SECRA pursues international collaboration for climate action and disaster resilience

Strengthening University-Enterprise Collaboration for Resilience Communities in Asia (SECRA) aims to contribute to more resilient communities in Asia through university-enterprise collaboration (UEC) in climate action and disaster resilience (DR).

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) grant, SECRA came in the heels of another Erasmus+-funded project, CaBAREt (Capacity Building in Asia for Resilience Education). Through the CaBAREt project, Ateneo de Manila formed linkages with other universities in the UK, EU and Asia, many of whom then collaborated to develop and implement SECRA. Mid-Sweden University leads the SECRA consortium.

In Ateneo de Manila, the project is being implemented jointly through the Department of Environmental Science, the Ateneo Research Institute for Science and Engineering, the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability, the John Gokongwei School of Management, and the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office.

"Our team genuinely believes in the thrust of SECRA, characterized by the value of collaboration and integration between different sectors," says Dr. Kendra Gotangco Gonzales, Associate Professor at the Department of Environmental Science and the director of the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability.

Despite the travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, SECRA has continued its operations across countries. Since its launch, the project has contributed to developing a deeper understanding and mapping of the institutional landscape of UECs. All Asian country teams, for instance, have conducted the literature review as well as data gathering on UEC. UK and EU project partners, led by the University of Central Lancashire, designed and carried out the analysis. 

The SECRA project is subdivided into eight (8) work packages, some of which are conducted concurrently. These include the production of inputs to policies governing collaborative activities in partner countries; a relational framework to understand UEC; an online platform for a Community of Practice (CoP) consisting of (Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), public sector, and enterprise actors; a Corporate Start-up Lab and networking activities in partner HEIs; and a monitoring tool to assess the quality of UEC that can be broadly contextualized for use in HEIs worldwide. This February, the Ateneo de Manila SECRA team will begin its implementation of Work Package 4, which primarily involves the Corporate Start-up Lab, University-Enterprise Engagement days, and the preparation and administration of online training sessions.

The team expresses its gratitude to the University's faculty and research staff, administrators, and representatives of enterprises who supported and participated in the project's research. "From the information that they provided, the global SECRA team has been able to identify key elements that needed to be addressed, to foster more effective collaborative efforts between universities and enterprises," Dr. Gotangco Gonzales says.

Dr. Gotangco Gonzales shares that future activities may also engage students, alongside more enterprises across the different sectors and Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI –Southeast Asia).

To learn more about SECRA, visit https://drrcollab.org/.