Scholarship of Hope winners score one for sustainability

Each year, MODUL University Vienna gives out scholarships to the students with the most innovative ideas in the area of sustainability that meet the needs of the present, and improve the welfare of future generations.

Awarded by the Sustainability Committee, the Scholarship of Hope (SoH) is focuses on ideas that could be implemented on campus at MU to further our goal of becoming an internationally recognized university in this field. For their innovative and creative proposals, this year’s recipients are: Marthissa M. März for her proposal ''MU organic garden'' and Pius Binder for his proposal ''Greening horizons''.

Marthissa was inspired by American universities’ activities in the area of organic gardening. She read about activities such as student-run sustainable food initiative at Yale University, and was immediately impressed. Her proposal is a modified, tailor-made project for MODUL University which strongly incorporates the idea of strengthening the social ties between faculty and students. The whole project follows an integrated sustainability approach which takes into account the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability. It foresees the scenario of a joint student-faculty/staff garden for self-sufficiency here on Kahlenberg, using available space to grow fresh produce for local consumption. The future of this proposal could envision a larger-scale operation that would donate the excess to a worthy cause.

Pius’s idea was primarily driven by recent catastrophes, such as the March 2011 earthquake in Japan and its aftermath. He recognized the need to become more active and engaged in the area of sustainable development, and to alert others that human beings are consuming scarce natural resources. His proposal, ‘Greening horizons’, is dedicated to the idea of giving something back to nature, and focuses on the built environment and its energy consumption. Green roofs are one particular answer to energy scarcity. By installing plants on a rooftop, it helps to insulate the building from the cold in winter as well as diminishing the sun’s rays in summer, thereby keeping the building cooler. He proposed a green roof for MODUL University which would be accessible to all members of the university, offering a common space for faculty, staff and students to relax. Aside from the social element, the proposal focuses on environmental as well as economic aspects, and therefore fulfils the requirements for an integrated sustainability approach.

We encourage our students to follow in Pius and Marthissa’s footsteps, and think sustainable. Submissions are already being accepted for next year’s Scholarship of Hope, deadline April 15th, 2012.

Detailed abstracts of both proposals will soon be posted on our website, check back later for more information on our students’ innovative ideas!