Göttingen, 19-20 November 2020: Conference ‚United in Diversity – A Europe of Sustainability‘
On November 19-20, the University of Göttingen together with its partners from the European University Alliance ENLIGHT organised a high-profile conference on the challenges and perspectives of a sustainable development of Europe. In the virtual conference, many stakeholders from science, industry, politics and the civil society came together to address major societal challenges and to contribute to their resolution. As current events are demonstrating, a close cooperation and constant exchange between science and politics are crucial for solving global challenges like the climate crisis. Thereby, this conference also discussed what innovative research-led politics could look like.
The keynote speech, delivered by Themis Christophidou, EU Director General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture was followed by a conversation with the hosts of the conference Prof. Dr. Hiltraud Casper-Hehne, Vice-President for International Affairs, and Prof. Dr. Peter-Tobias Stoll, Institute for International and European Law at the University of Göttingen. The list of speakers also included many other outstanding guests, such as the President of the European Research Council, Prof. Dr. Jean-Pierre Bourguignon and Mr. Björn Thümler, Minister of Science and Culture of the State of Lower Saxony. Both took part in a panel discussion which was hosted by Prof. Dr. Peter Strohschneider, Chairman of the Foundation Council of the Foundation University of Göttingen.
Six interesting workshops organised as webinars were also part of the conference and built a framework for fruitful transdisciplinary discussions and the exchange of expertise, perspectives and approaches on dealing with these most pressing issues of our time. Several renowned scholars from the ENLIGHT partners and beyond contributed to the sessions that dealt with topics like sustainable land use, social challenges and their global dimensions, democracy and law, waste management as well as digitisation and education for sustainable development.
Contact:
Marco Lange
International Office – Coordinator Sustainability, Coordinator U4 Network
Phone: 0551 39-21356
Email: marco.lange@zvw.uni-goettingen.de