USR Team – 中興大學USR資訊平台

Dedication

SDGs	Team	Principal investigator	Introduction
	“Stray LOHAS”: Stray Animals Reduction and Fulfilment of Welfare Project	NCHU president Dr. Fuh-Jyh Jan	We promote animal welfare and solve the problem of excess strays in Taiwan. 1. Implement rural area neuter action to reduce the number of stray animals 2. Vaccinate stray animals in shelter to prevent rabies and other diseases 3. Provide opportunities for students to gain clinical experience 4. Hold activities to promote animal welfare concepts through cross-school collaboration

SDGs

Team

Principal investigator

Introduction

“Stray LOHAS”: Stray Animals Reduction and Fulfilment of Welfare Project

NCHU president
Dr. Fuh-Jyh Jan

We promote animal welfare and solve the problem of excess strays in Taiwan.

1. Implement rural area neuter action to reduce the number of stray animals

2. Vaccinate stray animals in shelter to prevent rabies and other diseases

3. Provide opportunities for students to gain clinical experience

4. Hold activities to promote animal welfare concepts through cross-school collaboration

Hub

Team	Principal investigator	Introduction
Horticultural Therapy_ Elderly Health Promotion Program	Department of Horticulture Professor Chen-Fa Wu	The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a survey on elderly health in 2017, revealing that the prevalence of diseases increases with age, highlighting the urgent social issue of population aging. In recent years, government agencies and welfare organizations have developed numerous welfare policies to address aging, particularly in elderly care. However, social resources are insufficient to cope with the burden brought by the rapidly aging population. It is noteworthy that over 80% of the elderly population in our country are not disabled but rather healthy or semi-healthy individuals. Therefore, empowering the elderly through education to enhance their capabilities and functionality is a key objective of this program. In the fiscal year 113, this project aims to enhance the depth and breadth of services, with a focus on talent cultivation and local implementation. It will systematize relevant courses within the school, leading students to learn and actively participate. Additionally, the plan also promotes student involvement in international competitions, thesis presentations, patent applications, and book publications related to relevant issues, fostering a more international perspective in horticultural therapy education and stimulating learning dynamics. Through the assistance of students, local seniors will engage in horticultural courses and acquire horticultural knowledge, promoting their health during the operational process. Simultaneously, led by young students, interactions with seniors will effectively empower them, ensuring the sustainable development of community and horticultural therapy models. The derived effects of horticultural therapy can enhance interpersonal relationships, providing a sense of achievement for middle-aged and elderly individuals through experience sharing, while young people can gain teaching experience and enhance learning motivation, thereby promoting horticultural well-being.
Community Empowerment Project for Qingliu Aboriginal Village: Solar Energy, Local Industry, and Cultural Retrieval	Department of Electrical Engineering Associate Professor Ching-Ming Lai	Taking the Qing-liu tribe as observation, integrating human history and natural landscape from the perspective of the eco-museum, trying to shape the value and connotation of culture from the local perspective of the tribe, this process will inevitably become a social practice of cross-domain innovation. This project integrates academic capacity, investing the deep cultivation of local culture and agricultural transformation and development of the Qingliu tribe in Huzhu Village, Ren’ai Township, Nantou County. It will be undertook in four directions, Satoyama energy, digital cities, placemaking and a Soka Gakkai International, in an tempt to connect and stimulate the energies of various ethnic groups such as the Seediq in Qing-liu village, fulfilling social responsibilities, and fostering local industries and cultural development. The overall project will be implemented in short-term, mid-term, and long-term plans, even year by year. First, the Qing-liu village in Huzhu Village, Renai Township, was selected as the target of service, allowing participating teachers and students to naturally form a cross-field, cross-departmental education and learning team, combining resources such as community groups, local industries, and governments for an alternative learning place outside of classroom.

SDGs

Team

Principal investigator

Introduction

Horticultural Therapy_ Elderly Health Promotion Program

Department of Horticulture

Professor

Chen-Fa Wu

The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted a survey on elderly health in 2017, revealing that the prevalence of diseases increases with age, highlighting the urgent social issue of population aging. In recent years, government agencies and welfare organizations have developed numerous welfare policies to address aging, particularly in elderly care. However, social resources are insufficient to cope with the burden brought by the rapidly aging population. It is noteworthy that over 80% of the elderly population in our country are not disabled but rather healthy or semi-healthy individuals. Therefore, empowering the elderly through education to enhance their capabilities and functionality is a key objective of this program.

In the fiscal year 113, this project aims to enhance the depth and breadth of services, with a focus on talent cultivation and local implementation. It will systematize relevant courses within the school, leading students to learn and actively participate. Additionally, the plan also promotes student involvement in international competitions, thesis presentations, patent applications, and book publications related to relevant issues, fostering a more international perspective in horticultural therapy education and stimulating learning dynamics. Through the assistance of students, local seniors will engage in horticultural courses and acquire horticultural knowledge, promoting their health during the operational process. Simultaneously, led by young students, interactions with seniors will effectively empower them, ensuring the sustainable development of community and horticultural therapy models. The derived effects of horticultural therapy can enhance interpersonal relationships, providing a sense of achievement for middle-aged and elderly individuals through experience sharing, while young people can gain teaching experience and enhance learning motivation, thereby promoting horticultural well-being.

Community Empowerment Project for Qingliu Aboriginal Village:
Solar Energy, Local Industry, and Cultural Retrieval

Department of Electrical Engineering
Associate Professor
Ching-Ming Lai

Taking the Qing-liu tribe as observation, integrating human history and natural landscape from the perspective of the eco-museum, trying to shape the value and connotation of culture from the local perspective of the tribe, this process will inevitably become a social practice of cross-domain innovation. This project integrates academic capacity, investing the deep cultivation of local culture and agricultural transformation and development of the Qingliu tribe in Huzhu Village, Ren’ai Township, Nantou County. It will be undertook in four directions, Satoyama energy, digital cities, placemaking and a Soka Gakkai International, in an tempt to connect and stimulate the energies of various ethnic groups such as the Seediq in Qing-liu village, fulfilling social responsibilities, and fostering local industries and cultural development. The overall project will be implemented in short-term, mid-term, and long-term plans, even year by year. First, the Qing-liu village in Huzhu Village, Renai Township, was selected as the target of service, allowing participating teachers and students to naturally form a cross-field, cross-departmental education and learning team, combining resources such as community groups, local industries, and governments for an alternative learning place outside of classroom.

Seed

Team	Principal investigator	Introduction
打造原偏鄉之智慧醫療城市-以南投眉原部落爲起點	Chueh, Pin Ju NCHU	established its medical school in 2022 and is committed to balancing the medical resources in central Taiwan, deepening and broadening its service to the country and society, and enhancing society’s recognition and affirmation. The establishment of the medical school not only cultivates professional talents with multicultural backgrounds and medical skills and ethics, but also focuses on students’ concepts and cognitions of caring for disadvantaged and rural groups, implements medical humanistic concepts in the curriculum and clinical practice, and trains students to be kind-hearted. With the sentiment of art, family nurse practitioners have developed the skills of intelligent rural home care, caring, and giving back to Taiwanese society. During the free clinics and health education in rural areas of the Meiyuan tribe, we learned that aboriginal culture is different from Han culture through exchanges with residents, and more attention needs to be paid to the impact of local culture on health. The influence of behavior is based on the perspective of preventive medicine, focusing on local potential health concerns, and strengthening attention, and promoting the health promotion and needs of the elderly. This project aims at sustainable community management, deeply understands the meaning of the native culture, and respects the culture to guide the current community care concepts of health promotion, preventive care, and disease management. With the participation of students from the Department of Post-baccalaureate Medicine and the Clinical Nursing, we plan health education courses focusing on the ten major local diseases in Renai Township, cultivating medical talents with holistic medical concepts to provide care in rural areas, and nutrition and exercise courses to promote healthy aging. Strengthen the care and awareness courses for local health industry personnel, and involve our teaching hospitals in the development of a remote diagnosis and treatment system to achieve overall community health creation with localized medical care, community-based care, and instant rescue, with the goal of achieving health equality in rural areas.
River rewilding– the ecological sustainability of Zhong Gua River and the community benefits	Chiou-Rong Sheue Guo-Zhang Michael Song (Co-PI) Ming-Feng Chuang (Co-PI)	Zhong Gua River, Guoxing Township, Nantou, had the good fortune to chosen by the Agency of Rural Development and Soil and Water Conservation as a stream restoration project, with joint participation from professors at NCHU, who advocated for the project. In 2023, part of the high concrete embankment was demolished and replaced with a more natural rocky slope. Ground sills that backed up sediments promoting invasive plants were replaced by rocks and riffles, and native plants were restored, creating the first model of stream restoration in Taiwan. This USR project aims to take the opportunity to complete the project, document the outcome with an inventory of the stream ecosystem, its succession, and hydrological changes. At the same time, it will develop interdisciplinary expertise in stream restoration and continue to foster improvement of the degraded ecosystem to allow the original wildlife to recover with the goal of restoring the river to its natural state. The project aims to foster local educational resources, and hopes to achieve a vision of shared prosperity with the ecological sustainability of forests (mountain vegetation), streams, and communities. The work is divided into four major projects: Inventory of the natural and human aspects of the stream ecosystem and establish basic [baseline?] watershed data; Investigate the biodiversity and hydrology of the stream ecosystem and cultivate interdisciplinary talent in stream science; Provide the opportunity for open environmental education at Zhong Gua River and build stream knowledge resources to be shared; Take specific actions to promote stream health and ecological sustainability, and restore the service functions of the stream. The first year will give priority to the most critical issues, including stream hydrology, surveys of aquatic insects, invasive alien species and other biodiversity aspects, accumulate research results and teaching materials, and erect a platform to share and develop teaching materials. Connections to the community begin with understanding the changes in settlements and streams, supporting local elementary, middle and primary education resources, and providing educational activities. Year by year, we will expand the content of each project, conservation actions and external links, hoping that the results will inspire and aid the restoration of other streams.
Regional revitalization – Improvement and Application of the sorghum ‘三林穟’	Wan-Yi Chiou / Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy Hung-Ming Tu / Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture (Co-PI)	In 2013, Yongxing Community in Fangyuan Township, Changhua County, discovered the local sorghum variety ‘三林穟’ and took it as an opportunity to commit to the revival of sorghum cultivation. They have been exploring ways to promote this local specialty crop as a food source. Behind the community’s elderly care center, they have developed a 0.6-acre planting area dedicated to preserving the sorghum landrace ’三林穟’. They also aim to integrate food and agricultural education, allowing teachers and students to closely observe the growth environment of sorghum. Our team will cooperate with the community’s needs to plan the related facilities for the sorghum preservation area, create an environmentally friendly cultivation model, introduce appropriate agricultural machinery, and reduce labor. The main objectives of this project are: (1) to integrate course content and guide students to collaborate with the community in planning the sorghum planting area; (2) to guide students in using their professional knowledge to help the community improve the yield performance of ‘三林穟’ and prepare educational materials on food and agriculture; (3) to utilize agricultural waste such as stems and leaves produced during sorghum cultivation, in conjunction with the community care center, allowing students to participate in weaving activities. The goal is for the area to showcase the different growth stages of sorghum, transforming a simple field into an educational garden with significant teaching value. Additionally, this project combines community culture and geographical environment to introduce the origin of local sorghum cultivation and the factors influencing sorghum production. Using horticultural knowledge and plant weaving techniques, students will participate in planning and practically guiding activities at the community center, ensuring effective use of crops and waste materials before and after harvest.
Plants Speak: Indigenous Practices and Food Culture	YANG, CHIN-YING VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS	Practice site: D’lving Community, Heping district, Taichung County Our team focuses on the practice of Indigenous education, emphasizing “local deep-rooting” and “universal Indigenous education.” We collaborate with long-term partnered tribes and specialized personnel from the Indigenous Resource Center of our school to promote multiculturalism and support the local tribal renaissance, thereby improve sustainability of indigenous culture. The initiatives include designing horticultural plant development, co-learning weaving skills, organizing professional career lectures or workshops, and coordinating with the Indigenous Resource Center’s summer camps in Indigenous communities. With a series of courses, we lead students into tribes, combining the wisdom of tribal elders and cultural experts with the creativity of the youth to co-create cultural heritage across generations, thereby enhancing the economic and cultural value of the tribes. This project have two specialized courses from the Department of Horticulture and the Master’s program in Landscape Architecture: “Landscape Planning” and “Social Psychology of Leisure”. We will guide students through visits to the Xueshankeng tribe as part of general education courses, where they will learn firsthand about the tribe’s natural ecology and Atayal culture. In cooperation with relevant tribal development units and cultural health stations, we provide horticultural knowledge to build a plant map of the tribe and develop suitable horticultural practices based on the tribe’s unique agricultural characteristics. This development includes not only horticultural crops but also agronomic and special-use crops, aiming to shape community industries, community imagery, and environmental improvement. Additionally, we are collaborating with the Taichung City Government Indigenous Cultural Center to arrange an Indigenous plant exhibition in the Xueshankeng tribe. The results of field surveys will be organized, analyzed, and presented as texts and exhibitions, promoting the indigenous tribal cultural sustainability and the spirit of universal Indigenous education and enhancing public understanding of Indigenous culture.