Our Project Team

The National Technical University (UTN) was created in 2008 to strengthen the pro-fessional development of the technical and technological areas in Costa Rica by offering a wide range academic program involving scientific humanism, innovation and sustainable development emphasis.

UTN focuses on applied research, to help bring innovative solutions to the main social, environmental and economic challenges in all the regions of the country. With this goal in mind, UTN has 6 different campuses, Guanacaste and Pacific campus are the ones leading the research in this project.

The Institute of Environmental Systems Research (IUSF) has been investigating various human-environmental problems linked to biodiversity protection, often with a focus on water, energy and food systems, using systems science methods in order to develop integrated and locally-adapted solutions. Highly relevant research is also conducted by the chair of ‘human geography on sustainable agriculture and agri-food networks’ with respect to the Global South.

In addition, research in the humanities (Department of Romance & Latin Studies) addresses human-environment interactions through narrative analysis. Initial efforts bringing the strengths of UTN and UOS together started already in 2017 through the Costa Rica Centre at UOS, which was founded in 2014 to support transdisciplinary, international and intercultural scientific exchange between Germany and Costa Rica.