The Solstice Programme has come to an end. The international programme, organised by GAIAS Europa, the University of San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) and the University of Edinburgh, concluded its 2026 edition with a day of final presentations, during which students presented their proposals for innovative solutions to global challenges to a panel of high-profile institutional and academic guests.
The event, held at the GAIAS Europa headquarters, was attended by Nathaly Alejandra Ortiz, Ecuador’s consul in Valencia; Jesús Carrión Olarte and Rosa Savall Muñoz, representatives of the Local Emergency and Reconstruction Centre (CLER) in Catarroja, one of the municipalities most affected by the cold drop, and Guillermo Palau, a lecturer at the Polytechnic University of Valencia with expertise in risk management and engineering.
The student teams, comprising students from USFQ and the University of Edinburgh from a range of disciplines and countries, spent two intensive weeks in Valencia designing innovative solutions to one of the most pressing global challenges: natural disaster management and community resilience in the face of extreme weather events. The cold drop that devastated the province of Valencia in the autumn of 2024 was the central theme around which the projects presented revolved.
The presence of the Catarroja Local Emergency Response Committee (CLER) added a particularly significant dimension to the event. Representatives from the local council were able to assess, at first hand, proposals arising from an external and interdisciplinary perspective, enriched by the diversity of the participants and aimed at improving response systems for future emergencies.
For her part, Consul Nathaly Alejandra Ortiz highlighted the role of initiatives such as the Solstice Programme in strengthening ties between Ecuador and Spain in the academic and scientific spheres, and emphasised the value of young Ecuadorians and Latin Americans playing an active part in finding solutions to global challenges from Europe.
For GAIAS Europa, this final day sums up well what we want the Solstice Programme to be: a space where academic knowledge is put to use in addressing specific problems.
