The Inter-university Institute for Local Development (IIDL) celebrates its fifteenth anniversary on Thursday the 12th of May qith a round table named -Local development and cooperation in turbulent times: the 2030 agenda as a tool for public dialogue-. The event will start at 17h and will take place at auditorium of the Botanical Garden of the Universitat de Valčncia. María Vicenta Mestre, principal of the Universitat will be among the attendees.
In the round table will participate Federico Buyolo, director of Cultural Innovation at the Ortega y Gasset-Gregorio Marańón Foundation; Raquel Agost, professor and secretary of the IIDL at the Universitat Jaume I; Juan Romero, full university professor of Human Geography at the Universitat de Valčncia; and Ana Sales Ten, director of the inter-university Master’s degree in Development Cooperation.
The Inter-university Institute for Local Development (IIDL) has two head offices, one of them being at the Universitat de Valčncia and the second one being at the Universitat Jaume I, in Castellón. It is a research and theorical and practical specialisation centre in the field of local and regional development. The work in the Institute is conducted by researchers of different fields, who have the common aim of working towards an inclusive and sustainable development.
The aim of the IID, according to the director, María Dolores Pitarch ’is to develop research projects and to collaborate with different organisations, either public or private, with the goal of creating synergies that contribute to improving the life quality of people, both in the present and the future. With this in mind, we are looking to create useful knowledge for society and, following an approach of sustainability and participatory governance, we are looking to innovate in order to improve and deal with the challenges that we may face with solvency and responsability. These challenges may go from global change to ageing; from the depopulation of the rural world to the overcrowding of cities; employment; economical activity, etc.’.
Throughout the fifteen years of official existance of the Institute for Local Development, ’we have been iniciated many projects and supported both theorical and applied research in the various research groups that constitute the IIDL, nine of which are linked to the Universitat de Valčncia and five to the Universitat Jaume I. The Institute presents a postgraduate training offer, among which some offers stand out, such as the official inter-university Master’s degree in Development Cooperation, which is a reference in the Valencian Community and in Spain; a Master’s degree in Management of Policies for Territorial Development; an inter-university doctorate in Local Development and International Coperation; a science magazine, ’Terra, Revista de Desarrollo Local’ (’Terra, Local Development Magazine’); seven Instituitonal chairs (five at the Universitat de Valčncia and tow at the Universitat Jaume I); two renowned awards, one of them being the research prize José María Bernabé, aimed at doctoral programme students and/or enrollees in an Official Postgraduate Programme; and the IDL-Ciudad de Castellón Development Cooperation Prizes , aimed at students of the University of Jaume I Master's degree in Development Coperation, with the intention of promoting research in Development Studies through the Master’s Degree Final Project'.
Furthermore, the IIDL is organising various conferences and seminars, among which can be highlighted the Permanent Seminar of Local Development, which takes place once a month; and the Local Development Conference, which take splace once a year. Both events are open to students, researchers and local development operators of the Valencian Community. Since its foundation, the IIDL has been supported by both universities, and by the directors that have contributed to strengthening the interdisciplinary and international nature of this common research space for both the Universitat de Valčncia and the Universitat Jaume I.
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