Nursing students from IFSI Institute of Formation at Soins Infirmiers at CHCB in Bayonne and students from the Faculty of Psychology at UPV/EHU, together with project coordinators Itziar Recalde and Julieta Barrenechea reflect on the Ocean i3 project, a transdisciplinary programme on the issue of plastic in the oceans and how an environmental project can break down the boundaries between disciplines, with the aim of eliminating plastic and microplastics in our oceans. According to Julieta Barrenechea, coordinator of the Ocean i3 project, “this is a complex problem that cannot be understood from a single discipline. We have to get used to working in multidisciplinary teams that face complex problems”.
On the other hand, Itziar Recalde, professor at the Faculty of Education at the UPV/EHU and Coordinator of the Ocean i3 project, affirms that “when plastic is thrown into the sea, it knows no borders, and each country has a different legal framework and acts under different parameters […] in our project we want union to solve this problem that affects us all as human beings”. In contribution to the enrichment of the project, Marine Chaussat, a nursing student at IFSI Bayonne, also explains the importance of multilingualism at Ocean i3: “The project is very enriching personally for being able to speak in Basque and Spanish, as well as French. We learn to cooperate even if we don’t speak the same language.”
Finally, Janire San Sebastián Ugartemendia, student of the Faculty of Psychology of the UPV/EHU, makes it clear that “we are facing a project that comes to stay because it is in contact with reality […] I also believe that with my work it can suppose a small contribution to the world in which we live”.