Go Philly 2019: Exploring Healthy Communities in Philadelphia

Description

Go Philly 2019 was Ulster University's largest ever student mobility trip to Philadelphia from 15th-21st June 2019. Over 100 students and staff from 8 academic programmes spent 5 nights on a Global Mobility organised international experience, taking part in a range of academic and cultural activities across the city in small groups with programme specific or open itineraries, culminating in a joint Go Global Conference at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Golden initiated and acted as co-Academic Supervisor for the "Exploring Healthy Communities in Philadelphia Programme" with Public Health colleague Dr Marie Vaganay, and MSci Planning Regeneration and Development colleague Dr Gavan Rafferty. 10 students from the Belfast School of Architectures courses in Architecture, Planning, and Public Health took part to see how different professions in the built environment collaborate in Philadelphia to create healthier places and communities. Visits and learning activities were arranged to understand how architecture, planning and environmental health function in Philadelphia and to be able to appreciate of how these systems, working independently and collaboratively, can deliver on ways to enhance social and environment well-being. Golden and Vagany-Miller accompanied students during the 5 night visit, which included taking part in workshops with the Philadelphia City Planning Commission and Philadelphia Citizens’ Planning Institute and guest academic staff from Jefferson University's Health Design Lab, University of Pennsylvania's Nanotechnology Center, and Drexel University's Urban Health Collaborative. The visit included reflective and cross-disciplinary learning activities, which student shared to Golden and Vaganay-Miller as presentations. a final day Ulster Global Conference with key representatives from academic institutions resulted in an invitation from Jefferson University's College of Architecture and the Built Environment Dean, Professor Barbara Klinkhammer to PVC Global Engagement Ian Montgomery and Director of Global Engagement Catriona McCarthy for Dr Golden and MScI PRD students to return in October 2019 to take part in Jefferson's annual flagship international student event, Nexus Maximus where they won two awards. A joint CEBE and LHS MoU was subsequently agreed with Jefferson University and signed in September 2020 for longer term collaboration.

Period	15 Jun 2019 → 21 Jun 2019
Event type	Other
Location	Philadelphia, United States, PennsylvaniaShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International