Environmental protection, social responsibility and sustainable development are not necessarily associated with humor, but rather with a guilty conscience. The WU Institute for Managing Sustainability has deliberately counterpointed the educational project "Humor and Sustainability" and conveyed scientifically correct content with humor and publicity. The project was awarded the "Education for Sustainable Development - BEST OF AUSTRIA" award by the Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism on 28 November 2018.

The WU educational project "Humor and Sustainability" was implemented for the first time in the summer semester of 2018 in the Master Program Management. Instead of writing seminar papers, students have created concepts and story boards in the style of American late-night shows. The range of topics went from electromobility, fast fashion and bee mortality to tourism and the sharing economy. Students were supported by the team of the WU Institute for Managing Sustainability, the improvisation trainer and actress Anita Zieher, and the cabaret artist and actor Florian Scheuba. The concept has now been awarded the "Education for Sustainable Development - BEST OF AUSTRIA" award from the Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism. "Teaching at WU is characterized by innovative and excellent teaching concepts, which have already been honored with national and international awards on several occasions. This award, which WU is very pleased to share with the Institute for Managing Sustainability, is also a nice sign”, says WU President Edeltraud Hanappi-Egger.

Increase of Learning Effects

In the WU education project, humor is used to increase the interest of students and young people in sustainable development, to increase their learning effects, and to sensitize them to a sustainable way of life. "Anyone who can convey content through humor will attract more attention and trigger positive emotions," says André Martinuzzi, Head of the WU Institute for Managing Sustainability, adding: "Good punch lines require creativity and a high degree of specialist knowledge. This provides an incentive to deal with current topics in a well-founded way.”Florian Findler from the institute knows: “We are very satisfied with the results of the project, and will film the best ideas and start a new round in the coming summer semester.”

Second Award for WU Insitute

The WU Institute for Managing Sustainability has been awarded the "Best of Austria Award" for the second time. In 2017, their project "Sustainable Development Stories - a pilot project on open learning at WU", which promotes the understanding of sustainability among high school students, received the award.

Read more about the <link sustainability>Institute for Managing Sustainability.

Press Contact:

Mag. Cornelia Moll Pressesprecherin
Tel: + 43-1-31336-4977
E-Mail: cornelia.moll@wu.ac.at

Additional Information:

Florian Findler, M.Sc.
Institut für Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement
Tel: + 43-1-31336-5133
E-Mail: florian.findler@wu.ac.at