23rd ASEF Summer University #ASEFSU23

Do you have what it takes to design our Cities for a Sustainable Future?

WHAT IS #ASEFSU23?

The 23rd ASEF Summer University (ASEFSU23) was an interdisciplinary Hackathon on “Liveable Cities for a Sustainable Future” for Asian and European young professionals & students. Implemented as a virtual programme between September and November 2021, this project was designed to connect young hackers, designers, innovators, urban planners and SDG experts to collaborate & develop urban solutions for challenges in three of the most populated countries in ASEM: Bangladesh, India & Pakistan. Read more about the challenges here.

It aimed to give #Youth the opportunity to:

1. Play their role towards Sustainable Urbanisation, transforming their ideas into a concrete solution and leave a positive mark in urban communities in Bangladesh, India & Pakistan
2. Receive intellectual and technical mentorship throughout the programme and solution development
3. Develop their knowledge and skills on the SDGs & Leadership, and receive a certification of participation from renowned universities, as well as microcredits from the University College Cork (UCC), Ireland.
4. Have access to and become a member of the ASEM & ASEF youth community opening doors for cross-regional collaboration and exchange
5. Help represent the youth voice and be part of an ASEM-wide Youth Report on Sustainable Urbanisation

For more details, please refer to the Overview. 

WHO JOINED #ASEFSU23?

The 23rd ASEF Summer University brought together 86 participants and Hackathon Team Leaders from 39 ASEM Countries – see more details about them in this Participants Booklet.

The programme was supported by various resource persons: Hackathon Technical Coordinators, Mentors, Speakers, Judges, Background Paper Authors, Young Reporters and an Inclusion Coordinator.  You can read about them in this booklet here. 

WHAT DID #ASEFSU23 OFFER?

The ASEFSU23 consisted of 3 main programme elements, you can see the full programme here:

Pre-hack Phase (11-29 October 2021): Ideation, including Challenge definition, knowledge building & stakeholder engagement
The phase offered all participants trainings and workshops to deepen their understanding of the theme of Sustainable Cities and Urbanisation, as well as provide them with an outlook on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. As part of the programme they completed individual & group tasks, and were provided extra resources for self-paced learning using an e-learning platform, including a number of Background Papers on the topics that can be read here.

Hackathon (12-14 November 2021): Prototype Development with Experts Mentoring
During this phase, all participants moved from theory to practice, and competed in groups to develop digital prototypes solving specific urban challenges in Bangladesh, India & Pakistan. The participant teams will be supported by intellectual and technical mentors throughout the development process.

On 14 November, the teams all pitched the solutions. You can watch all the Pitches here. [Note: accessible transcripts for all Pitches are available upon demand. Please contact asefsu@asef.org should you require them.]

On 15 November, the winners were announced in an Award Ceremony: watch the highlights here.
The following teams won:

• Bangladesh Challenge: Bangladesh Team 3, led by Ms Samia RAFA
• India Challenge: India Team 3, led by Ms Neha RANA
• Pakistan Challenge: Pakistan Team 3, led by Ms Amna SHOAIB
• Audience Award: Pakistan Team 4, led by Ms Shiza TANWEER

Throughout the programme, number of participants participated in additional sessions in pursuit of a microcredential offered by University College Cork: a Certificate in Continuing Professional Development in Global Leadership and Sustainable Urbanisation, the equivalent to 10 ECTS credits.

Post-hack (up to 3 months post-Hackathon, only applicable for Hackathon winners): Prototype Testing and possible implementation, including mentoring collaboration with local partners

The ASEFSU23 Hackathon was preceded by a Team Leaders Training Programme (20-31 September 2021).
Through an Open Call, 12 selected youth from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan will take part in a 2-week training on Design-Thinking, Facilitation and Team Collaboration. These youth leaders took on Team Leader Roles in the Hackathon and helped guide the ASEFSU23 participants. 

INSIGHTS INTO SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION 

These documentary-style videos share insights into the 3 focus topics: waste management, child obesity & urban mobility, featuring interviews with ASEFSU23 partner representatives, technical coordinators, mentors, expert speakers and Hackathon Team Leaders.

PODCAST: LIVEABLE CITIES ACROSS ASIA & EUROPE

Listen to ASEFSU23 participants join together to share and discuss different urban challenges in their communities & cities, as well as how to tackle them, in this podcast:

PUBLICATION ON ‘SUSTAINABLE URBANISATION AND DIGITAL INNOVATIONS: PERSPECTIVES FROM ASEM YOUTH’

As an outcome of the ASEFSU23, this publication features essays written by the participants on urbanisation challenges in their communities and how technology could solve them. It also features an analysis of the views of 600+ young Asians and Europeans on Sustainable Urbanisation and SDG11 across ASEM.

You can read the publication here.

PARTNER FEATURES

ASEFSU23 was made possible due to the partnerships with a number of universities and institutions. Check out these interviews by our ASEFSU23 Young Reporters with our Partner representatives:

• Aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals from an organisational perspective: an interview with Mr Stefan BURKHARDT and Mrs Julia BERGER from the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF)

• Behind the scenes of the ASEFSU23 Hackathon & the importance of networking: an interview with Mr Syed RAIHAN-UL-ISLAM from Daffodil International University

• On Higher Education Ecosystems and the importance to embed non-formal education projects into formal education: an interview with Ms Kala ANAND from Krea University

• How can educational institutions help tackle the issue of urbanisation. An interview with Mr Hammad Noor AHMED from Superior University in Lahore

• Discussing healthy learning cities: an interview with Prof Mike OSBORNE and Dr Yulia NESTEROVA, University of Glasgow

ASEFSU23 OUTCOMES

Check out this Infographic for the key statistics of the project and this Project Report for more in-depth details.

ASEFSU23 OP-EDs FEATURED IN THE DAILY STAR, BANGLADESH

As a follow-up to the project, The Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh featured 4 op-eds by Dr Syed Saad ANDALEEB (Former Vice-Chancellor, Brac University), an ASEFSU23 mentor for the Bangladesh challenge, and 4 of the ASEFSU23 participants.

• “Dhaka has a waste management problem” – Dr Syed Saad ANDALEEB & Sayeda Shahpara SHAH (Pakistan)
• “The psychology of improper waste disposal in Dhaka” – Dr Syed Saad ANDALEEB & Irene SERGIOU (Cyprus)
• “How Dhaka can benefit from circular waste management” – Dr Syed Saad ANDALEEB & Vilim Borosa (Croatia)
• “A digital solution to Dhaka’s waste problem” – Dr Syed Saad ANDALEEB & Sainul ABID (India)