full integration with the EU in the green and digital transition has become essential. The EU’s green and digital transition is of critical importance for the modernisation of the Customs Union, and this transition encompasses goals such as reducing carbon emissions, moving towards a circular economy and increasing resource efficiency. In this context, our University makes significant contributions to integration in these areas through the wide-ranging EU projects it carries out.

Under the Maritime Innovative Network of Education for Emerging Maritime Issues (MINE-EMI) Project, coordinated by PRU and successfully completed last year before being recommended to the EU as a “Best Practice”, an International Joint Master Programme (JMP) was prepared with the aim of developing skills and competencies to raise awareness of current maritime issues and ensure sustainability in the maritime sector. To meet the needs of the maritime sector (environmentally sensitive management of maritime areas, transport and logistics), up-to-date curricula and course materials were developed through work seeking to respond to the needs of all maritime stakeholders on current and emerging topics not covered by existing education and training programmes.

(https://www.pirireis.edu.tr/projelerimiz/mine-emi/)

Following this, through the completed BLUE4SEAS (Strategic Partnership for Supporting Blue Growth by Enhancing MET Framework on Marine Pollution and Environment Protection) Project, an original curriculum was developed and incorporated into the course programme. Aiming to raise students’ awareness of environmental and marine cleanliness in order to reduce environmental pollution, particularly marine pollution, and to create a cleaner and more sustainable natural environment, the curriculum addresses environmental risk management, port management and sustainable development, and includes environmental simulation software. In this way, our students gain awareness of environmental protection and safety in the maritime field from their first year onwards.

https://www.pirireis.edu.tr/projelerimiz/blue4seas/

Building on these two core projects, the GREENPORT Project, also coordinated by our University and involving 10 institutions from 8 EU countries, focuses on “port services”, a sub-sector overlooked in the EU Green Deal’s strategy for decarbonising the maritime industry. Aiming to reduce the environmental impact of in-port services in the short and medium term, the project will contribute to better performance in port operations and a significant reduction in emissions through changes enabled by more effective use of existing digital technologies. Within this scope, needs assessment, data collection and analysis activities have begun; knowledge and resources will be brought together, and learning outcomes and curricula will then be defined for training modules targeting the following three groups:

– Higher education students (future personnel), through the integration of the developed materials into existing higher education programmes

– Working professionals, through a short, accredited vocational course

– Educators and trainers of both streams, through an e-learning course

Pilot training sessions will be delivered for all three learning streams, a comprehensive evaluation system will be established to assess the effectiveness of the training, and wide-ranging dissemination and sustainability strategies will be implemented to inform and encourage the maritime sector. The project has been awarded a grant of EUR 1,500,000 by the EU Central Agency.

https://www.pirireis.edu.tr/projelerimiz/greenport/

The CULMARSKILLS (MARitime Soft Skills for Onboard Healthy Nutrition and CULinary Arts in Seagoing Services) Project, launched this year, was prepared by PRU and won an EU grant following its application to the Romanian EU National Agency. It focuses on creating a comprehensive training module tailored to the specific needs of galley personnel who will work on board ships. Focusing on courses built around today’s key topics such as entrepreneurship, waste management, green transition and food waste prevention, and placing importance on training the ship cooks of the future with a forward-looking mindset, the project will also contribute to creating new job opportunities under the EU Blue Skills strategy.

https://www.pirireis.edu.tr/projelerimiz/cul-mar-skills/

Another project launched this year, the SUDEMAR (SUstainable Development of the European MARitime sector) Project, aims to establish international cooperation and create open resources to raise awareness of sustainability in the maritime sector. The project will carry out its activities within the framework of two main objectives:

– To raise maritime stakeholders’ awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which United Nations member states plan to achieve by 2030,

– To create tools that support the implementation of practices that will achieve these goals in the maritime sector.

The main outputs of the project have been defined as: creating a database of all existing practices and regulations in the maritime sector related to the Sustainable Development Goals; developing an online course on achieving sustainable development in the maritime sector and preparing all related course materials; and developing a user-friendly, functional mobile application providing access to key resources, information and tools on the Sustainable Development Goals in the maritime sector.

The evaluation process is ongoing for the “Circular Ports” project on the circular economy, submitted in parallel with this project together with the Berlin School of Business and Innovation (Germany).

https://www.pirireis.edu.tr/projelerimiz/sudemar/

In addition to these projects carried out within the scope of the Green Transition and Blue Economy, and in support of them, peer review processes are ongoing for project applications coordinated by PRU in line with EU Digital Transformation strategies, concerning the establishment of an “EU virtual maritime university”, “autonomous ships” and “artificial intelligence applications in maritime”. Most recently, our University has taken part as an Associate Partner in a project application under the “A Greener, Low-Carbon and Resilient Mediterranean” priority of the first call, “Energy Efficiency and Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, of Interreg NEXT MED, a programme Türkiye has joined for the first time. Application preparations are also under way with an international consortium formed for a new project on “Preventing Underwater Noise Pollution”.