This is the final in a short blog series written by Laila Mendy about the Sustainability Frontiers conference. Matthew Fielding moderated the final session between William Clark, Åsa Persson, Emily Boyd and Somya Joshi. The aim of the conversation was to discuss the five themes of the conference in relation to a recent publication by Clark and co-author Harley, which reviewed the first generation of sustainability science research. You can read this paper here. Clark began with a short presentation of his work, which suggested that a core red-thread in sustainability science was nature-society interactions, which he described as existing within intertwined co-evolving systems. It is a solutions driven science, he said, where the goals of the research is not only to understand the interactions but to explore how this science and those understandings may be used to advance the diverse, contested and socially-determined goals of sustainability. Another common thread, he found, was the issue of resources, emerging as the ultimate determinants of sustainable development. Sustainable development is measured by whether the base of resources are increasing or dwindling. Connecting resources and goals of sustainability science indicates processes of consumption and production, primarily towards the good life. However these processes…

In May 2020 the plan had been to bring together at Lake Ekoln in Sweden, a group of people who are all, in their own way, interested in the question of how we might rethink universities in the era of climate change. Some were professors working in universities, some were leading activists, some were doctoral students exploring the frontiers of new thinking, some were artists and facilitators of public conversations; some see themselves as educators others as climate researchers and others resist definition. We had hoped to go deep into the questions of what a university is, could be, can’t be and should be in a world of profound ecological harm and inequality.  And then we know what happened next. The pandemic hit, borders were closed, and we were left, like the rest of the world, to work out what to do instead. In place of a three day conversation that had been intended to be as slow, as embodied and as reflective as possible to allow us to really learn from each other, we met online to speak in the strange flat world of the video conference. For none of us was this enough, and so the project you…

Meet the Education Researcher has interviewed Zennström professor of climate change leadership 2019 – 2020 Keri Facer. Listen below to hear more on thinking about the university, climate change and the future “in non-stupid ways”. This interview is in English.

Two students from Uppsala University have been granted growing space on the campus. They are encouraging all growers – old or new, staff, student of Uppsalabo – to come and join in with them. CCL is happy to support their activities in the coming years.

What is required of universities in face of climate change? Read the new HEPI report by Keri Facer to find out!

Watch Zennström Professor in Climate Change Leadership 2019 – 2020, Dr. Keri Facer deliver her inaugural lecture on the futures of universities in a changing climate.

This is a set of quick links to some of our work on Universities, Schools, Education in general and Climate Change

I denna rapport sammanfattar vi aktiviteterna under perioden 2018 – 2020 med professor Keri Facer, den tredje Zennström professorn i klimatledarskap vid Uppsala universitet. Denna rapport är skriven på engelska.

In this report we summarise the activities of professor Keri Facer, the third Zennström professor of Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University. This report is written in English.

Follow this new network ‘Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures’ with which Zennström Professor Keri Facer is involved! Keep an eye out for postings soon about transformative public education in context of CV-19.  Here is the first briefing paper on The Case for Transformative Public Education with leading contribution from Professor Facer. This paper focuses on responding to COVID-19 now while addressing long-term underlying inequalities.

Blog post by Zennström Professor Keri Facer on the Higher Education Policy Institute addressing the UPP Foundation Civic University Commission’s recent report on how universities can successfully serve in the 21st century. Climate change was a glaring omission in this report, as Keri writes. Read post here: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2020/03/04/reconnecting-the-civic-university-with-the-climate-agenda-thinking-globally-acting-locally/

A month ago, I had the opportunity to join in a two day workshop in Kollaboratoriet, Uppsala on Learning For Change.

Welcome to an open workshop organised by CEFO! On the 18th of Feb at 10.00 sharp, staff and students of UU are very welcome to a workshop about the UU development plan 2050. In this workshop we will work together in order to give input to the sustainability aspects of Uppsala University’s development plan. The output from the workshop will be treated as a submission for comment (sv: remiss-svar) by the development plan’s project team. For more information see attached flyer and the sustainability part of the ‘remiss-version’ of the plan (or you can find the entire plan here). When:              18th February 2020 Where:             CEMUS Library, (Villavägen 16, Earth Sciences Dept.) Time:               10.00 (sharp) – 12.00 Registration:    https://forms.gle/5Y2xd6sooXreS3qD9 Arranged by:    Cemus research forum

The report below provides a brief overview of some of our work in the Zennström Climate Change Leadership Initiative exploring the relationship between internationalisation and sustainability agendas in the contemporary university. It reports on a short programme of desk research by the team and a workshop bringing together university leadership, students, faculty and administrative staff. It identifies key tensions, possibilities, and routes towards achieving more sustainable internationalisation strategies in universities. The report has been compiled rapidly to respond to current debates and is intended as the basis for wider discussion. We are keen to hear from colleagues elsewhere to help develop these ideas further.  

This is a link to the video Keri made for her Nov 14th Keynote to the Transforming Higher Education for the Future (IAU) Conference in Puebla, Mexico. Based on her longer inaugural lecture (see below) she talks about how the interdependence of the SDGs requires universities to come up with new cross-institutional responses, and makes some proposals for what these might be.

AIM Day: Hållbara Städer. A reflection on the day where institutions and business gathered to discuss tricky questions, but struggled to consider impacts of climate change in their thinking.