Sustainability Futures: Challenges and Opportunities Towards a More Sustainable World

Thu, 8 Apr 2021, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Register here: https://www.haw-hamburg.de/en/university/newsroom/news-details/news/news/show/3rd-world-symposium-on-sustainability-science-and-research/

It is based on the perceived need to explore and present concrete case studies which illustrate how Sustainability Science and Research can help to achieve the many goals listed in the document “Transforming our world: the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, that the “3rd World Symposium on Sustainability Science and Research” is being brought to life. It follows the first and second Symposia, held in Manchester, UK in April 2017, and in Curitiba, Brazil, in April 2019.

The United Nations Summit, held on 25 to 27 September 2015 in New York, adopted the post-2015 development agenda and a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are outlined in the document “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. This Agenda, according to the UN, is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity, which seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. It contains 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, which demonstrate both a vision and an ambition. It seeks to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what these did not achieve. The document “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” also clearly show the need for an integrated handling of the three  main dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental.

There is a world consensus in relation to the fact that Sustainability Science -i.e. a branch of science concerned with an integrated view of the three main dimensions of sustainable development, can provide an important contribution in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.  Even though in the past the potential of Sustainability Science has been largely overlooked – some say underestimated – it is clear that it can provide a key contribution to the implementation of  the Sustainable Development Goals (SGS) and, more specifically, the realisation of the vision set at the 2030  Agenda for Sustainable Development.

It is based on the perceived need to explore and present concrete case studies which illustrate how Sustainability Science and Research can help to achieve the many goals listed in the document “Transforming our world: the  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, that the “3rd World Symposium on Sustainability Science and Research” is being brought to life. It follows the first and second Symposia, held in Manchester, UK in April 2017, and in Curitiba, Brazil, in April 2019.

The Symposium is being jointly organised by the European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR) at the Hamburg University University of Applied Sciences (Germany), the Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP) and University of Murcia (Spain), in cooperation with various UN bodies, government offices and authorities, universities, enterprises, NGOs and grassroots organisations from across the world.

Sustainability researchers from across the world are warmly invite to attend and present their work at the Symposium: their active inputs will help to reiterate the potential of Sustainability Science and Research, showing how it may contribute to the realization of the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Consistent with the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the many requirements to be fulfilled so as to allow its implementation, the aims of the “3rd World Symposium on Sustainability Science and Research” are as follows:

  • I.    to provide a platform to discuss the contribution of Sustainability Science and Research towards the implementation of the SDGs;
  • II.    to mobilise the relevant actors (i.e. government offices and authorities,  universities, enterprises, NGOs and grassroots organisations) working with sustainable development, to gather and deliberate how Sustainability Science and Research can help to achieve the SDGs;
  • III.    to offer an opportunity for those working with Sustainability Science  and Research, and with its various ramifications, to meet their peers from across the world, and to display and present their works;
  • IV.    to foster the exchange of information, ideas and experiences acquired in the execution of projects, from successful initiatives and good practice.

Thematically, the Symposium will be organised under the theme “Sustainability Futures: Challenges and Opportunities Towards a More Sustainable World”. It will identify, document and disseminate ideas, experiences and visions from educators,  scientists, members of non-governmental organisations, decision-makers, industry representatives and citizens, on themes and issues which will be important in pursuing sustainable future scenarios.

As an output and long-term documentation of the event, selected papers will be published in the “Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science in the Future”, which will follow on the success of the
“Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education” which is a “living edition” and the
“Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals”, the world´s largest editorial project on sustainable development ever undertaken.

The “Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future” will focus on education and scientific aspects, as well as on social and economic ones, also considering matters related to financing and infra-structures, which are important in pursuing a sustainable future.

This landmark publication will be part of the award-winning “World Sustainability Series”, published by Springer, one of the world´s top five scientific publishers. The book will be fully peer-reviewed and will thus officially count as high calibre publication output for promotion and tenure purposes.

Delegates attending the “3rd World Symposium on Sustainability Science and Research”  will come from a cross-sectoral range of areas. They are:

  • I.    representatives of government organisations, government offices and local authorities;
  • II.    researchers working at universities, colleges and research centres;
  • III.    teaching staff;
  • IV.    representatives from enterprises;
  • V.    representatives from NGOs and grassroots organisations
  • VI.    project officers and consultants;
  • VII.    other people interested in the field.

It is believed that this wide range of participants will help to outline the need for integrated approaches towards sustainable development, and hence contribute to the implementation of the SDGs.