Audrius Bagdanavicius, a lecturer from the University of Leicester, who’s also an alumnus of VILNIUS TECH, visited the new Sustainability centre at the university and during his visit delivered lectures to bachelor's students of Building energy engineering.

He has been coming back to the university since 2019. The alumnus remembered how he got an opportunity to pursue a PhD at Cardiff University in Wales, UK, back in 2007. After completing his studies and an internship, he started working at the University of Leicester, where he has been teaching thermodynamics, energy systems, and heat exchanges to students in mechanical, aviation, and aerospace engineering and has been doing it for the past ten years. In addition to teaching, the VILNIUS TECH alumnus is involved in several projects related to energy and energy storage systems.

The lecturer jokes that VILNIUS TECH emeritus professor Vytautas Martinaitis "infected" him with thermodynamic topics, which are hard to shake off—like a virus you can’t escape.

During his visit to the new Sustainability centre, the lecturer recalled that sustainability became a concern for him back in 1999 when he began studying building energy systems part-time. He has always worked in areas where sustainability was taken for granted: energy efficiency, building systems that save heat and water, recycling—all these areas seemed to be fundamental. About 5-7 years ago, the University of Leicester started having more discussions on the topic and is trying to implement sustainability ideas in real life.

"We have been developing the idea of sustainability at the university for at least 5-7 years. The first thing we did in the Engineering department was conduct a study to identify how much and where we have conversations about sustainability. I reviewed our curriculum and found that we address it in about 50% of the subjects we teach, but with not enough emphasis. For instance, we discuss energy efficiency a lot without explaining how it relates to sustainability. It's important for young people to understand and connect these concepts. So, we started using the term 'sustainability' more, promoting a sustainable mindset, and educating students," shares Audrius Bagdanavicius.

The lecturer notes that from an engineering perspective, it is useful to show students how sustainability can be measured and assessed numerically. The University of Leicester already offers elective sustainability courses for undergraduate and master’s students. The younger generation shows interest in sustainability topics even during the university's open days.

"Interest in sustainability is growing. I live this topic; it's a lifestyle for me, and I ride my bike to work from the outskirts of the city. The university actively promotes such behaviors—traveling more sustainably, choosing bicycles, and using car-sharing services. The University of Leicester has an underground bike parking facility accessible to both staff and students, encouraging the choice of this sustainable mode of transport," notes the VILNIUS TECH alumnus.

During this visit to Lithuania, A. Bagdanavicius had the opportunity to visit the laboratories of the new VILNIUS TECH Sustainability centre. Here, sustainability is visible, tangible, and has its own home. During the tour, he was shown the Experimental demonstration laboratory for sustainable consumption, the Eco-Design laboratory, and the Environmental data modelling laboratory, along with lecture auditoriums and open spaces for the community.

In the Experimental demonstration space for sustainable consumption, food crops are being grown, which will later be used in food preparation. The resulting food and kitchen waste will be processed in a bioreactor through anaerobic treatment, turning into bio-gas and compost, which will return as fertiliser to the food crop growth cycle. In the Eco-Design space, the focus is on promoting secondary and multiple uses of materials and recycling for the creation of new product prototypes, as well as environmental solutions and products made from recycled plastics, textiles, and 3D printing technologies. Since this September, students at the Sustainability centre have been tackling and examining sustainability challenges presented by real companies, with plenty of experiments and demonstrations.

Initiative is funded by the Economic recovery and resilience plan "Next generation Lithuania" and the state budget of the Republic of Lithuania.