Alba Bala
Role
Executive Director of the UNESCO Chair of Life Cycle and Climate Change | Director of the Master’s Degree in Sustainability Management ESCI-UPF
Qualifications
PhD in Environmental Sciences (UAB)
Biography
Currently, she is the Executive Director of the UNESCO Chair in Life Cycle and Climate Change at ESCI-UPF and the Director of the Master of Science in Sustainability Management, jointly offered by UPF-BSM and ESCI-UPF.
She teaches in the MSc in Sustainability Management and in the Postgraduate Programme in Management of Sustainable Transition and Climate Emergency offered by ESCI-UPF.
Previously, she was a lecturer and researcher in EcoDesign and Environmental Analysis of Products at the ELISAVA School of Design, the School of Industrial Design (ESDI), and the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at UAB. She has also worked as an environmental consultant.
Her research areas include Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), EcoDesign, Environmentally Correct Purchasing, and the development of methodologies for comprehensive sustainability analysis and assessment.
She is a member of the Spanish Network of Life Cycle Analysis.
She was a finalist for the 2008 European Innova Award, given by the European Commission, DG Enterprise and Industry. She won the Design for Recycling Award in the project category, granted by the Generalitat de Catalunya in 2000.
Subjects they teach
Environmental Impacts
Master of Science in Sustainability Management
Required
Programme:
Master of Science in Sustainability Management
Any human activity has an impact on the environment. Knowing these impacts, and how ecosystems and the natural environment work, is essential to be able to anticipate or mitigate them. The course helps the student to place environmental phenomena in the context of ecosystems and in the natural environment. It provides the basic concepts to understand these phenomena (environment, ecosystem...) and to contextualize environmental impacts (by nature, extent, intensity ...). Likewise, the course will provide information on the physical mechanisms by which different environmental impacts are generated and sufficient information for the student to identify the environmental impacts associated with different types of activities and industrial sectors.
Product and Environment
Master of Science in Sustainability Management
Required
Programme:
Master of Science in Sustainability Management
The development of cleaner products and services is becoming more and more a need and a catalyst for companies. In this course the necessary tools will be provided to determine the environmental impact associated with them, as well as ecodesign strategies to improve them. The course provides the necessary information to the student to know and be able to apply different tools for environmental evaluation of products (checklists, MET matrix, MIPS, LCA, etc.). It shows the student the applications of these types of tools, including the ecodesign of products and services. The course provides basic notions about the main ecodesign strategies and how to apply them to the design of new products and services. It provides the student with a critical spirit for the analysis of the products and services available in the market, as well as in the use of one of the LCA software tools more used in the World.
Sustainability Management
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Programme:
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The new paradigm of the Circular Economy. Introduction to the lifecycle perspective as a mechanism for assessing the environmental impact of production systems. Ecodesign and green marketing. Integrated waste management. Analysis of integrated social value.
Ability to distinguish, select and apply the main methodologies for assessing and improving the nature and the environmental communication of goods and services. Judging and assessing the internalisation of sustainability in the business world.
Code:
80238
Créditos:
4 ECTS
Language:
English