Voting for projects in the second edition of the Academic Citizens' Budget of the University of Gdańsk. Voting will last from October 23 to October 30, 2023. The four winning projects of the first edition, initiated by Rector prof. Piotr Stepnowski, have already been implemented.

The Academic Citizens' Budget of the University of Gdańsk ('ACB UG') is a project in which students, doctoral students and employees of the University of Gdańsk could submit their ideas for developing the university's infrastructure. There is PLN 200,000 to spend - 100,000 each for staff and student projects.

In April this year, the academic community had the opportunity to submit their ideas for the second edition of the initiative. Thirty-three projects were submitted, including 22 employee projects and 11 student projects.  The competition committee shortlisted 27 projects - 18 in the pool of staff projects and nine student ideas - for the voting stage.

At the end of September, all four projects selected by the academic community last year in the first edition of ACB UG were completed: ‘I am glad that all the projects selected by our community in the first edition of Academic Citizens' Budget were able to be implemented before voting for projects in the current edition began. I hope they will be the best showcase of this initiative, new at our university, and will encourage the academic community to participate equally actively in voting this year,' says Vice-Rector for Student Affairs and Education Quality dr hab. Arnold Kłonczyński, prof. UG, who chaired the committee evaluating the projects.

In the first edition of the programme, nearly 5 thousand people from among students, doctoral students and employees of our university decided to cast their votes for ACB UG projects.

It should be recalled that among the ideas selected last year in the employee projects category, the first place went to the Pocket Park by the Neophilology building, designed by Aleksandra Hołoma from the Faculty of Philology, who submitted her idea to develop the patio by the Neophilology building.

The aim of the project was to make the small green square more friendly, retrofitting it with seating, pathways and green flowerbeds. A 1.2 m wide pathway was marked out and made through the middle of the court, running from south-west to north-east. The path forms a series of squares, manoeuvring between existing concrete elements on which composite board seating has been installed. Complementary elements are rectangular ornamental beds with coneflower, thyme, sedum and reeds. Two fields between the concrete elements and the path have been sown with a mixture of perennial plant seeds, creating a flower meadow. Two houses - hotels for insects - were also installed there.

The second of the completed staff projects selected in the first edition of ACB UG is the 'Gym & Street Workout - Zone with Outdoor Exercise Equipment' by Tomasz Aftanski, Deputy Director for Sports at the UG Centre for Physical Education and Sports.

The project was located adjacent to the former Rector's Office, near the tennis courts, in the green areas of the Baltic Campus, surrounded by trees. The outdoor gym offers a good selection of horizontal ladders, bars and push-up rails. Additional attractions include suspension gym wheels and an exercise rope. The sand surface ensures the safety of exercisers.

Among last year's student projects, the best was the idea by the Faculty of Law and Administration student Milena Kruszewska - 'All-University Zero Stress Zone at WPiA'. - which envisaged the creation of a space for active relaxation and the exchange of ideas among young academics at the Faculty of Law and Administration.

The project consisted of the interior design of a relaxation zone located on the ground floor, in the main lobby of the Faculty of Law and Administration building, in the immediate vicinity of the cloakroom.

Within the scope of the project, an area of 51 m² was equipped with a seating set for 15 people with a high work surface, an ATM enclosure and plant pots for greenery. The site was located directly beside the glass facade to ensure adequate natural lighting. The seats were made of birch plywood protected with a fire-retardant matt lacquer. The steel elements: flower pots, backrests and the ATM enclosure were made of smooth or perforated steel sheet, powder-coated in light green. The entire design is complemented by modern LED lighting in the form of hanging garlands placed above the tabletops and seats and a variety of potted plants.

The second student project selected in last year’s vote was the ‘Chillout Zone at WNS’, submitted by WNS doctoral student Sandra Żukowska. According to the project, a relaxation and integration zone for the academic community was created in the west wing of the faculty building, on level 300, in a previously undeveloped lobby space.

As part of the project, the walls were repainted, the niche was made more aesthetically pleasing, and carpentry work was carried out, including installing oak stairs to seat ten people. In addition, the zone was equipped with 2 book and game shelves, 7 tabletops, 14 chairs for sitting at the tabletops, 2 rocking chairs (hanging chairs), 2 lounge chairs and 4 small tables.

As part of the arrangement of the area, artificial grass, head and body cushions and seat cushions, blankets, a large pot with a flower, two small pots with plants, 12 LED lights for the tabletops, as well as the installation of 12 shelves on the wall for potted flowers and the purchase of 40 covers and small pots with flowers. The project also included the installation of electrical sockets and the provision of electrical wiring to the stairs.

Returning to this year’s edition, it is worth mentioning the projects on which it will be possible to vote this year.

‘Among the ideas submitted were again the work, relaxation and leisure zones located inside university facilities, which were popular in the first edition of the programme, as well as outdoor leisure spaces and projects related to the development of bicycle infrastructure, including a repair station and bicycle racks, green projects and ideas related to the retrofitting of lecture theatres with sound equipment or new monitors, and even the idea of creating a multimedia vlog/podcast recording studio,’ informs ACB UG coordinator Piotr Szpajer.

A list of all the projects the competition committee has admitted to the voting stage is available here.

Detailed information about each project is available by logging into the Employee Panel or Student Panel at https://abo.ug.edu.pl/Start.aspx under Voting Projects.

Voting will begin on Monday, October 23, at 8:00 a.m. and will continue until Monday, October 30 at 11:59 p.m. It will take place electronically at https://abo.ug.edu.pl/Glosowanie.aspx by logging into the Employee Portal (employees) or Student Portal (students and doctoral students) and selecting the VOTE tab.

Each UG employee will be able to vote for up to 3 projects from the pool of employee projects. Each student and doctoral student will also be able to select up to 3 projects from the list of student projects. People who, at the time of voting, are both employees and students or doctoral students of the university can vote in both categories (by logging in to the Employee Portal - they can choose up to 3 projects from the list of employee projects and by logging in to the Student Portal - they can choose up to 3 projects from the pool of student projects).

The results of the vote will be announced on November 13. The staff and student projects with the highest support, with a total of PLN 100,000 in each category, will be selected for implementation and included in the university’s spending plan for next year.

We wish all ACB UG project applicants the best of luck at the voting stage and encourage the entire community of our university to participate in the decision-making.