On 13 November 2018, the Allianz Nachhaltige Universitäten will be hosting the conference "Wissenschaft im Wandel" in the run-up to the international conference "Wachstum im Wandel / Growth in Transition".
The European Union and Austria have committed, under the Paris Climate Agreement, to reducing CO2 and thus to comprehensive measures in the area of sustainability. Equally, EU countries, as UN member states, must fulfil their obligation to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Challenges at the level of universities and higher education institutions The conference "Wissenschaft im Wandel" addresses these challenges at the level of higher education institutions and universities.
These institutions, as centres of education and research, can provide the necessary impetus for societal change and thereby play a decisive role in implementing the global development goals. But to do so, a paradigm shift must also take place within higher education institutions themselves. After all, the problems cannot be solved solely with the ways of thinking and the knowledge of the generations that caused them. Key questions for the future What should research and teaching look like in the future? What does the transformation of these core areas mean in concrete terms? What determines success and failure? What are the driving forces behind this, and what role do the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement play as a global political framework?
How do transformation knowledge and research, as well as transformative teaching, learning and researching, interact with one another? Which existing approaches and strategies support the transformation of universities and higher education institutions? The conference "Wissenschaft im Wandel" approaches these questions both from a systems-theoretical and epistemological perspective, and through a practical approach based on the SDGs. A total of four sessions will thus shed light on different angles relating to the areas of teaching and research.
The keynote will be delivered by Arjen Wals, Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability, on the topic of "Leaving the Titanic: Can higher education and the SDGs help humanity overcome global system dysfunction?". As good practice examples from Austrian universities and higher education institutions, the winners of the Sustainability Award will present their projects in a poster session and be available to answer questions. In a closing joint discussion, experts from universities and higher education institutions, public administration, and the funding landscape will summarise and discuss the key impulses and results from the sessions.
The conference results will be presented and discussed in a dedicated session at the "Wachstum im Wandel" conference, taking place from 14 to 15 November 2018.
No conference fee, limited number of participants.
Registration by 10 October 2018 at http://nachhaltigeuniversitaeten.at/wissenschaft-im-wandel/
Contact: Lisa Bohunovsky (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna) and Andrea Höltl (Danube University Krems)
