University teaching faces several problems, specially in scientific and technical degrees. First, the narrowness of teaching, neglecting the multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary approach required by projects developed in professional practice by graduates of technical programs. Second, the lack of transfer of research results to teaching curricula. Last, the student demotivation from learning complex concepts, passively and through traditional techniques. In this context, the work was based on the desire for collaboration and improved horizontal and vertical coordination between subjects from various bachelor's and master's degrees taught at the Technical School of Forestry and Natural Environment of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), in order to foster teaching innovation.

The river was selected as the backbone of the study, as it is an ecosystem studied by all the subjects and degrees from UPM involved, albeit from different perspectives. The work involved volunteer groups of students from selected subjects and degrees developing several co-creation research experiences (at least two groups per experience), led by the professor. Beyond the particular objective of each experience, all experiences were designed to achieve an ultimate unique purpose. The experiences were carried out in the "Living (river) Lab" Greenchannel (https://www.upm.es/recursosidi/en/infraestructura/greenchannel/).

According to surveys to those students involved and not involved in the experiences, we concluded that this teaching activity was very positive for participants as it:
1) boosted motivation and interest in science and technology;
2) improved team work abilities;
3) facilitated acquistion of multidisciplinary skills; and
4) increased awareness of the importance of scientific research for solving real-world problems.

This work has proved that facilitating the connection between teaching and research (i.e., Research Based Learning) and making students the protagonists of the experiences (Flipped Classroom) increases the quality and attractiveness of educational programs and, thus, substantially improves learning outcomes.

Keywords: River, research, disciplines, transversal skills.