SOCIAL COMMITTMENT

National emblem
SOCIAL COMMITTMENT

 

University of Lodz is a socially responsible university. For years we have been conducting activities that aim at positive influence on the environment.

We are an important scientific, research and teaching centre, and we want to implement and show how to implement socially responsible initiatives and those serving sustainable development in practice. We are pleased about the subsequent projects that the university community brings to life. They are the result of our cooperation and commitment. They include, among others, classes that popularize learning among children and adolescents, educational campaigns that build positive habits of students and employees of the University, and projects aiming at helping those that need care and support.

#MAŁEWIELKIEKROKI [LITTLEBIGSTEPS]

University of Lodz belongs to large organisations – almost 30 thousand people work and study with us. That is a very numerous group. Numerous enough to help us illustrate the scale of the problem, as well as the potential that comes with such a community. 

Forecasts of specialists are frightening – this is true. However, they are associated with this version of reality in which ordinary people do not take any actions – they stick to their habits and passively observe more and more catastrophic reports from the world of nature. However, we can still take a different course by implementing even minor changes.

Together we all have the power to affect the fate of the only planet on which life is possible. In the present day, each seemingly small gesture matters when thousands of people perform it every day.

With this in mind, we prepared #MałeWielkieKroki [LittleBIgSteps] – a catalogue of good eco practices of the University of Lodz. The document that shows which actions are within reach of any of us. It tells us, among others, how to implement the standards defined by us as a “green office” (or “green dorm”) and how to start functioning in accordance with the less waste pyramid, that is, tips to protect us from too much production of garbage and things.

“LIVE CONSCIOUSLY!“ SERIES

Together with RMF FM journalists, the scientists from #UniLodz have recorded podcasts in which they talk about the concept of a conscious, good life. Together, we find out what to do to achieve this state.

 

BEEBLIOTEKA [BEE-LIBRARY] OF UNILODZ

University of Lodz is becoming “greener and greener”. That's one of our priorities. The campus is not only a place of study and work, but also part of an urban area that should work with nature as best as possible, also for our sake. 

- says Prof. Elżbieta Żądzińska, Rector of the University of Lodz.

Beeblioteka [Bee-library], or beehives located on the rooftop of the University of Lodz Library, is another project that promotes concern for the environment that we are implementing. The apiary, created in collaboration with the Lodz Apiarist Association, consists of five beehives, inhabited by 30000 insects.  Their inhabitants support the urban ecosystem by pollinating plants in the vicinity of UL Library. 

Urban beehives initiated by the University of Lodz Library are also to contribute to the popularisation of knowledge about bees and beekeeping among the academic community and residents of Lodz. Thanks to Beeblioteka [Bee-library], it will also be possible to realize of how great importance these insects are to the man.

 

 

 

 

 

ACTIVITIES OF OUR COMMUNITY

Students and employees of the Faculty of Economics and Sociology lead numerous initiatives for environmental protection and climate change adaptation. Thanks to their actions, there is a bike shelter on the premises of the Faculty encouraging movement in the spirit of sustainable mobility, a house for apitherapy has been created, and on the rooftop of one of the buildings an apiary is located. EkoEksoc is also educational and information campaigns.

 

Based on the design of an old beehive, built of wood, forsythia stalks and raspberries, birch stakes, dried grass shoots and protected against predators – this is the first hotel for insects at the Faculty of Management at the University of Lodz. It has been built by the employees themselves.

 

[Translate to English:] Domek dla owadów
[Translate to English:] Domek dla owadów
[Translate to English:] Domek dla owadów

Every year, the academic community of the University of Lodz helps the most needy families from Lodz and the region. Students and employees turn into volunteers – they plan shopping together, prepare gifts for the families and sometimes also directly hand them in.

 

Noble Gift - gifts in the car
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - prezenty w samochodzie
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - prezenty w samochodzie
Noble Gift - a portrait with the gifts
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - portret z prezentami
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - portret z prezentami
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - prezenty
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - prezenty
Noble Gift - the gifts
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - prezenty z kartka świąteczną
Noble Gift - gifts with a Christmas card
[Translate to English:] szlachetna paczka - prezenty z kartka świąteczną

Lodz is famous for its civic budget. Thanks to the budget, residents of Lodz themselves choose the projects that are later carried out on the territory of the city. Thanks to their initiative, woonerf areas are created, plantings are made, and common spaces are renewed. Drawing inspiration from the best, the Faculty of Economics and Sociology has launched an analogous programme for the members of its community. 

 

Every year, in January entire Poland joins the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity – we also join it. We become volunteers, we organise auctions, we fill up cans of money. Since 2010 students from the Investor Student Science Club from the Faculty of Economics and Sociology have been inviting all those willing to participate in the project Let's Build a Heart Together, which they implement in cooperation with the WOŚP. During the Finale of the campaign together with residents of Lodz and the surrounding area, we build a huge heart filled with millions of gold coins in the Manufaktura Shopping Centre Thanks to the initiative of the University of Lodz students, every year we donate further tonnes of “gold” to support those in need.

 

The Let's Build a Heart Together project has been highlighted as one of the 5 most interesting initiatives according to TVN station, and the originators received the medal of the 25th anniversary of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. In 2017, the Investor Student Science Club won in the competition invaluable surprises from Mastercard, thanks to which the building of one of the UniLodz dorms is decorated with a mural designed by Jurek Owsiak.

Photos from the WOŚP Finale
Check how we were building the heart during the 26th Finale of WOŚP

It's the largest global campaign for human rights organised by Amnesty International. All over the world, every year we join forces to send joint letter appeals to the authorities and expressions of solidarity in the cases of a few specific people whose human rights are violated.  We also write letters at the University of Lodz - it happens so thanks to the students from the Science Club for Journalism from the Faculty of Philology who coordinate this action at our university.

 

The first in Lodz Foodsharing Spot was created at the Faculty of Economics and Sociology. We can bring there food that we are not able to eat. Anyone can have something to eat, absolutely free of charge. This is how we share food with others while preventing it from wasting.

 

How does the scientific theory relate to the practice of city management?  This question will be answered by the hosts and guests of the podcasts "Conversations about the climate in cities".  Dr Paulina Legutko (SGH Warsaw School of Economics), dr Agnieszka Rzeńca (University of Lodz), prof. Piotr Skubała (University of Silesia in Katowice) and dr Agnieszka Sobol (Institute of Urban and Regional Development) together with the invited guests – scientists, experts, local government officials and activists, have created 11 conversations about what actions are taken in the context of preparing Polish cities for the climate change. 

 

 

 

The Advisory Team for Climate and Environmental Policy at the University of Lodz was created on the initiative of UniLodz employees who wanted to act in the face of climate change. Its goal is to build the image of the University of Lodz as an environmentally conscious university and to integrate knowledge from various areas in the field of climate change prevention and to develop solutions that form the basis for administrative activities. 

 

 

UNIVERSITY SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT

We are proud to present the first corporate social responsibility report of the University of Lodz for 2017-2018. This is the result of actions undertaken by the University for social responsibility and the implementation of the principles of sustainable development. In 2017, we became a signatory of the Declaration of Social Responsibility, and in 2018 we signed the Diversity Charter. Our efforts have also been distinguished by the European Commission, thanks to which we can use the prestigious „HR Excellence in Research” logo. We are pleased that our pursuits in the area of improving the scientific and non-scientific dimension have been noticed, but we also have a sense of responsibility for actions and decisions, and we want to fulfill our commitments with even greater attention.

Social responsibility and sustainable development are important concepts that organise socio-economic life. As an important scientific, research and teaching centre, we want to implement and demonstrate how to implement socially responsible activities and those serving sustainable development in practice. We understand social responsibility as taking responsibility for your own decisions and their impact on the society and environment.

We are responsible for the quality of education of the future staff.  We meet the needs of business practice, we adapt education curricula to the needs of the labour market.  We undertake scientific challenges of great social and economic value. The results of our research work serve the society and support business development.  As a responsible employer, we strive to provide good working conditions and create opportunities for professional development.  We strengthen international cooperation and we are a partner for representatives of various sectors in the region and in the country.

The presented report provides key information about social responsibility activities undertaken over the last two years, when our activity in this area became more structured. This is the first document for the University of Lodz in which our understanding of social responsibility is explained.  By handing it over to you, we hope that we will inspire more universities to prepare their social reports and that we will encourage all our stakeholders to be even more active in the field of social responsibility.

We want the actions resulting from the report to shape the attitudes and behaviour of the University of Lodz employees.  Our ambition is to create a socially responsible environment inside and outside the University by showing good practices and inspiring further socially responsible activities.

CENTER OF SOCIAL INNOVATIONS

CEIN, i.e., the University of Lodz Center for Social Innovation, was established on the initiative of the following Faculties of the University of Lodz: Faculty of Philosophy and History, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Management and the Faculty of Economics and Sociology.

The field of interests and activities of the Centre includes, first of all, broadly understood social innovation, understood as innovative, non-standard solutions to social challenges and problems.  The Centre also undertakes the implementation of the idea of social responsibility of the University and the promotion of the University of Lodz in the local environment.