Finland's largest sustainability science event, Sustainability Science Days, will be held on 18–19 May 2021. The program of the event is now published on the event website. The conference will be held entirely remotely and can be followed via live video broadcasts. The conference is organized by the Institute of Sustainability Science of the University of Helsinki HELSUS and Aalto Sustainability.
The Spring Conference will focus in particular on the UN Sustainable Development Goals 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 Anne Toppinen, 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 Minna Halme, the other academic director of the conference.
Top speakers from around the world
Keynote speakers at the event will be Luis M. Bettencourt, Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, and Nancy Bocken, 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. All speakers are listed on the event website.
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.
Check out the Sustainability Science Days program on the event website
Additional information about the event:
- University of Helsinki: Eeva-Lotta Apajalahti, eeva-lotta.apajalahti@helsinki.fi
- Aalto University: Paula Schönach, paula.schonach@aalto.fi and Meri Löyttyniemi, meri.loyttyniemi@aalto.fi
- All contact information related to the Sustainability Science Days conference