Universidade Aberta
AC-10: Support for Research

The outcomes for the student research program is based on the aquisition of knowledge that focus on the sustainability topics plus the award of credits from the sucessefull conclusion of the program. In adition the best reports and theses get the oportunity to transform that knowledge into books or scientific research papers.

Cooperation and scientific, technical and cultural exchange with national and international counterparts is one of the strategic areas of the Open University. Its commitment to foreign relations has resulted in numerous protocols and partnerships, with national and foreign entities, in the active participation in training projects, in the domains of e-learning, as well as in activities of mobility, both conventional and virtual , teachers, other staff and students. Another aspect in these relations is the organization or co-organization of meetings and conferences, contributing to an international projection of the Open University. The Open University support the interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research written on the strategic plan developed for interval 2015-2019 where several goals promote the identified topics: - Promote, within the consortium with the University of Coimbra, collaboration with foreign universities, with a view to training programs; • Develop programs for the exchange of teachers and researchers with renown world universities, especially with regard to distance education universities; • Consolidate the participation of UAb in international research and development and associate their results with the activities of teaching; • Promoting staff placements technical assistance in international reference in the area of distance education. Lifelong Learning (Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo da Vinci and Vinci and Grundtvig), Youth in Action, Erasmus Mundus, Tempus, Alfa and Edulink, were the European programs in which always, UAb participated. ERASMUS + (E +), the new the European Union for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, entered into force on January 1, 2014 and integrates the several existing Programs.

The Open University library has got two specific communities regarding the sustaianbility research, named by "Environment and Sustainability" and "Social Sustainability and Development". For each of the lines of research the library produced a report where it can be seen the exponencial research and downloads for this items: -"Environment and Sustainability":2015 - 813 downloads; 2016 - 2036.5 downloads e 2017 - 2570.5 downloads. https://repositorioaberto.uab.pt/stats?level=community&type=access&page=down-series&object-id=84 , 2015 2016 2017 - "Social Sustainability and Development": 2016 - 80 downloads e 2017 - 145 downloads. https://repositorioaberto.uab.pt/stats?level=collection&type=access&page=down-series&object-id=716

Examples from Student Sustainability Research Incentives: Books from the students reports: LIÇÕES PRÁTICAS DE SUSTENTABILIDADE-COLETÂNEA DE PROJETOS DE TRABALHOS DE CAMPO II, Ana Paula Martinho; Sandra Caeiro; Carla Padrel de Oliveira [Coord.], 2015 ISBN: 978-972-674-749-9 Scientific Articles from doctoral theses: Disterheft, A., Caeiro, S., Azeiteiro, U. M., & Filho, W. L. (2015). Sustainable universities – a study of critical success factors for participatory approaches. Journal of Cleaner Production, 106, 11-21. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.01.030