“Voices with Impact” | Interview with Dr. Núria Agulló and Paulo Milanesio
We’re launching Voices with Impact, a new interview series dedicated to sharing reflections and experiences from professionals who are helping transform education and society from diverse perspectives.
In this first edition, we speak with Dr. Núria Agulló and Paulo Milanesio, the driving forces behind the new University Social Responsibility (USR) Unit at IQS. They explain how this initiative aims to integrate global justice and critical thinking into university education.
1. Why was it necessary to create a University Social Responsibility Unit at IQS?
Núria Agulló (N.A.): Today, more than ever, universities have the responsibility to train excellent professionals who are also aware of the social impact of their work. As Òscar Camps, founder of Open Arms, says: “Education without awareness is worthless.”
The creation of this unit responds to the desire to strengthen and structure this commitment, further connecting education with the realities around us. We want to broaden students’ perspectives so they understand that what they study can have a transformative impact. Education is the path to shaping professionals with critical thinking and social commitment. Given the state of the world today, both students and faculty must embrace this social responsibility toward our environment.
2. Paulo, how would you explain in a simple way what USR contributes compared to a charity-based approach or occasional volunteering?
Paulo Milanesio (P.M.): Social responsibility is often confused with one-off actions or volunteering understood as simply “going to help.” But USR is based on a completely different logic: horizontal collaboration with communities. We don’t arrive with predefined solutions; instead, we listen, understand, and co-create responses with those who experience the reality firsthand.
A very illustrative example is that of an NGO that installed taps in every house in a community in Uganda without first asking what people actually needed. Later, they discovered that women continued using the single central tap because it was a safe and meaningful space for them. In other words, resources were invested in a solution that didn’t align with the community’s real dynamics.
For me, that’s the main difference between a paternalistic approach and a truly horizontal one: engaging in dialogue, understanding, learning, and working together.
“USR is based on a completely different logic: horizontality with communities”
3. Núria, tú llevas años impulsando el Aprendizaje-Servicio en IQS. ¿Qué papel tendrá ahora el ApS dentro de la RSU?
N.A.: Service-Learning (ApS) is a key tool for bringing social commitment and critical thinking into the classroom. Our experience over the years has shown that when social responsibility depends solely on the willingness or individual motivation of a few teachers or students, the kind of transformation we seek simply does not take place.
Just as we teach what a KPI is, how to read a balance sheet, or how to conduct a rheological test, we must also teach critical thinking, responsibility, and an understanding of the social impact of professional work. This can only be achieved if Service-Learning is part of the curriculum—whether through a full course, activities within a subject, or projects such as bachelor’s or master’s theses.
Moreover, when students see that what they do in the classroom is useful to someone, learning becomes far more meaningful. Working in contact with real-world contexts helps them understand the challenges that exist in certain environments and, at the same time, pushes them to activate their creativity in order to find solutions.
“When you leave social responsibility matters in the hands of voluntariness… the transformation we seek does not take place”
4. How is Service-Learning (ApS) structured within an institution where faculty play such a central role in the classroom?
N.A.: With a lot of patience and support. We know that working with Service-Learning (SL) sometimes requires extra effort that isn’t always recognized in official accreditation. On top of that, there are the usual challenges: tight academic calendars, demanding curricula, and very different rhythms between the university and social organizations.
From the unit, our goal is for faculty to feel supported at all times and for project logistics to adapt as smoothly as possible to classroom dynamics. It’s also important to understand that the challenges that arise are part of the learning process itself: paper can endure anything, but reality is unpredictable and forces us to react. At this point, faculty involvement is absolutely key.
P.M.: Faculty are the central axis. They lead the classroom, guide students, and can open the door to new methodologies. From the unit, we can provide support, resources, ideas, or contacts, but true integration of Service-Learning happens in the classroom.
Introducing this methodology means stepping out of your comfort zone and making a small extra effort, but the impact is enormous: it allows students to connect their technical knowledge with human realities, and that completely transforms the way they learn.
5. Paulo, you’ve spent 15 years working in international humanitarian contexts. What motivates you to make this move to a university in Barcelona?
P.M.: For me, it’s a new and very stimulating challenge. It also coincides with a personal moment when I wanted to return to Barcelona, but it’s also an opportunity to introduce students to a professional world they often don’t know.
When I studied engineering, no one explained that with a technical degree I could work professionally in humanitarian action. I’m not talking about volunteering for the sake of “pretty photos,” but rigorous work that has a direct impact on the most vulnerable people.
Bringing that reality here means broadening horizons, opening perspectives, and showing professional paths that many students never even imagined.
“No one explained to me that with a technical degree I could work professionally in humanitarian action”
6. Núria, what opportunities do you see in bringing together such different profiles as yours and Paulo’s within the same unit?
N.A.: I believe a USR unit must bring together diverse profiles in order to offer more complete responses to the needs of social organizations and entities. In this sense, Paulo’s perspective is especially valuable because it’s grounded in his own field experience, providing practical knowledge that is invaluable for a unit that is full of energy but has limited direct experience in field contexts.
Moreover, his career path is a powerful example for our students: it shows that there are professional paths beyond joining a traditional company and that technical training can also help transform realities. The world isn’t going to change by itself, and having complementary perspectives within the unit allows us to better support that process.
“The world isn’t going to change by itself.”
7. What should every future professional trained at IQS understand about the social impact of their work?
P.M.: Every professional decision has a direct impact on other people’s lives, whether you work in a pharmaceutical company, a family business, or an NGO. That’s why it’s essential for students to develop empathy, critical thinking, and social awareness. Before making any technical decision, they should always ask themselves: “How does this affect society?”
Excellent training loses its meaning if its impact on the real world isn’t understood.
8. Núria, from your experience with Service-Learning (ApS), how can this critical and social perspective be cultivated in students?
N.A.: By being persistent and conveying that this perspective is part of IQS’s educational DNA. It only works if faculty truly believe in it. When USR enters the classroom, we can engage students, ask them to provide reasoning, and place them in real situations that spark authentic dialogue.
We shouldn’t be afraid to debate everything in class. If we only offer exercises with right or wrong answers, they won’t learn to discern or develop their own judgment. It’s also our responsibility to make them aware of the consequences of their actions, and for that, we must teach them to have as broad a view of reality as possible.
Only in this way will they learn to cultivate a critical perspective, regardless of the profession they ultimately pursue.
9. Paulo, you often talk about developing critical awareness. What does this add to students’ professional profiles, even if they don’t work in humanitarian or cooperative fields?
P.M.: Critical awareness broadens perspective and provides more tools for problem-solving. After working in around 20 countries, I can say that exposure to different cultures, dynamics, and realities not only transforms you as a person but also makes you a better professional.
An engineer will design better solutions if they understand how people live and what their real needs are. And a business manager will make more informed decisions if they understand how those decisions affect workers, suppliers, or communities.
You don’t need to go to a war zone to apply this perspective. It can happen in a company, a startup, or even in your own neighborhood. The key is to understand human complexity and the diversity of realities that shape it.
“You don’t need to go to a war zone to apply this perspective. It can happen in a company, a startup, or even in your own neighborhood”
10. Núria, what role can volunteering, which is sometimes confused with Service-Learning (SL), play in this new phase?
N.A.: I have a very personal view on this: I believe volunteering should be a consequence of the work carried out by the unit, not the starting point. We need to consider the reality and characteristics of our students. We have been promoting volunteering for years, although the results have not always met expectations.
Our role, therefore, is to help students get to know organizations and NGOs through their classroom work. It’s from this real contact that authentic motivation to engage as volunteers can emerge.
In this vein, we are developing a Social Action course that includes volunteering hours in organizations linked to IQS. By integrating it into a subject, we ensure that students receive training on what it means to be a volunteer, allow us to follow up on their experience, and conclude the process with a session for reflection and dialogue.
As we’ve said, our priority is to support students along this journey and provide them with transversal learning that complements their education. Volunteering can be a valuable tool for this, as long as it comes at the right moment.
11. Where would you like USR to evolve in the coming years?
P.M.: If we could dream, I would love to see an autonomous group of students driving cooperation and global justice projects without necessarily depending on the unit or faculty. That the initiative comes from them, while we provide resources, contacts, and the proper framework.
That would be a true success: an active, critical student community eager to make a difference.
N.A.: Our goal is to consolidate a stable structure within IQS’s organizational framework, maintaining strong links with organizations and NGOs while also generating our own lines of action and research. We want Service-Learning, as a tool to bring cooperation and global justice into the classroom, to be fully integrated into IQS’s teaching approach, giving all students the opportunity to work with this methodology.
Ultimately, we aspire for University Social Responsibility to become part of IQS’s academic identity, beyond the specific individuals currently forming the unit.
12. What message would you like to leave for students who are just beginning to explore this new unit?
P.M.: Be open. Understand that what you study is not just for passing courses or landing a good job—it can contribute, whether in small or large ways, to improving realities near or far.
Social responsibility is not an add-on: it’s a way of seeing the world and positioning yourself within it.
N.A.: I would like students to broaden their perspective on the realities around them and understand that, with the education they receive at IQS—whatever it may be—they have the ability to generate real impact. Not from paternalism or charity, but from a perspective built through learning with the community.
At USR, we believe that all sectors can offer valuable lessons and that working collaboratively in unjust realities has enormous transformative power. Ultimately, it’s about finding a purpose that goes beyond individual benefit.
“Social responsibility is not an add-on: it’s a way of seeing the world and positioning yourself within it.”
