Abstract
This paper summarises the joint efforts of a multinational group of six undergraduate students cooperating within the European Project Semester (EPS) conducted at the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The EPS@ISEP initiative, made available as a part of the Erasmus+ international students exchange programme, employs the principles of problem-based learning, facing students with—albeit downscaled—real-life scenarios and tasks they may encounter in their future professional practice. Participation in the project initiative outclasses most of the traditional courses through a wide spawn of its learning outcomes. Participants acquire not only hard skills necessary for an appropriate execution of the project, but also broaden their understanding of the approached problem through detailed scientific, management, marketing, sustainability, and ethics analysis—all in the atmosphere of multicultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. The team under consideration, based on personal preferences and predispositions, chose the topic of vertical farming and, in particular, to design a domestic indoor gardening solution, appropriate for space efficient incubation of plants. The paper portrays the process, from research, analysis, formulation of the idea to the design, development and testing of a minimum viable proof of concept prototype of the “Vereatable” solution. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Abstract
This paper reports the collaborative learning experience of a team of five Erasmus students who participated in EPS@ISEP—the European Project Semester (EPS) at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP)—during the spring of 2018. EPS@ISEP is a project-based learning capstone programme for third and fourth year engineering, product design and business students, focussing on teamwork and multidisciplinary problem solving as well as on the development of sustainable and ethical practices. In this context, the Team developed a drifting intelligent buoy to monitor the water quality of urban water spaces. Motivated by the desire to build an intelligent buoy for urban water bodies, the Team conducted several scientific, technical, sustainability, marketing, ethical and deontological analyses. Based on the findings, it has derived the requirements, designed the structure and functional system, selected the list of components and providers and assembled a proof of concept prototype. The result is Aquality, an intelligent drifting buoy prototype, designed for private sustainable pools. Aquality monitors the quality of the pool water by measuring its temperature and turbidity, while interfacing with the user through a mobile application. Considering the EPS@ISEP learning experience, the Team valued the knowledge and skills acquired, and, particularly, the collaborative learning and working component of the project, i.e., working together towards one goal while maintaining high motivation and cohesion. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Abstract
This paper describes the development of a Multi-purpose Urban Sensing Equipment, named Billy, designed by a multinational and multidisciplinary team enrolled in the European Project Semester (EPS) at Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP). The project is set to design, develop and test an interactive billboard in compliance with the relevant EU regulation and the allocated budget. The Team benefited from the different background, multidisciplinary skills and the newly acquired skills of the members, like marketing, sustainability and design ethics, in activities both inside and outside of the University. The challenge was to design a multi-purpose urban sensing and displaying equipment to inform citizens of nearby environmental conditions. The Team decided to design a system to monitor and display the temperature, humidity, air pressure and air quality of leisure areas, featured with a proximity detection sensor for energy saving. Billy will not only monitor and display this local information, but also the air quality determined by other billboards placed in other locations, creating a distributed urban sensing network. The system has been successfully prototyped and tested using the ESPduino Wi-Fi enabled micro-controller, different sensors and displays (screen and map-based). The results show not only that the prototype functions according to derived specifications and design, but that the team members were able to learn, together and from each other, how to solve this multidisciplinary problem. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Abstract
Engineering education addresses the development of professional competencies in undergraduates. In this context, the core set of professional competencies includes critical thinking and problem solving, effective communication, collaboration and team building, and creativity and innovation-also known as the four Cs-as well as socio-professional ethics and sustainable development-referred in this paper as the two Ss. While the four Cs were identified by the associates of the American Management Association based on the needs of the society, professional associations, and businesses; this paper proposes the two S extension to ensure that future engineers contribute to the well-being of individuals and the preservation of life on Earth. It proposes a tangible framework-the 4C2S-and an application method to analyse the contributions made by engineering capstone programmes to the development of these core competencies in future engineering professionals. The method is applied to an engineering capstone programme-the European Project Semester (EPS) offered by the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto (ISEP)-and a specific project case-EPS@ISEP Pet Tracker project developed in 2013, constituting, in addition, a road map for the application of the 4C2S framework to engineering capstone programmes. The results show that EPS@ISEP complies with the 4C2S framework.

Abstract
The design, development and deployment of autonomous sustainable ocean platforms for exploration and monitoring can provide researchers and decision makers with valuable data, trends and insights into the largest ecosystem on Earth. Although these outcomes can be used to prevent, identify and minimise problems, as well as to drive multiple market sectors, the design and development of such platforms remains an open challenge. In particular, energy efficiency, control and robustness are major concerns with implications for autonomy and sustainability. Rigid wingsails allow autonomous boats to navigate with increased autonomy due to lower power consumption and increased robustness as a result of mechanically simpler control compared to traditional sails. These platforms are currently the subject of deep interest, but several important research problems remain open. In order to foster dissemination and identify future trends, this paper presents a survey of the latest developments in the field of rigid wing sailboats, describing the main academic and commercial solutions both in terms of hardware and software.

Abstract
Contribution: An analysis of the extent to which sustainability is present in the syllabi, project briefs, report templates, and student final reports of the three Iberian European project semester (EPS) providers, over a five-year period. Background: EPS is a one-semester capstone project framework that adopts project-based learning and multicultural, multidisciplinary teamwork. Educating engineers for sustainable development requires fostering critical and ethical thinking and a desire for equity, solidarity and preservation of natural resources, and cultural and genetic diversity. Existing engineering capstone design programs emphasize solving real world problems, hands-on training, and soft skills, but few focus on sustainability aspects of engineering design. The three Iberian EPS providers adopt project-based learning and teamwork methodologies, promoting the development of transversal skills and addressing sustainability in a multicultural and multidisciplinary background. Intended Outcomes: To show that the three Iberian EPS providers follow these recommendations and contribute to raising students' awareness of sustainable development. Application Design: The proposed sustainability learning assessment method collects evidence from syllabi, project briefs, report templates, and final reports to extract faculty and student perspectives. The sustainability-related terms collected were processed into word cloud format, allowing a simple and intuitive interpretation of students' understanding of sustainability, and in co-occurrence network format, to understand if sustainability has a pervasive or confined presence within the reports. Findings: Iberian EPS faculty and students are aware of the social, economic, and environmental impact of their projects, in terms of quality of life, social responsibility, the use of resources, and environmentally friendly technology.