Target Group and Size
24–30 students (optimal: 28)
Indicative institutional balance:
- NYU (8–10)
- EUT partners (8–10)
- UPCT (8–10)
Ideal Student Profile
The Mar Menor Living Lab Edition: Mediterranean Futures Summer School is designed for a highly selective group of students with strong academic preparation and a clear interest in sustainability challenges at the intersection of environmental systems, cities, and innovation. The ideal participants are students who combine analytical capacity with openness to interdisciplinary and applied work in real territorial contexts.
Academic Level
Participants should typically be:
- Final-year undergraduate students with an excellent academic record, or
- Master’s students in relevant fields seeking an intensive international learning experience
Doctoral students may be considered in limited cases, particularly if their research aligns with coastal sustainability or environmental innovation.
Disciplinary Backgrounds
The Summer School is interdisciplinary by design. Suitable academic backgrounds include:
- Environmental science and coastal ecology
- Urban studies, geography and territorial planning
- Engineering (civil, environmental, industrial, marine systems)
- Data science, applied AI and environmental monitoring
- Economics, public policy and sustainability governance
- Entrepreneurship, innovation management and circular economy
Diversity of academic perspectives is considered an asset, as teams work across disciplines.
Core Competencies and Interests
Selected students are expected to demonstrate:
- Strong motivation to engage with real sustainability challenges
- Interest in fragile ecosystems, coastal resilience and environmental restoration
- Ability to work with systems thinking approaches (interdependence, spillovers, complexity)
- Curiosity for data-driven decision-making and applied problem solving
- Openness to entrepreneurial methods as tools for structuring viable initiatives
- Willingness to collaborate in international, multidisciplinary teams