The Office of the Vice-Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation of the Universitat de València and the town hall of Alzira, through IDEA (Local Development Agency of Alzira), with the support of Caixa Popular, launch the second edition of the ‘Universitat de Primavera d’Alzira (UPA)’, with the title ‘Knowledge, conservation and enhancement of the natural heritage of Ribera del Xúquer’. The Vice-Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation, Jorge Hermosilla; the mayor of Alzira, Diego Gómez; the head of the office of Caixa Popular in Alzira, Josep Llopis; and Emilio Barba, head of the Vice- Principal initiatives and coordinator of UPA, will present the programming.  

Professor Emilio Barba has explained that the goal of this second edition of UPA is to “create a forum to debate and provide ideas to contribute to the conservation and enhancement of the Ribera del Xúquer and to bring closer to society the singularity and richness of this emblematic Valencian space”.

‘UPA’ training sessions will be held on 16, 17, 18, 23 and 25 May from 16:00 to 19:20, in headquarters of IDEA (Initiative for economic development of Alzira). The programme includes three training modules for free. These modules count with the participation of teaching and research staff of the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, of the Research Interdisciplinary Structure in Sustainability and from the departments of Botany and Geology, Applied Economics and Geography.

On 16 and 17 May, the module ‘Bio diversity of the Ribera del Xúquer. Keys for its conservation’, given by Juan S. Monrós (Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology). On 23 and 24 May the course ‘Geodiversity and landscape of Ribera del Xúquer and its value as natural heritage’ will be celebrated and held by Francisco Javier Ruiz (Department of Botany and Geology) and Emilio Iranzo (Department of Geography). Sessions of 18 and 25 May will be dedicated to “Enhancement of the value of natural heritage. Educative and touristic proposal’, a seminar held by professors Javier García (Research Interdisciplinary Structure in Sustainability) and Rubén Arnandis (Department of Geography).

This second edition of the ‘Universitat de Primavera d’Alzira’ is the result of an agreement signed by the Universitat de València, through the Vice-Principal for Territorial Projection and Participation, with the City Hall of Alzira. The same way, it has the support of the Chair ‘Cooperativa Caixa Popular del Desarrollo Territorial y Economía Social Valencianos’. The objective of the Universitat de València with this strategic line of institutional co-operation is to project the potential of the research community about their geographical space, to promote the presence and the implication of the Universitat in Valencian regions and to transfer training, investigation and knowledge further more than university classrooms, in a free Universitat de Primavera and accessible to the people who live in Alzira.