=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2486/icaiw_edusynergies_4
|storemode=property
|title=PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies in Education and Research
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2486/icaiw_edusynergies_4.pdf
|volume=Vol-2486
|authors=José María Díaz-Nafría,Enrique Díez-Gutiérrez,Wolfgang Hofkirchner,Rainer E. Zimmermann,Simone Belli,Gustavo Martínez-Mekler,Markus Müller,Luis Tobar,Fernando Martín-Mayoral,Modestos Stavrakis,Teresa Guarda,Edgardo Ugalde
}}
==PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies in Education and Research==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2486/icaiw_edusynergies_4.pdf
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting
Interdisciplinary Methodologies in Education
and Research
José María Díaz-Nafría1 , Enrique Díez-Gutiérrez2 , Wolfgang Hofkirchner3 ,
Rainer E. Zimmermann4 , Simone Belli5 , Gustavo Martínez-Mekler6 , Markus
Müller7 , Luis Tobar8 , Fernando Martín-Mayoral9 , Modestos Stavrakis10 ,
Teresa Guarda11 , and Edgardo Ugalde12
1
Madrid Open University, Madrid, Spain josemaria.diaz.n@udima.es
2
Universidad de León, León, Spain
3
Institute for a Global Sustainable Information Society, Vienna, Austria
4
Institute for Design Science, Munich, Germany
5
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
6
Universidad Autónoma de México, Cuernavaca, México
7
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, México
8
Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, Cuenca, Ecuador
9
Facultad Latino Americana de Ciencias Sociales, Quito, Ecuador
10
University of the Aegean, Syros, Greece
11
Universidad Estatal Península de Santa Elena, La Libertad, Ecuador
12
Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, México
Abstract. The paper describes the PRIMER international initiative
aimed to develop interdisciplinary research capacities and skills to boost
the ability to face global challenges whose complexity is beyond the reach
of individual disciplines. To this end, the initiative has carried out educa-
tion, research and innovation activities based on theoretical and method-
ological tools for the integration of knowledge. In the first section, the
motivation of the initiative is described, which is followed by a section de-
scribing the objectives and approach as regards theoretical and method-
ological underpinnings, as well as its technical and social dimensions.
The three pillars of PRIMER approach are constituted by systems sci-
ence, information studies, and social innovation. A third section shows
the results of a testing phase in which the participant institutions where
gathered, the approach was initially tested and a more systematic pro-
gram was devised upon testing results. This design, which is currently
a candidate for an international funding program, is briefly described in
section forth.
Keywords: Interdisciplinarity · Transdisciplinarity · Knowledge In-
tegration · Open Science · Open Education · Open Data Labs ·
Systems Science · Information Studies · Social Innovation.
Copyright ©2019 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
2019 ICAI Workshops, pp. 168–182, 2019.
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 169
1 The need for integrative research
“Modern science is characterized by its ever increasing specialization, necessi-
tated by the enormous amount of data, the complexity of techniques and theo-
retical structures within every field. Thus science is split into innumerable disci-
plines continually generating new subdisciplines. In consequence, the physicist,
the biologist, the psychologist and the social scientist are, so to speak, encapsu-
lated in their private universes, and it is difficult to get word from one cocoon
to the other. . . ” [1].
These words of the prominent Austrian scientist, who pioneered system sci-
ence, provides a good outlook of the problem that PRIMER initiative aims to
address. The fact that scientists move with difficulty across the borders of dis-
ciplines hinders the tackling of problems of high social concern which need a
broader perspective, as well as the learning across disciplines. European and
international institutions, being aware of this problem, target since long the
promotion of interdisciplinarity (ID) and integrative approaches in research and
education as a fundamental means to promote new knowledge, facing major so-
cietal and environmental challenges, enabling innovation, transferring knowledge
and attaining broad societal alliances [9–12]. Hence, ID is included in most of the
national and international agendas concerning education and research. Relying
on these policies, a number of successful educational and research programs have
been established. They have indeed shown to yield broad cooperation, to attract
significant investments and to solve intriguing problems of technical, societal and
environmental nature, as referred to in numerous studies.
Nevertheless, there are notorious impediments, as it has been recurrently
assessed [2–6, 13, 15–18], for a more systematic establishment of ID through ed-
ucation and research policies and within the institutions. Among these barriers
is worth mentioning the lack of common criteria and methodology, strategic vi-
sion in the creation of new studies, proper recognition, and cooperative paths to
converge into knowledge alliances. As a result, a number of ID programs instead
of granting a better integration of sciences have often yielded in the long run
to the explosion of new disciplines that close their borders after being estab-
lished. PRIMER initiative, supported by a consortium of European and Latin
American academic and scientific institutions, aims at avoiding these pitfalls in
the proper and necessary integration of knowledge through the combination of
Systems Science; Science of Information and Social Innovation [20].
2 PRIMER Initiative. Objectives and Approach
PRIMER initiative’s global objective is to strengthen the capacities of interdis-
ciplinary research while these are oriented to the confrontation of specific social
and scientific challenges involving the affected social groups. To this purpose, it
aims at the development of interdisciplinary studies at the crossroad of educa-
tion and research, based on the integration of three approaches: systems science,
social innovation, and information science, as represented in Fig. 1, branded as
ISI approach:
170 J. Díaz-Nafría et al.
Fig. 1. PRIMER ISI approach concept (methodological linkage among main perspec-
tives).
1. Systems Science (SS), understood in a broad sense which includes, among
others, complexity science, cybernetics, and design science. It faces reality
in its relational, functional and evolutionary aspects.
2. Social Innovation (SI) which focuses its methodology on an open and creative
incorporation of knowledge and agents to the solution of problems and social
needs.
3. Information Studies (IS), understood in a strong interdisciplinary sense, as
the study of information in all its manifestations, be it of physical, biological,
cognitive, social or technical nature, and focus in the analysis, manipulation,
and management of informational phenomena. We consider within this axis:
general and specific information theories, network theory, organization and
management of information and knowledge, information systems design, and
data science.
Fig.1. illustrates the functional link between the 3 pillars of the ISI approach. It
shows the functional relations between the 3 axes, whose binary combinations
can be expressed in terms of three thinking modes: open systems (SS+SI), Net-
work thinking (IS+SI) and applied systems thinking (SS+IS). From the interplay
between the axis stem three methodological components:
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 171
1. Formal System as a means to express the problems dealt within SI into
systemic approaches,
2. Model and Simulation as a means to articulate the cooperation between the
systemic and information approaches,
3. Digital and cooperative methods and skills as means to articulate the coop-
eration of distributed agents involved in social innovation into an effective
cooperation.
2.1 Practical Dimension: Open Labs
Besides the core theoretical framework referred to above, another fundamental
aspect of the PRIMER methodological approach is the link to both, research
and innovation, understanding that challenging open problems requires a par-
ticipatory and direct contact with research. This turns the learning subjects in
knowledge actors facing the process of both, acquisition and creation of knowl-
edge in a holistic, participatory, critical, and responsible way (to the extent
that the addressed research projects highlight the social relevance as well as the
engagement with the community).
The specific deployment of this practical side is structured through research
and innovation LABS devoted to specific issues of social relevance and complex
nature. The labs are conceived as hubs were a number of focused interdisciplinary
projects are being developed using the ISI approach. As an example, the biciLAB,
supported by several partners, carries out integrative projects oriented to the
development of sustainable mobility and urban life quality using the information
collected from bike-sharing systems [7].
In order to promote creativity, there is a commitment to use art, usually
through collective creations which are shown in public in connection to open
debates. This element is indeed motivated from the three angles of the ISI ap-
proach: for the systems science, in terms of the systematic aspects of art in the
relationship between the parts and the whole as well as in terms of creation
of the ’artificial’ (historically also through the relevance of aesthetic reflection
in the systemic philosophy and the contemporaneous linkage to some artistic
movements such as conceptual art). For the open social innovation, through its
fostering of creativity and experimentation in expressive techniques. For Science
of Information the aesthetic moment is understood as the process of generating
and reproducing beautiful forms.
2.2 Technical dimension
A third fundamental aspect is the use of information technology (IT) in its
capacity to structure new processes of learning, innovation, design, and analysis
of reality. This relevance is present not only in the science of information but
also in the other axis of the ISI approach: from the systemic point of view,
information is an essential component of system dynamics and its adaptation to
the environment, thus IT represents a fundamental modification of social systems
dynamics. For open innovation, IT offers innovative possibilities to bring about
172 J. Díaz-Nafría et al.
the meeting of social needs and techno social capabilities, which in turn provide
solutions to the faced problems.
In this terrain, the use of interdisciplinary glossaries is remarkable [4, 6].
They are intended to ease the disciplinary understanding as well as the con-
ceptual building stemmed from the intersection of different disciplines. Interdis-
ciplinary glossaries are built up collectively and are articulated in a system of
electronic publications embracing from contributions carried out in learning pro-
cesses to the elaboration of scientific or technical publications of impact. They
offer in addition the possibility to use it as a proxy of the knowledge integra-
tion achieved for its assessment in terms of 2 dimensions: (i) the diversity of
the integrated disciple, in terms of a normalized Shannon Diversity Index; (ii)
the effective integration of the knowledge in terms of the conceitedness of the
semantic and agent networks [4–6].
To facilitate the effective convergence of tools that makes the development
of hybrid ecologies of learning and interdisciplinary research easier, PRIMER
pays special attention to the development of an e-infrastructure that inte-
grates components of e-education, e-science and e-participation with extra
attention to multilingualism and inclusion. This is intended to jump over the
characteristic spatial and temporal limitations of education and practice in face
to face environments, thus enabling fertile knowledge alliances.
2.3 Education programs tested and planned
With this basic orientation, PRIMER initiative has promoted and carried out
since 2012 diverse education and research programs of different lenghts and sys-
tematicity. From a set of courses aimed at testing the approach, to training
programs and postgraduate programs. The results presented hereby correspond
to the test period of a year, constituted by training and summer courses, while
the design of postgraduate programs is presented at the end as one of the out-
comes of the tenting phase.
3 Results of the testing period
Following PRIMER objectives, a number of activities, scientific gatherings, and
courses were organized during a testing period of one year (from May 2013 to
February 2014) as shown in Table 1. Within this framework, the participant in-
stitutions have carried out research and have awarded academic credits through
official and Open Badge accreditation. These activities, described in detail in a
summary report [19] and still available in PRIMER portal [20], have enabled
the polishing of PRIMER approach, the deployment of resources useful for sub-
sequent development. Besides, they have served to the initiation of research
projects, as glossaLAB, which is currently alive [5], and educational experiences
for the nurturing of interdisciplinary studies.
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 173
Table 1. Summary of PRIMER activities in the testing period
174 J. Díaz-Nafría et al.
3.1 Impact Analysis for one year testing period
As we can see in Table 1, the activities organized within PRIMER initiative in the
example period gathered the participation of 26 researchers from various origins
and disciplines and the face to face attendance of 350 participants. However,
the hybrid design of these activities shows a significantly larger impact. Fig.2.
displays the number of visits per day registered in the primer platform since it is
operative (September 2013). If we add the visits to the pages within the portal
of the workshop on Open System Thinking, it amounts to 2038 visits. Assuming
a similar ratio between visits and unique visitors, Fig. 2. corresponds to some
800 different visitors.
Nevertheless, portal visits only represent a part of the online impact since
other contents were shared through other means. The 80 videos compiled within
PRIMER framework amounted to 1682 views, while the 14 presentations, shared
online through www.slideshare.net, accumulated 5470 visits. Table 2 summarizes
the most relevant impact figures. These values, together with qualitative results
from an individual assessment of participants, highlight the interest arisen from
the initiative as to foster a kind of capacities and skills that are absent in the
academic offer. These results strengthened the motivation to develop a more
systematic program based on the PRIMER approach.
Fig. 2. Web-analytics of visits to primer.unileon.es between Sep.2013 and Feb.2014.
Table 2. Relevant figures concerning impact assessment
Gathered Scientists 26
Face-to-Face Attendees 350
Visits to PRIMER site (and OST Workshop portal) 2038
Unique visitors to PRIMER pages (estimation) 800
Videos views (to 80 compiled videos) 1682
Visits to the 14 presentations shared in www.slideshare.net 5470
Sources: ULE registration files, Google-, Youtube- and Slideshare- analytics
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 175
4 Design of a postgraduate program
Based on the aforementioned PRIMER approach (sec.2) and the results ob-
served in the testing period (sec.3), an educational program of flexible learning
pathways, linked to open science research, was devised by an international con-
sortium of European and Latin American academic and scientific institutions,
which is currently candidate to an international funding program. This program
(of international postgraduate and research training) was discussed with Ecuado-
rian authorities in the field of education, which endorsed the program, and was
awarded with a prize on educational innovation. Fig. 3. shows the open data labs
previewed for the deployment of the program in four Ecuadorian and three Mex-
ican universities in collaboration with European academic and scientific institu-
tions: biciLAB (sustainable mobility, s. [7]), coopLAB (sustainable management
of fishing resources and cooperatives, s. [8, 14]) glossaLAB and cogLAB (knowl-
edge integration and cognition), incLAB (inclusiveness and interculturality) and
complexityLAB (modelling and simulation of complex problems).
4.1 PRIMER Postgraduate program
The educational program devised is based on seven core courses linked to re-
search carried out in the open data labs. For the deploying phase, these courses
are planned to be held in a rotational basis in International Summer Academies
taking place in 6 venues (4 in Ecuador, 2 in Mexico, 1 in Spain). In the long
term, an international center supported by the consortium shall coordinate the
international program in compliance with the legal frameworks of each country.
Fig. 3. PRIMER education program linked to open data labs
176 J. Díaz-Nafría et al.
It will also provide coherence and cooperation among the open data labs and the
associated institutions, communities and social groups involved in the research
frameworks. The summer academies, conceived as blended extended program
onstitute the most important activity of the project since most scheduled ac-
tivities converge into their effective development. Nevertheless, there are other
relevant activities contributing to PRIMER’s education and research program,
as training workshops, open online courses etc., planned to deploy the program
based on the set of seven core courses. The program as a whole is conceived to
provide flexible learning pathways of different sizes within the ISI approach to
integrative science.
According to the knowledge triangle shown in Fig. 1 and the ‘PRIMER’
approach of progressively building upon robust underpinnings, the program is
based on: (1st ) providing foundations ofSystems, Information and Innovation,
(2nd ) the development of core capacities provided by: System Science, In-
formation Studies and Social Innovation, and (3rd ) offering methodological
abilities, aimed at stretching out the core ones: modeling and Simulation, Dig-
ital and Collaborative Skills and Formal Systems and Tools.
The previewed learning pathways are equivalent to a student effort below and
above what is estimated for a core course (10 ECTS). This flexibility is under-
pinned, on the one hand, by the modular design within courses and among the 7
courses of the program (Table 3); on the other, by the open-badge certification
standard in combination with regular accreditation procedures of the organiz-
ing universities and the EQF. This enables flexible accreditation to recognize
properly the learning paths effectively carried out by the learners. In addition,
specific research topics (linked to the aforementioned open data labs) will be
programmed for each course and summer edition, adapted to the interests, ca-
pabilities, strengths and contextual problems that each institution wishes to
address. The completion of any program course requires the development of re-
search tasks coached by the teaching and research staff according to and adapted
to the corresponding learning objectives.
Table 3. Courses of the educational program on integrative science
On- On- Personal Total
CourseEffort in hours:
site line Work (h) (ECTS)
C1 | Foundations of systems, information and
28 47 175 250 10
Innovation (GF)
C2 | Systems Science and Complexity Science (SS) 28 47 175 250 10
C3 | Social and Open Innovation (SI) 28 47 175 250 10
C4 | Information Studies (IS) 28 47 175 250 10
C5 | Formal Systems and Tools (FS) 28 47 175 250 10
C6 | Modelling and Simulation (MS) 28 47 175 250 10
C7 | Digital and collaborative skills (DC) 28 47 175 250 10
Master Thesis (MT) 6 14 480 500 20
Total: 202 343 1707 2250 90
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 177
Fig. 4. Digital open-badge honeycomb certification of the educational programme on
integrative science
Fig.4. shows the systematic relation among the core courses of the program ,
whose equivalent efforts and ECTS are given in Table 3. As it is shown in the lat-
ter, the sizes are conceived to offer a master accreditation according to European
standards. The seven core courses to be carried out in the ISAs are represented
within the green dotted hexagon of Fig.4, while the master thesis, which has to
show effective integration of different scientific disciplines, is represented by the
bounded hexagons at the outer hexagon belt.
Example of PRIMER course: General Foundations. This course of-
fers general orientation for the education program as a whole, summarizing the
repertoire of theories, methodologies, and strategies that are covered in detail in
the other courses of the program (Table 3).
This course, whose structure is alike the other courses, will be held once at
each program venue and also offered as training course for scholars and open
online course in order to maximize the possibilities of learners and researchers’
engagement and to facilitate the self-organization of learning upon the open re-
sources and infrastructures to be developed. In virtue of its relation with all the
matters of the program this course paves the way for general orientation regard-
ing methodologies and theories to be applied while facing the interdisciplinary
development of research projects and frameworks. Nevertheless, this course will
be particularly devoted in each edition to the research framework, for which local
partners are responsible. Fig.5, shows summarizes the structure of this course,
whose specific design comprises summary description, target skills and learning
outputs, program, literature and resources.
178 J. Díaz-Nafría et al.
Fig. 5. Timetable and modular structure of the example course on General Founda-
tions.
4.2 Embedded Research: Open Data Labs
Besides the theoretical and methodological core content of the courses, which will
remain stable throughout the project, each venue will be particularly devoted
to a problem-oriented research framework. These frameworks shall be supported
by dedicated research and innovation labs, set up during the deployment phase
aiming at gaining sustainable autonomy (s. Fig.3). Simultaneously, the summer
academies will contribute not only to the research developed within the local
lab, but also to the research attached to other labs in which the participants
are involved. The focus of these labs will be related to problems of social rele-
vance, sufficiently complex to require the participation of multiple and distant
disciplines.
For setting up each of the Open Labs and the horizontal lines, the universi-
ties and research centers attached at each location will be responsible of and will
coordinate the efforts from the non-local partners who will also contribute to
support ongoing research according to their own capacities and strengths. Dur-
ing the preliminary stages of each summer academy, before the on-site phase, a
number of projects will be selected upon participants’ proposals to be carried out
by operative working teams composed by not more than 10 people (among facil-
itators, training researchers and other learners). Program team will strive (since
the preparatory stages before the start of the summer academies) to develop the
selected projects in an integrative manner and to facilitate an active and effective
development during the on-site period which should catalyze team throughput.
E-Collaboration tools will facilitate the continuation of the projects during the
online periods and the time between summer academies through learners and
researchers willing to continue research and consolidate participation.
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 179
Support of research projects. The partners from each venue will offer a
support from their own resources for the development of the research projects
awarded within the context of the program belonging to the respective research
labs (this will contemplate equipment, HD, SW, bibliography, and services re-
quired for the development of the research projects). The coordinator will seek
to balance resource partner’s provisions and needs. Nonetheless, in order to fa-
cilitate the sustainability and the strengthening of the initiated research, each
project team must elaborate a formal proposal to a program of public/external
funding, which together with the elaboration of a submitted research paper will
constitute requirements for learning accreditation.
Research and Innovation Projects’ Pool. For the development of re-
search projects, required for the participation in any PRIMER course, the pro-
gram offers in the first place research frameworks attached to each venue as
explained above. These frameworks offer a set of resources and focused prob-
lems that will serve to the definition of specific projects. Participants, before
the beginning of the ISAs, will make project proposals within the given research
frameworks that will be selected against quality criteria, though they can also
opt to propose the integration in already opened projects. All running projects
will be opened by teams integrating scholars and learners and will be added to a
pool of open projects. At the same time, proposed projects will integrate another
pool of suggested projects. These both pools will be a constitutive part of the
research offer which newcomers can use to determine their own research plans.
Either the integration in an open project or the opening of new ones will be de-
cided by a panel of experts of each research framework against quality criteria,
available capacities and the opportunities to integrate results.
The ongoing projects will be reflected in the pool of open research projects
to which newcomers can joint. To that purpose, the description of the project
in the pool will show the tasks and roles that still need to be covered or can be
reinforced.
Research and Innovation LABs. The five specific research frameworks,
hosted in Research and Innovation LABs at each Latin American venue and
Table 4. Research and innovation Open Data Labs planned
Venue Research & Innovation Labs
Complexity-LAB: devoted to the study of different complex
Cuernavaca
phenomena, as the ones arisen from other labs, based on data-
(Mexico)
intensive analysis and simulation
Quito Inc-LAB: understanding social divides and facilitating inclusiveness
(Ecuador) and intercultural cooperation
Santa Elena coop-LAB: An inclusive framework for developing sustainable
(Ecuador) management of fisher cooperatives and marine resources
Urcuquí cog-LAB: understanding and facilitating knowledge networks
(Ecuador) and knowledge integration
Cuenca cycling-LAB: A participatory and data-based framework to
(Ecuador) integrate smart-citizenship into smart and sustainable cities
180 J. Díaz-Nafría et al.
supported by the corresponding partners in cooperation with the rest of consor-
tium members, are planned to be adapted to the interests, capacities, strengths,
opportunities and contextual problems that each institution wish to address.
The preliminary distribution R+I Labs per venue is given in Table 4. With the
exception of the Complexity LAB, devoted to the modeling and simulation of
complex and high computational demanding problems, arisen from any of the
other labs, follow a similar pattern that can be well illustrated by the biciLAB
Open Data Lab.
Example of Open Data Lab: biciLAB. The framework to be hosted
in Cuenca (but also applied to the urban areas of Quito and Santa Elena) is
based upon resources and activities carried out by ULE’s Green Office since
2009 who offers to the university community about 150 bicycles, equipped with
tracking systems, for free. This project is nowadays planned to be enlarged by
the international joint project supported by several European institutions and
municipalities [7].
The impersonalized data collection (currently limited to non real time po-
sition data) is then used for different purposes of scientific and social inter-
ests, as students’ thesis or enhancement of municipal mobility policies (http:
//ulebici.unileon.es/). Upon this experience and resources, PRIMER team
Fig. 6. Basic components of the cycling-LAB within the green dotted line and
schematic representation of the structural and eligible projects
PRIMER Initiative: PRomoting Interdisciplinary Methodologies 181
plans to improve tracking systems and to carry out additional activities in order
to develop applications in the field of health, energy efficiency, inclusive urban
spaces, bike- lanes and parking optimization, information resources for bikers,
social and political engagement (including active participation of the affected
community), sustainable management, etc. Thus involving: technical develop-
ment, modeling, and simulation of urban systems and body structures, applied
mathematics and operation research, management, environmental sciences, po-
litical sciences, social and community engagement, etc.
Fig. 6 represents the concept of the open data lab which in essence can be
applied to the other labs. It is composed by a basic infrastructure within the
green dotted line, structural projects (continuous activity) conceive to set up the
research and innovation framework linked to projects of institutional interest in
mid and long term basis, and eligible projects, which are selected by a scientific
committee among proposal submitted to an open call. Both will be subject of
the projects to be developed within the PRIMER education program.
5 Conclusions
As we justified at the beginning, there are sufficient reasons to urge the devel-
opment of capacities and skills for interdisciplinary research. The integration of
knowledge is a requisite to cope with the global challenges which our societies
are now facing as it has been acknowledged by international institutions, which
strive to impulse interdisciplinary at different levels. However, the organization
of the academy, the dominant organization of labor and the techno economic
systems do not offer an adequate scenario for the flourishment of sound interdis-
ciplinary. As shown in sec. 2, PRIMER initiative offers an innovative approach
to foster interdisciplinary research capacities and skills through the integration
of trans disciplinary fields (systems science and information studies). The results
obtained in a one year testing period of the PRIMER approach, referred to in
section 3, show its capacity to achieve intended impacts. Both the global scarcity
of integrative approaches to underpin interdisciplinary capacities and the need of
these abilities to face global challenges underpin the interest and relevance of a
systematic education and research postgraduate program like the one presented
in section 4.
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