The International Green Gown Awards have honoured Amrita’s Live-in-Labs® for its participatory engagement to transform rural communities towards sustainable living.
This year includes 95 finalists from 28 countries across 8 categories. With sustainable development moving up the global agenda, the Green Gown Awards have become established as the most prestigious recognition of best practice within the further and higher education sector.
In the category of Benefitting Society, the accolade emphasised how Live-in-Labs® is empowering villages across the country in a unique way. As a part of the program, participants from Amrita and 30+ international institutions form multidisciplinary teams that live in impoverished communities to find solutions for sustainable development.
Amma launched the groundbreaking Live-in-LabsⓇ initiative in 2013, marking a pioneering effort in experiential learning. This multidisciplinary program connects students with rural communities, immersing them in local life to address real-world challenges.
By applying their academic knowledge in practical settings, students gain the opportunity to create lasting impact. Live-in-LabsⓇ fosters collaboration between participants, local governments, and subject matter experts, working together to implement affordable, scalable solutions.
Judges remarked how Live-in-Labs means students gain essential skills for the future by tackling real-world problems firsthand. The project shows that they are not just looking for solutions, but really trying to understand what the issues are in the first place.
The judges also noted how the participants are leveraging their academic knowledge to make a meaningful impact that is respectful of the communities. This also embeds societal challenges within Amrita’s curriculum and is easily replicable by other universities. A very solid initiative that is a win-win for the students and the villagers.
“We are deeply honoured to receive this International Green Gown Award for our university’s sustainability initiatives. Being chosen as the top entry among numerous universities highlights the uniqueness of our efforts,” said Dr. Maneesha Ramesh, Amrita Provost & Dean of School for Sustainable Futures.
“This recognition empowers us to further expand our initiatives and strive even harder for social good.”
The Green Gown Award highlighted work by Live-in-Labs® in the isolated village of Guptapada, Odisha to address a myriad of community challenges. The project focused on participatory engagement to address key challenges like water inaccessibility, poor sanitation, limited livelihood opportunities, and health risks from unsustainable cooking practices.
Through collaborative efforts involving engineering, biotechnology, social science, and management disciplines—along with global partnerships—innovative solutions were developed. These included modular water filtration systems, smokeless cookstoves, IoT-based mushroom cultivation, skill training centers, and toilet construction. The project highlights the transformative impact of sustainable solutions on community well-being.
The Green Gown Awards underscored how Live-in-Labs® actions and outcomes are sustainable solutions that lead to making the people who live in Guptapada self-reliant.
The Top 3 learnings cited in the Award are:
