Ciudades y Comunidades Sostenibles

The Faculty of Earth Geosciences Engineering at ESPOL participated in the Ecuadorian Commission for UNESCO Geoparks in Quito, presenting updates on geopark projects and strengthening collaboration among academia, the public sector, and international organizations.

Graduates from the Master's of Civil Engineering Degree at FICT-ESPOL participated in a community outreach program on septic tank maintenance, disseminating information to prevent waterborne diseases and promote safe sanitation in the community.

On February 25, 2026, The Faculty of Geosciences Engineering (FICT) at ESPOL conducted a technical visit to the EMULDEC industrial plant in Calacalí, Quito, with the aim of strengthening university-business links and consolidating support for degree projects in the area of pavements, as well as planning a joint technical workshop on road management and maintenance. This collaboration promotes professional development, knowledge transfer, and applied innovation in road infrastructure, directly benefiting the training of future civil engineers.

Ph.D. Natividad García Troncoso participated as a speaker in the CEINCI LAB Conference Series, where she presented advances in vibration control in pedestrian bridges using tuned mass dampers, strengthening applied research in structural engineering.

As part of THE FINAL PITCH held during ESPOL's IDEAR STEM Fair, the project “From Rain to the Future: Engineering that Transforms Cities” was presented. This innovative proposal aims to transform urban drainage management through sustainable and resilient solutions.

A study published in Construction and Building Materials analyzes the geomorphological and lithological factors that influence susceptibility to landslides in the Ecuadorian Andes, integrating advanced machine learning models. The research identified key variables such as slope, lithology, and proximity to drainage systems, generating high-precision maps for risk management.

From January 28 to 31, 2026, researchers from the Center for Research and Applied Projects in Earth Sciences and professors from The Faculty of Earth Sciences Engineering at the Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral held a training session in Francisco de Orellana as part of a project aimed at strengthening local capacities to address the impacts of illegal mining.

ESPOL’s FICT held the academic talk ‘Exploring the Amazon from Space: GIS and Remote Sensing in University Education,’ aimed at strengthening academic training through the use of geospatial tools. During the event, a scientific article analyzing the expansion of illegal mining in Zamora Chinchipe was presented, highlighting the use of GIS and remote sensing—developed by the faculty of ingenieria en...—to understand territorial dynamics, support decision-making, and prevent environmental and social impacts in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The Advisory Board of the STARS project, funded by Erasmus+ and led by the University of Lisbon, brought together entities from Ecuador and Colombia, with the participation of ESPOL and other universities, to strengthen training and cooperation in disaster risk management.

ESPOL signed an addendum to the tripartite cooperation agreement with CELEC E.P. to expand the technical and scientific scope of applied research in geological and geotechnical studies at the CELEC-SUR unit. The expansion includes additional funding to carry out new soil and rock mechanics tests and geophysical studies, strengthening the characterization of the territory, the security of energy infrastructure, and coordination between academia and the strategic sector.