A pocket park in the patio of the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of History, bicycle racks at the Rectorate building, a co-working zone and an Eco-nomic park at the Faculty of Economics - the results of the second edition of the Academic Citizens' Budget at the University of Gdańsk have been announced.

‘This is the second time we have celebrated a kind of university democracy. This is an extraordinary project, which shows that everyone can participate in shaping the university space,' said UG Rector prof. dr hab. Piotr Stepnowski.

Out of 27 projects that qualified for the voting stage in the second edition of the Academic Citizens' Budget of the University of Gdańsk (ACB UG), the academic community selected four. Each of them will be implemented by the end of 2024.

Out of the 18 staff projects, the proposal by Ms Aleksandra Hołoma from the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Philology entitled 'Pocket at the Humanities - revitalisation of the patio in the building of the Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of History', which involves transforming the patio into a green space for rest and relaxation. This idea received 403 votes from staff and was granted PLN 49,836. This is the second victory for Ms Aleksandra Hołoma, who won the first edition of ACB UG with her concept for a pocket park next to the Neophilology building of the Faculty of Philology. The project was completed in September this year.

‘Currently, no one uses the patio; we want to turn it into a suitable zone for relaxation and more. I have also included benches for sitting in the project, so if students would like to have an outdoor seminar, they will be able to do so,' said Aleksandra Hołomej. ‘However, it is meant to be a realm for everyone: students and academic, teaching and administrative staff, just like my previous project near the Neophilology building.'

Among the employee initiatives, the second place went to a proposal by dr Małgorzata Kinder from the Financial Project Services Department entitled 'U-type bicycle stands under the roof of the Rectorate', for which 378 people voted. The project, valued by its author at PLN 18,000, involves the creation of 15 U-type bicycle stands in the vicinity of the Rectorate building.

In the pool of student projects, the largest number of votes - 1,645 - went to a project by Maja Hrehorowicz, a student at the Faculty of Economics, entitled 'Co-Economy - a co-working zone of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Gdańsk'. The task envisages the creation of a friendly study and leisure area for students and staff of the Faculty of Economics in the connector between A and B Aulas. The cost of its implementation is PLN 48 228.

Second place went to a project by Zuzanna Zgubinska, who is also a student at the Faculty of Economics, entitled 'Eco-nomic Park'. The idea is to create an outdoor ecological space for quiet and relaxation between classes. It will be made in the vicinity of the Faculty of Economics building, on the side of Student House No. 7 and the Centre for Foreign Languages.

‘The second edition of ACB UG attracted just as much interest from the academic community as last year's instalment. More than 5,500 employees, students and doctoral students of the university voted in this year's competition, with the number of students being over 900 higher than last year at 4,373,’ reports ACB UG Coordinator Piotr Szpajer.

Nearly 12,000 votes were cast for ACB UG 2023 projects, including 2993 for staff projects and 8848 for student projects.

The objectives of the submitted projects in both categories, as last year, proved to be very diverse. Among the proposals submitted were several new ideas, but also concepts that were voted on previously but were not selected by the academic community and the continuations of last year's projects, e.g. 'Plan for a university-wide ZERO-STRESS zone at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk - continuation'.

It should be recalled that a pool of funds in the amount of PLN 200,000 was allocated for the implementation of the competition in the 2023 edition, falling equally (PLN 100,000 each) on projects submitted by students and doctoral students and those submitted by employees.

The UG Communication and Promotion Centre, with the ACB UG coordinator Piotr Szpajer, was responsible for preparing the competition and implementing its results. Technical support for the project was provided by the UG IT Centre, especially by its Deputy Director Marcin Białek.