Save the date: Sustainability Science Days, Finland’s largest event in sustainability science, highlights the need for radical change

The theme of the next conference is destruction and creativity. Sustainability challenges cannot be solved without radical changes in human activity.

Finland's largest sustainability science event, Sustainability Science Days, will be held on 18–19 May 2021.. The conference will be held entirely remotely and can be followed via live video broadcasts. The conference is organized by the and.

The Spring Conference will focus in particular on the 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities).

“Although the goals of sustainable development are all topical and interconnected, we wanted to put these two at the center. From the perspective of sustainable urban development, a fair transition is needed, and the role of different communities is also emphasized. Sustainability change also requires innovative solutions and experiments to support it. Next spring's conference will cover these topics exceptionally extensively”, says Professor, Director of HELSUS.

“With the help of the theme, we also want to emphasize the need for radical changes to solve sustainability problems. Fine-tuning the current system is no longer enough, but old structures must be destroyed so that we can make room for new solutions. All actors in society are needed for this work, says Professor, the other academic director of the conference.

Top speakers from around the world

Keynote speakers at the event will be , Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, and , Professor of Sustainable Business at the University of Maastricht as well as Marc Wolfram, Professor of Spatial Development and Transition at the Dresden University of Technology. .

Sustainability Science Days conferences have been held since 2018. In previous years, the event has addressed, among other things, climate action and sustainable consumption. In both years, the event has attracted more than 500 guests, including politicians, business representatives and top researchers in their field. 

Additional information about the event:

  • University of Helsinki: Eeva-Lotta Apajalahti,
  • Aalto University: Paula Schönach, and Meri Löyttyniemi,