On May 14, 2024, the five universities in Puglia (Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Università del Salento, Università di Foggia, Politecnico di Bari, Università LUM “Giuseppe Degennaro”) established the Regional Coordination Network for Sustainable Development, RUS Puglia.

RUS Puglia serves as a reference point not only for the academic world but also for public institutions in the region—starting with the Puglia Region—for the economic fabric and the civil society of Puglia.

The tasks entrusted to "RUS Puglia" are numerous and significant:

• Developing joint initiatives on a territorial scale in coordination with the national RUS;
• Formulating proposals, initiatives, and documents - to be jointly submitted to the Puglia Region and public or private entities in the area - on institutional, social, economic, and cultural aspects related to sustainability;
• Sharing knowledge, skills, proposals, and projects, promoting collaboration, information exchange, dissemination, and communication activities on sustainability both within and outside the university environment;
• Spreading best practices that have emerged at local, regional, national, or international levels to promote sustainable development;
• Increasing the positive impacts in environmental, ethical, social, and economic terms of the actions carried out synergistically by the five universities, contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with reference to the Apulian territory as a whole.

Participating universities: Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", Università del Salento, Università di Foggia, Politecnico di Bari, LUM University "Giuseppe Degennaro"
Leading university: Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro"
RUS network Puglia coordinator: prof. Isabella Pisano