Sustainability is often claimed to be divided into three levels: environmental, economic, and social components. However, even if they are strictly connected, it has been noted that the perception of sustainability is still anchored solely to its ecological aspect, leaving aside the economic and social ones. By analyzing the main declarations and charts that signed the evolution of sustainable development in education, this paper tries to find a pattern in the use of the terms “social”, “economic”, “environmental”, and “sustainability”, in the world of universities. Despite the analysis demonstrates a decrease in the reference to “environment”, and an increase in the use of “social” and “sustainability”, it must be noted that the simple presence of the latters, does not mean the rise of their adoption or awareness. Nevertheless, universities are progressively involved in the path toward sustainability due to their leadership, power, and functions of research, teaching, and outreach, regardless of how sustainability is defined.

This paper will first analyze the concept of sustainability and how it evolved, then offer an index for those documents that paved the path of education and higher education toward a more sustainable world, by listing its milestones of the last fifty years. Finally, it will underline the evolution of the concept in the same documents and draw its conclusions.

Within the framework of the research “The Object of(l) Design: Cognitive Dissonances in the Processes of Form Generation during the Act of Projection”, this study addresses the distortion of social mental frameworks caused by manipulative operations such as post-truth, disinformation, consumption strategies, and technological immediacy. These phenomena strip concepts of their substantial content and influence cognitive processes in the formal configuration of reality.

The experience developed in the 4th-year “Design Workshop” course of the Degree in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development at ULPGC is presented. Using “sustainability” as a core concept, a methodological strategy was implemented to detect “Empty Spaces of Conceptual Experience” (E.S.C.X.), aiming to raise awareness of the interpretations and beliefs that influence decision-making. This approach fosters critical thinking to avoid ideological loops and facilitate innovation.

The course is structured in phases that delve into the review of universal and specific sources, including scientific articles. Nouns are selected to create a conceptual map of the underlying reality, which is then compared to a hypernymy-based map generated through Word Net. This comparison reveals absent concepts in the original map, which serve as the foundation for inhabitable proposals in new environments and concrete experiences.

This methodology seeks not only to reflect on the act of projection but also to install critical responsibility in idea generation, contributing to more conscious and innovative design. By bridging gaps between theoretical frameworks and practical application, the study emphasizes the role of design in navigating cognitive dissonances and reshaping reality through intentional, ethically grounded creativity.

This study evaluated biochar addition on the mesophilic anaerobic digestion of agricultural and livestock wastes, specifically olive mill wastewater (50%), cheese whey (30%), and poultry manure (20%) . The anaerobic digestion process demonstrated satisfactory methane production, accounting for approximately 66-68% of the biogas composition. Subsequently, the raw digestate was diluted with water at a ratio of 1:10 and utilized for irrigation of oat, tomato, and wheat plants. Plant growth trials indicated that irrigation with diluted digestate generally enhanced plant growth compared to conventional water irrigation. The findings confirm anaerobic digestion's potential for renewable energy production and nutrient recycling, highlighting its significant role within circular economy practices. However, public perception regarding anaerobic digestate tends to vary significantly. While positively viewed by stakeholders familiar with renewable energy, sustainability, and circular economy concepts for its role as an organic fertilizer and soil conditioner, broader public acceptance can be hindered by concerns related to odors, pathogens, contaminants, and environmental impacts. Therefore, effective communication, transparent certification processes, and successful demonstration projects are crucial for increasing awareness, trust, and acceptance.

The study explores the hypothesis that individuals show greater sympathy towards coherent name-face pairs compared to incoherent pairs, replicating the effect observed by Barton and Halberstadt. A structured questionnaire was designed where participants rated their sympathy for each name-face pair on a scale from 1 to 9, with 1 signifying "Would not like at all" and 9 denoting "Would like very much." Recruitment was conducted through the university's SONA platform, ensuring voluntary participation, anonymity, and confidentiality. Names and faces were paired based on responses from a pilot study, creating highly coherent or highly incoherent pairs.

The first study was conducted with psychology students but failed to replicate the previous effect. As a result, a second experiment was carried out using the same survey with a general population, excluding psychology students. However, the effect still could not be replicated, raising questions about the extent to which cross-modal perception is as prevalent as previously thought.