Special BUP conference session
This special session was held at the second Scientific Conference from the series 'Universities facing challenges of sustainable development'. The session, a part of the Polish BUP Presidency, aimed to review activities and good practices in relation to how universities are involved in the implementation of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This special session took place online, from the University of Lodz, on 9 April 2024.
There was an interest in the issue of creating universities as leaders in activities for sustainable development in local and regional socio-economic systems. Academic institutions can and should be natural facilitators of the processes of green transformation of modern societies and economies, ensuring, in particular, the transfer of knowledge for practical applications for the implementation of sustainable development within cities, local communities, and other organisations.
Taking into account over thirty years of practice in promoting the idea of sustainable development, we would like to compare the practices and activities in this field of universities from BUP participating universities with the experiences of other European countries.
Evaluation BUP conference session
The evaluation was was sent out during the conclusion of the event and was completed by twelve participants. About 30 colleagues took part in the event.
The participants noted that they appreciated learning more about how other universities work with sustainability and some noted that they would have liked shorter presentations and a bit more time for discussions.
Quotes from the evaluation
"I gained so much insight on how universities contribute to SDGs and I am motivated to also promote this in my local institution."
"BUP special session provided a good understanding of where universities are at, and who are the main researchers in the sustainability area in the Baltic Sea Region."
"The most interesting for me was the practical cases of implementing economic and environmental components of sustainable development in the life of universities."
Organiser voice
The interest in the event among BUP academic teachers was greater than we initially expected. We planned to organise one special session, but due to the number of applications, two consecutive sessions were finally held.
The first session concerned the topic "University initiatives to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda" and included six presentations. The content of the discussed speeches shows that different universities are at different stages of advancement of environmental management activities or building sustainable development strategies. Activities in this area are dispersed initiatives, although they are increasingly taking the form of systemic solutions. The second session concerned the topic "Scientific research on contemporary problems of sustainable development at BUP network and UNIC alliance universities" and included five presentations. Considering the content of the speeches, the current main research areas of universities in the field of sustainable development include the issues of the circular economy and the development of blue-green infrastructure. Both sessions ended with a short summary from the organizers. A total of 82 people participated in both sessions.
The review of the activities of baltic universities to achieve the sustainable development goals carried out during the session revealed that there is still a lot of need to develop cooperation, and in particular, exchange experiences as well as good practices between universities in this field. It also seems important to create universities as facilitators of activities for the sustainable future of local communities and the green transformation of regional economies.
Results of the event
The participants gave a rating of 8.1/10 in response to the question of to what extent the BUP special session has been worthwhile in attending, in terms of their research/studies, future aspirations, and career.
Participant evaluations
- The participants rated their expectaions before the BUP special session at 8.1/10.
- The participants gave the event an overall 8.3/10 rating.
- Communication between the event staff and participants was rated 8.3/10.
All overall ratings were made on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is considered negative and 10 considered positive.
Images from the event
A printscreen from the event. Pictured is Lukasz Bogucki, University of Lodz, Vice Rector for international Relations who welcomed the participants.
A printscreen from the event. Pictured is Bozena Ewa Matusiak, Head of the Centre for Sustainable Development
Studies at the Faculty of Management, University of Lodz.
A printscreen from the event. Pictured is Dominik Drzazga,
University of Lodz, main organiser of the special session.
A printscreen from the event. Pictured is Anna Bruun Månsson, Sustainability coordinator at Malmö University, Sweden. Together with Per Hillbur Anna gave the presentation 'From islands of good practices to a more coordinated approach the case of Malmö University'.