Prime Highlights
- FU Berlin and Una Europa will host a public sustainability conference in the last week of September, held in English.
- The event will feature keynotes, panels and six workshops on reimagining sustainability in higher education.
Key Facts
- FU Berlin is a member of Una Europa, a European university alliance.
- Registration closes end of August; Günter M. Ziegler will deliver the opening address.
Background
The Unit for Sustainability and Energy Management at Freie Universität Berlin, together with the European university alliance Una Europa, will host an international conference on sustainable transformation at universities in the last week of September. Titled “Sustainability in Higher Education: Between Transformation and Vibe Shifts,” the event will bring together researchers, university staff, and representatives from politics, administration, civil society and education to discuss research findings, projects and approaches related to sustainable development in higher education.
The conference will be open to members of the public and conducted in English. Interested attendees have been asked to register by the end of August.
Organisers said that while many universities positioned themselves as leaders of a broader sustainability movement in the late 2010s, the landscape has since shifted. Multiple global crises, growing scepticism toward science, competing economic priorities, digital disruption and climate fatigue have pushed sustainability from a dominant agenda to one among several institutional priorities.
The conference aims to examine these shifting dynamics and explore how sustainability can be reimagined within higher education. It will open with keynote addresses and panel discussions, followed by six workshops designed to encourage interdisciplinary exchange on the role of universities in addressing current social and ecological challenges. Organisers said the event is intended to create space for critical reflection on the present state of sustainability in higher education, while sparking discussion on climate protection measures, new structural approaches and stronger social responsibility.
Freie Universität Berlin President Professor Günter M. Ziegler will deliver the opening address. Keynote speakers include experts from institutions such as the University of Regensburg, MIT, Öko-Institut, the University of Zurich, the University of Helsinki, the German Rectors’ Conference, and Freie Universität Berlin itself.
