Interdisciplinary Collaboration Enhanced by a Shared Goal on Multiple Bachelor’s Thesis: a Case Study Focused on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems

Resumen

The EHUsuds project proposes an interdisciplinary approach between different fields such as engineering, chemistry and architecture, through a collaborative process between faculty, administrative staff and students in order to respond to a sustainability challenge within the University itself, which is the implementation of sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) on the University's campuses.The purpose of this project is to analyse the feasibility of implementing SUDS in the UPV/EHU campuses of Gipuzkoa (Ibaeta) and Bizkaia (Leioa), both in terms of public space and university buildings. This objective necessarily requires the joint work of disciplines so close, but unfortunately often so far apart in professional practice, such as geography, urban planning, infrastructures, facilities, building services, geology or chemistry.To achieve this interdisciplinary work, students from different faculties and degrees (architecture, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and chemistry) are involved to carry out their Bachelor’s thesis on topics related to the project. The students will share with each other the development and results of their work, so that each of them will be enriched, in the field of their thesis, by the experience of their peers. To this end, the professors tutoring the thesis corresponding to their area of specialization must also coordinate among them when it comes to setting out the topics to be developed by the students. Finally, the team is completed with the campus technicians, whose collaboration will be essential to resolve issues related to land ownership, campus buildings (plans, execution projects, installations, connections, etc.) and networks and infrastructures.The coordination of professors, students and administrative technicians from different faculties and campuses is crucial for the implementation of the project. To evaluate the level of satisfaction and achievement of the objectives, a survey is carried out among the students who have participated in the project over the years. Although the results vary greatly depending on the students, in general, the added value of a project of these characteristics is appreciated. In addition, another interesting result is the collaboration that arises from the project among professors, who belong to different research groups.The added value of this collaboration lies precisely in the interdisciplinary nature of the work developed and the new opportunities that arise.