Caring for our Common Home is one of today’s greatest global challenges and, simultaneously, a call to rethink the role of the university as an agent for social transformation. Driven by this shared conviction, the universities comprising UNIJES are promoting the Research Reference Centre (CIR) for Environment and Ecology—a space for inter-university collaboration aimed at generating impactful knowledge, training future professionals, and actively contributing to the protection of the planet and social development.
Caring for our Common Home from the university: a UNIJES alliance with a vocation for real impact
The UNIJES CIRs have been created to address issues of particular social relevance in coherence with the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus, reinforcing the commitment of Jesuit universities to research aligned with the mission and at the service of the common good.
A CIR aligned with the mission and led by IQS
The CIR for Environment and Ecology, aligned with the fourth Universal Apostolic Preference—Caring for our Common Home—is led by IQS, which coordinates and drives the joint efforts of the participating universities. This leadership promotes an integrative vision that combines research, training, and awareness-raising as key elements to confront current environmental challenges from scientific, social, and humanistic perspectives.
The CIR’s vocation is clear: to transcend disciplinary boundaries, harness the academic diversity of UNIJES universities, and generate proposals capable of producing a real, measurable, and sustainable impact.
A key meeting to consolidate a shared vision
In this context, on 8 January, the Comillas Pontifical University hosted a particularly significant meeting for the development of the CIR. Following several months of virtual work, the UNIJES Environment and Ecology CIR teams were able to meet in person for the first time, strengthening the working community and advancing the construction of a shared vision.
The meeting was attended by representatives from IQS, Comillas, Deusto, Esade, and Loyola Andalusia, highlighting the richness and diversity of the UNIJES university ecosystem. Comillas Pontifical University proved to be an excellent host, offering a space conducive to dialogue, joint reflection, and strategic planning.
Inspiration, leadership, and networking
The meeting featured Ana García-Mina, the UNIJES Delegate, who encouraged the continued strengthening of networking and the consolidation of a university community capable of generating an impact on society through research, teaching, and knowledge transfer.
For her part, Cristina Giménez Thomsen, Chair of the UNIJES Research Commission, underlined the importance of identifying initiatives where an interdisciplinary approach is truly distinctive, highlighting the strategic value of collaboration between universities when facing the complex challenges of the environmental field.
The meeting was further enriched by the contribution of Nancy Tuchman, special advisor to the CIR and an international authority on university sustainability, as well as the founder of the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. Tuchman emphasised the need to examine our own universities and environmental footprints, working to generate an impact by starting at home and within our own communities. By scaling this approach, a global impact can be achieved in reducing damage to the planet and fostering connection among its inhabitants.
This perspective reinforces one of the fundamental pillars of the CIR: the creation of contextualised solutions capable of responding to specific realities without losing sight of the global vision.
Training future professionals through an integral lens
The UNIJES CIR for Environment and Ecology represents a strategic opportunity for the training of future professionals, incorporating a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between the environment, society, and the human being. The disciplinary diversity present across UNIJES universities allows for the addressing of highly intersectional areas, fostering a critical education committed to sustainability.
From IQS, in collaboration with Comillas and the wider group of participating universities, the CIR continues to move forward with the conviction that research, training, and awareness—working in tandem—are essential to responding to environmental challenges and contributing to the Care of our Common Home.