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Talking about Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) is not only about mentioning the best technical university in Spain according to the leading global university ranking - ARWU, known as Shanghai-.

Talking about UPV also highlights the human level and social commitment of those who make it up.

Fanny Collado

For anyone at the UPV who knows her, Fanny Collado is an extraordinary professional. Currently the director of the Design Factory Area, the successful launch and support platform for extracurricular groups and activities born from the initiative of UPV students, her effectiveness, responsibility, and work capacity are beyond any discussion.

What many of those who have worked with her during her 25 years at the UPV do not know is… her solidarity side.

“Most people don’t know,” she begins with a shy smile, “but in 2016, I founded an association called "Solidarity Expedition." Why? “Well, what has driven me for most of my life has been curiosity and the desire to learn, and years ago, I was lucky to meet Nuria Moreno, who organised some very inspiring trips. Thanks to her, I first volunteered in Nepal in 2010."

"I was motivated to take a trip where I could spend more time with the local people," she explains, "so I spent a month in a shelter. It was quite a tough experience that I didn't think I would repeat… However, the following year, I dared to go to India and Ethiopia, with mixed results. Then, I understood that the experiences would be good or bad depending on the people I met, and I started to enjoy it so much that I couldn't think of a better way to discover the world. Other countries and projects followed, Uganda (Kitega CC), South Africa, Tanzania, India (Tibetan Colony), the United States (New York), and Sri Lanka, where I learned many things, but above all, to be more patient and tolerant.”

As a result of that restlessness "to be part of projects in places where I had already lent a hand as a volunteer," Solidarity Expedition was born, which has led Fanny to travel repeatedly to Uganda and Nepal. "And it was like this, working with blind people in Nepal, when the Nepalese NGO Chain for Change (CFC) asked me to help buy a 3D printer and create resources for schools with girls and boys with visual disabilities."

Begoña Saiz

‘By one of those coincidences of life,’ recalls Fanny, ‘I mentioned to Begoña Saiz,’ a lecturer at the School of Aerospace Engineering and Industrial Design (ETSIADI-UPV), ‘if we could somehow associate that need with the capabilities of the UPV. She thought it was a great idea, so we started looking for a way to incorporate it into the university.’

‘In the course - University Cooperation to Development (UDC)’, explains Begoña, ’we work on project-based learning, on showing ETSIADI students how, with their capacities and abilities, and the knowledge they have acquired throughout their academic training, they can participate in real projects in this field. Furthermore, I know Fanny Collado and the initiatives she is developing, and this came from her and fitted in very well with the nature of product design’.

'In this project', she adds, 'as in all the ones we do, we try to make the beneficiaries understand that we collaborate during a phase of the project and that afterwards, they are the ones who have to learn how to do it and be independent. We don't set a specific date for this, but we remind them occasionally that that moment has to come. We can't create bonds that make them dependent on us’.

As for the starting point, 'the first thing to do is to find out what they have there, the technologies specific to the country', says Begoña. 'Nowadays, having 3D printers is not very complex, and they have one identical to ours. What we do is to reproduce in the classroom the dynamics of what they have to carry out there with the aim that, later, some of our students will travel to Nepal with one of the scholarships from the Development Cooperation Centre (CCD-UPV) and will be able to work in the same conditions. If there is a problem there, as we have the same equipment here, we can solve it with the help of the students, the academic staff or even the technicians from ETSIADI, who have been very involved in the project'.

Victoria Olcina

The first student to travel directly to Nepal - specifically to its capital, Kathmandu - was Victoria Olcina, now an Industrial Design and Product Development engineer at the UPV. She recalls that it was a huge contrast for her.

In terms of what you see and feel, it's a totally different environment. In that respect, it's a very enriching experience because by living with the family there, I could really feel what their culture is like'.

Victoria, who was in Nepal from 16 July to 14 November 2023, explains that 'like any project, it began with a market research phase: getting to know the user, their specific needs, the things they lack in their daily lives... In this case, we visited schools with visually impaired children, we interviewed teachers and family members... and once we had identified the needs, we started sketching, developing the printing models and so on.

This process is very important because, in the end, it determines whether the products are helpful for the people who will use them'.

Gala Cervera

After Victoria, it was the turn of Gala Cervera, who complemented the project in the front row with a stay in Nepal between 29 August and 17 December 2024: ‘I was very interested in doing an impactful bachelor's thesis, in doing something out of the ordinary, and the stay in Nepal seemed like a super cool option to have a much more enriching experience’.

'When I arrived,' she recalls, 'I was lucky that, apart from the printer Victoria had the year before, we had a filament printer, so I had the challenge of combining these two manufacturing processes and using the materials obtained most efficiently. In addition, I was also trying to provide continuity to the Nepalese counterpart, CFC, so that volunteers have more independence when using the printers.

Wings to dreams

In this way, based on the Wings to Dreams project - through which CFC aimed to combat the accessibility and graphic barriers that visually impaired people in Nepal face in their academic life through the use of tactile and 3D technology - and thanks to the direct and indirect commitment of UPV and Solidarity Expedition staff, the lack of adequate teaching materials for the 1,700 or so visually impaired students in Nepal's 80 inclusive schools is beginning to be addressed.

Two of these schools, Laboratory and Namuna School, are already benefiting from the research and solidarity brought together by a project involving St Xavier's College, a university in Kathmandu that is providing physical workspaces and student volunteers, and a complex of buildings whose 3D model has been used as an example of resources for people with disabilities; and technicians from the Valencia branch of the Spanish Organisation for the Blind (ONCE), who, despite not being directly part of the initiative, have been offering advice at various stages of the project.

Comprehensive training, synergies and the future

Despite the clear objective of autonomy for Nepalese schools, and although today it is no longer part of the day-to-day running of the project, Victoria is clear that ‘whenever they need anything from me, I will be there for them’. And the fact is that, in this type of project, the benefits are multiple and multidirectional.

'It has been an incredible challenge', says Gala. 'Professionally, it has made me more independent and decisive. I have learnt a lot. On a personal level, I have encountered and experienced first-hand a culture that is so interesting, so rich, and so different from my own that it has expanded my worldview and given me a new perspective on things'.

What can you do?

Today, dozens of visually impaired Nepalese girls and boys already have the tools they need to aspire to better training. UPV students have grown professionally and personally, and numerous institutions have found symbiosis in which to continue working for the future.

Meanwhile, Begoña Saiz and Fanny Collado continue collaborating to shape projects that help build a better world through the integral training of people. How can anyone who wants to lend a hand help? We asked Fanny: 'It's very simple. Anyone with an idea just has to come and tell me about it, and we'll see if we can implement it somehow. Any financial help is welcome, but it's not just about that. The first thing I ask anyone who tells me they want to help is, 'What can you do?

And you, do you want to help? What can you do?

Carlos Ayats Pérez / UPV Communication Area

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