WasiLab
The Learning Planet Institute is proud to support the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) in its WasiLab project.
This joint initiative, financed by the Fonds Équipe France (FEF) of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, is a key pillar of the PUCE’s ecological transformation programme.
In partnership with renowned players such as the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and France Volontaires, we are working together to encourage the emergence of sustainable and innovative projects.
Promoting sustainability science in Ecuador
In May 2024, WasiLab – an International Institute for Sustainability Sciences – was inaugurated in Ecuador. The aim of this project is to respond to the socio-environmental crisis in the country (climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, pollution, growing inequalities exacerbated by political instability). The choice of the word ‘Wasi’, ‘house’ in Kichwa*, underlines WasiLab’s vision: the urgent need to preserve our common home, the Earth.
WasiLab is the first interdisciplinary centre for sustainability sciences in Latin America, and stands out for its innovative scientific approach. By focusing on inter- and trans-disciplinarity, it promotes the co-construction of knowledge and the creation of alliances between science, research, teaching, society and politics, with a view to paving the way for sustainable development.
Living labs
Using living labs – a method in which citizens, residents and users are considered key players in the research and innovation process, to encourage participative and committed research – WasiLab encourages transformative and collaborative research while investing in local development.
A doctoral school
WasiLab is accompanied by a doctoral school aimed at training a new generation of academics and stakeholders working together to transform unsustainable development trajectories in Ecuador.
*Kichwa or Quichua is an Amerindian language close to Quechua, spoken mainly in Ecuador.
Based on an article by ©IRD
