Schools@University project leader Karola Braun-Wanke received the ISCN Award in the category Excellence in Innovative Collaboration. Matthew Gardner, head of the jury, emphasized how “passion and creativity” made the Schools@University for Sustainability + Climate Protection a unique one. “The international recognition means a lot to me”, said Braun-Wanke, who works for the Environmental Policy Research Centre at Freie Universität.

The Schools@University project not only welcomes about 3000 pupils from Berlin schools. It also offers seminars to about 400 teachers, who receive an input on how to include sustainability topics in their lessons. The courses aim at explaining the meaning of the abstract terms “sustainability” and “climate protection” to kids in a playful way. The great variety of more than 90 cooperation partners contribute to the diversity of workshop formats offered by researchers from Freie Universitaet Berlin, but also by artists, photographers, moviemakers, a cook as well as environmental protection organizations and companies. “The Schools@University project received the prize for the high level of networking and the cooperative relationship that fosters interaction”, says Karola Braun-Wanke.

It is the sixth prize the Schools@University for Sustainability + Climate Protection received on international and national level. The ISCN also awarded the initiative SUSTAIN IT! of Freie Universität Berlin in 2015.