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SDG Conference in Bergen
2021 SDG CONFERENCE BERGEN

Day Zero: Wednesday 10 February 2021

There were a record number of workshops, debates and presentations for Day Zero of the 2021 SDG Conference Bergen - the academic festival with activities relevant to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

Reearch Director Åsa Persson from the Stockholm Environment Institute speaking at the opening of Day Zero at the 2021 SDG Conference Bergen.
Reearch Director Åsa Persson from the Stockholm Environment Institute speaking at the opening of Day Zero at the 2021 SDG Conference Bergen.
Photo:
paul S. Amundsen for the University of Bergen

Main content

  • We have updated this calendar event after the conference in order for information to be accessible to participants and other interested parties.

The events on Day Zero are digital, open to all and entrance is free. As before, Day Zero starts with an Opening Plenary Session, followed by three waves of 90-minute workshop sessions. This year, we also have an evening session with the documentary film Picture a Scientist and a conversation with the film makers and the rectors of UiB and OsloMet. Register for the conference here

PROGRAMME
08:30 - 09:00 Registration and Networking

09.00 Greetings and opening by Rector Margareth Hagen, UiB 

09.15 Day Zero Keynote

Åsa Persson, Deputy Director of the Stockholm Environmental Institute

Almost as soon as the pandemic and economic crisis broke out, calls were made to use it as an opportunity to build back better and advance on the SDGs. So far, the world is not taking this opportunity and we are slipping backwards. In this talk, I suggest how we need to move from economic recovery to sustainability reforms, by focusing on two grand challenges that determine the fate of the SDGs: reducing inequality and valuing nature.

Dr Åsa Persson is Research Director and Deputy Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute, where she is a member of the executive team and leads the development and implementation of the institute’s research strategy. As a social scientist and governance scholar, her research currently focuses on policy coherence in the national implementation of climate policy and SDGs.

Her previous research has looked at environmental governance as international and national levels, including follow-up and review of the SDGs, global governance of climate change adaptation, environmental policy integration, and development of the planetary boundaries concept. Ms Persson has more than 80 publications, including peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Nature and Nature Climate Change and reports for policy-maker audiences.

Day Zero Debate Moderator: Dorothy Dankel

Discussants: 
Siri Vatsø Haugum, University of Bergen
Siddharth Sareen, University of Stavanger
Cristina Dorador, University of Antofagasta 

10:30 - 11:00 Break with Networking

Parallell sessions:

11:00 - 12:30

Decarbonising healthcare

Contact person: Anand Bhopal, Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS), Department of Global Health and Primary Care, UiB

Type of event: Digital event only

In 2009 the Lancet Commission on Climate Change and Health described climate change as the "biggest global health threat of the 21st century". Yet, in the midst of societal efforts to rapidly decarbonize, health has been largely adrift of wider discussions. Given healthcare emissions constitute around 5% of global emissions this cannot continue.

In October 2020, the National Health Service in England became the first healthcare system in the world to commit to becoming carbon neutral. In Norway, our healthcare-related carbon emissions are similar to those in England. It is time that we got our house in order too!

In this action orientated session we invite participants to join us in exploring how to decarbonise the Norwegian healthcare system. We will also discuss healthcare-related emissions and decarbonisation in relation to healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries. The main focus will be on exchanging ideas to build an effective campaign to decarbonise the Norwegian healthcare system and inspire others around the world to do the same.

All are welcome to join this session - we strongly believe it will be strengthened through multidisciplinary contributions.

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 13: Climate Action
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Positioning ourselves in relation to the SDGs: Exploring our roles as early-career researchers at the interface between science and policy

Contact person: Jesse Schrage, Early-career SDG Network, UiB

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

We would like to know who will join our session, so please sign up. Also, you need to register for Day Zero to get access to the conference platform.

From international strategy meetings to corporate long-term visions, from policy documents to lapel pins, the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have permeated our everyday lives. More than 5 years after their launch, the SDGs have informed and framed academic research, but they have also been scrutinized for their relevance and purpose.

While pragmatists have welcomed the framing of the SDGs as a way to inform their research and offer tangible measures for sustainability, others view the SDGs less favourably and have criticised them for distracting us from more appropriate goals and more effective policies. Thus, the question we researchers must come to terms with is "What do the SDGs mean for us in our role as researchers?" This question is especially pertinent for early-career researchers whose explorations of the boundary between science and policy have the capacity to shape both their personal and disciplinary trajectories.

This workshop focuses on early-career researchers interested in the 2030 Agenda but is open to all. Participants are invited for a discussion and reflection in exploring what the SDGs mean in our work in knowledge production.

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Equitable partnerships in international higher education and research collaboration?

Contact person: Jeanette da Silva, Norad

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

While development collaboration programmes such as NORHED are designed to stimulate long-lasting mutual North-South academic collaboration, we see a key challenge in ensuring fair and equitable partnerships, and moreover, that the collaboration supported allows for mutual and reciprocal learning and exchange of knowledge across the North-South divide. 

Key questions to be considered in this panel discussion include: What are the key indicators for a fair and equitable partnership? What are the risks involved of unequitable partnerships? What is at stake when partnerships are unequal? What management regimes/administrative modalities promote vs. constrain equitable partnerships? What aspects of “mainstream partnership practices” need to change in order to make these more equitable? And also - how has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted on the possibilities for equitable partnership?

Moderator: Nikolai Hegertun, Senior Adviser, Norad  

Researchers from the Global South and North share their experience and perspectives: 
- Professor Munzoul Abdalla M. Assal, University of Khartoum, Sudan
- Dr. Julianne Sansa-Otim, Senior Lecturer, Makerere University, Uganda
- Professor Anne Hellum, University of Oslo
- Professor Roy Krøvel, OsloMet

Panel conversation: 
- Bjørn-Tore Kjellemo, Head of Department, The Research Council of Norway 
- Jan Olav Baarøy, Director General, NOREC
- Solbjørg Sjøveian, Assistant Director, Norad

This event is relevant for SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Just urban mobility transitions: Co-creation workshop

Contact person: Siddharth Sareen, Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation, UiB
Type of event: Digital and physical event
Please register herehttps://skjemaker.app.uib.no/view.php?id=9691905
Facebook event

Bergen is undergoing rapid changes in its urban mobility solutions. A new phase of the light rail is in progress. Electric scooters on the street have stirred up controversy. The public bicycle scheme has been expanded. Car sharing solutions are more popular than ever, and smart charging of electric cars and bicycles is becoming the norm. The debate over toll charges continues.

How do such rapid changes in mobility impact social justice? To what extent are the interests of those in the city centre and those in the suburbs taken into account? How do technological developments shift the nature of mobility in the city for those in different income classes? Are we witnessing a low-carbon transition; if so, is it a just transition? How can it become one?

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on this theme, the workshop will engage participants in exploring these questions. We will use interesting qualitative methods to collectively explore challenges and solutions.

Participants will be introduced to and offered a chance to join a new project funded by JPI Climate and the Research Council of Norway's Klimaforsk programme: Responsive Organising for Low Emission Societies.

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Hvor viktig er naturmangfold (SDG 14 og 15) for å nå klimamålet (SDG 13), og deres rolle for å minske ulikhet (SDG 10)?

KontaktpersonTom Skauge, Institutt for økonomi og administrasjon, HVL, i samarbeid med Naturvernforbundet.

Arrangementstype: Fysisk og digitalt

Sesjonen har to deler: Første del drøfter koblinger mellom global ødeleggelse av naturmangfold og klimakrisen. FNs naturpanel IPBES har advart mot dramatisk naturødeleggelse. Alle årsakene er menneskeskapte: Endret arealbruk, direkte utnyttelse av arter, klimaendringer, forurensning og spredning av fremmede, skadelige og aggressive arter til nye områder

Innledere:
Vigdis Vandvik, Professor og Senterleder, bioCEED, Institutt for biovitenskap, UiB
Siri Vatsø Haugum, Stipendiat, plantesamfunnsøkologi, Institutt for biovitenskap, UiB

Andre del drøfter koblinger mellom krise for klima- og naturmangfold opp mot andre viktige bærekraftsmål for økonomi og samfunn. Er tiltak mot klimautslipp og naturødeleggelse viktigere enn andre mål? Kan kamp mot klimautslipp bli kombinert med fordelingsrettferdighet - KAF?

Innledere:
David Collste, PhD stipendiat, Stockholm Resilience Centre
Hallvard Birkeland, Naturvernforbundet i Hordaland

Dette arrangementet er relevant for:
- SDG 10: Mindre ulikhet
- SDG 13: Stoppe klimaendringene
- SDG 14: Liv under vann
- SDG 15: Liv på land
- SDG 17: Samarbeid for å nå målene

How can we untangle inequality in higher education?

Contact personTor Halvorsen, UiB, in collaboartion with SAIH, Ministry of Education and Research, and The Norwegian National Commission for UNESCO

Arrangementstype: Fysisk og digitalt 

Facebook event

“In order to strengthen equality and inclusiveness of higher education, there is an urgent need to change political and social mentalities towards exclusion as well as develop and strengthen policies and mechanisms to counter cultural and social barriers”. (Conclusion. s. 13 UNESCO notat June 2020)

The UNESCO  «SDG-Education Steering Committee” has with its repots “Making Higher Education more inclusive” pin pointed one of the core questions in the SDG agenda: How can we shape institutions that contribute to untangle inequality in all its forms?

If the recruitment to higher education is inclusive and equitable, this will create synergies in all of the institutions of society. This could strengthen the democratic support for the transformative shift that the agenda builds the basis for through the 17 goals. This event will focus on how we can contribute to such a development in higher education. 

Rebekka Borsch, The Norwegian UNESCO commission 
Manos Antoninis, Global Education Monitoring Report
Joachim Bakke, Norwegian Ministry of Education
Jamil Salmi, Global Tertiary Education Expert
Sunniva Folgen Høiskar, SAIH

Dette arrangmentet er relevant for:
- SDG 1: Utrydde fattigdom
- SDG 3: God helse
- SDG 4: God utdanning
- SDG 10: Mindre ulikhet
- SDG 11: Bærekraftige byer og samfunn
- SDG 13: Stoppe klimaendringene
- SDG 16: Fred og rettferdighet
- SDG 17: Samarbeid for å nå målene

Når bærekraft blir business

KontaktpersonKristin Guldbrandsen Frøysa, UiB

Arrangementstype: Kun digitalt

Bærekraft er på full fart inn som et viktig vurderingskriterium i næringsliv og forvaltning. Bedrifter og organisasjoner bruker bærekraft og bærekraftsmål som en del av merkevarebyggingen sin. Aksjer i grønne selskap er etterspurt på børsen og mange bruker bærekraft som et kriterium når de skal velge arbeidsgiver.

Hvordan måler vi bærekraft? Hvordan avgjør man om en bedrift virkelig er bærekraftig og ikke bare driver med grønnvasking? Hvem får gunstig finansiering og hvem faller utenfor i EUs nye taksonomi? 

Program
Berte-Elen Konow, UiB: Bærekraftig finans, EUs nye taksonomi
Herlaug Louise Fyhn, DNB: EUs taksonomi i praksis
Grete Rusten, UiB: Blir all industri nå grønn og bærekraftig?

Panelsamtale og spørsmål fra publikum, moderator Daniel Næsse, PwC

Dette arrangementet er relevant for:
- SDG 8: Anstendig arbeid og økonomisk vekst
- SDG 9: Innovasjon og infrastruktur
- SDG 12: Ansvarlig forbruk og produksjon

Ethics as a driving force towards sustainable future food consumption

Contact person: Gabriella Ljungström, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

The role of seafood in reaching the Sustainable Development Goals is not yet adequately addressed by science or in policy. For example, analyses of sustainable diets often do not even consider seafood and it is rarely discussed as being part of the global food system. This needs to change if we are to reliably assess how the overall human footprint can be minimized as the human population increases. Theoretical analyses of how the human food-associated footprint can be minimized are, however, useless unless people are willing to act accordingly.

Do you have clear ideas about the future role of seafood? Or no idea at all? We are interested in your participation regardless of prior knowledge or ascertained values, as we are all consumers who every day shape economic realities and future developments through our purchases. In this workshop, we will perform an experimental survey of attitudes towards food and nature to indicate opportunities and obstacles to change. This will serve as pilot for a larger study that aims to identify bottom-up pathways towards a sustainable future, construed so that individual motivation aligns with desirable outcomes globally.

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 2: Zero Hunger
- SDG 12: Responsible Production and Consumption
- SDG 14: Life below Water
- SDG 15: Life on Land

Leave no one behind

Contact person: Arne H Eide, SINTEF Digital, Health Research

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

In order to reach the SDGs, it is critical to accommodate the needs of vulnerable populations. Research of relevance for the welfare of vulnerable groups comprise a range of research areas, from baseline mapping to raise awareness and influence policy, to studying mechanisms maintaining poverty. It also include interventions within service provision, medical treatment and technological innovation that can better utilize scarce resources, streamline services and communication, make services more resilient, develop appropriate technologies, and reduce and remove environmental threats to health and welfare.

SINTEF is a Norwegian-based technological and cross-disciplinary research institute with comprehensive international activity and network. Our health research in LMICs has long tradition within the areas of global health, assistive technology and technology for global health. SINTEF aims in particular to combine technological, social science and health disciplines to produce knowledge and innovations that can contribute to the poorest countries and sub-populations.

This workshop aims to put vulnerable groups higher on the agenda in the global health discourse.

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 1: No Poverty
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

12:30 - 13:30 Break with Networking

13:30 - 15:00

Less Talk, More Action: Practical use of SDGs in local and regional planning

Contact personAase Kristine Lundberg, Nordland Research Institute (Nordlandsforskning)

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

Since the first government white paper on sustainable development in 1989, the Norwegian government has talked about the importance of integrating the goal of a sustainable development in all major policy-making and public planning processes at all levels of governance. In recent years, the Norwegian government has renewed this request, and talked a lot about the importance of integrating SDGs into social and spatial planning.

This national emphasis is a great step in the right direction! However, the reality is that while some municipalities are well underway to comprehensively integrating SDGs into their planning processes, many more are struggling to turn the national talk into local action - the buzzwords into outcomes. 

This session will begin with an historical review that will bring you up to date with how we got to where we are now, and what important lessons we must remember going forward. We will then feature researchers working on the ground with SDG implementation who will reflect on their experiences of working with stakeholders at a local level, providing insight into some challenges, markers of sucess, and unexpected outcomes. The talks will be followed by a question period and open discussion.

Join us to learn how and why we are using a holistic and inclusive target tracing method instead of focusing on one SDG and a time.  What the benefits and challenges are of working with SDG target clusters on a local scale, and even more importantly - what an SDG target cluster is and why should you make one for yourself!

Chair: E. Zoe Walker, Msc.

Part 1

Carlo Aall, Western Norway Research Institute (15 min): Looking back and learning from history: From Local Agenda 21 to local SDGs - nothing new under the sun?

Aase Kristine Lundberg, Nordland Research Institute (15 min): Putting the SDGs to work: Experiences and challenges from on-going work to localize the SDGs in Norwegian municipalities and counties.

Discussant Nils Tore Skogland, True Sustainable Strategy Advisor at Skogland.com, Visiting Lecturer at School of Architecture and Design at Falmouth University (UK), Chairman of Blue Ocean Norway and Assistant Governor of Rotary International in Bergen (3 min)

Discussant Alf-Helge Greaker, Urban Planner in Bømlo municipality (western Norway) who works with on-going processes with the implementation of the SDGs in their municipal planning. (3 min)

Part 2

Dorothy Dankel, University of Bergen & Karin Berentsen, ARCT as (30 min): Case study from Businesses (Andøya Space Center, Andfjord Salmon and The Whale) from Andøy Kommune, and a demo of how mapping SDG target activities across stakeholders can be included in annual municipal reporting. We will discuss our recent experiences about the benefits of an all-digital approach.

Discussant Kristian Wengen, UN Global Compact’s Arctic Platform and Tinkr, leader of  “Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability” (3 min)

Discussant Brita Staal, SALT Specialist in climate and sustainability strategies, working with climate risk, planning and awareness in private and public sector (3 min)

Plenary Discussion [15 min]: Zoe moderates the chat 

Questioning co-production of knowledge

Contact personKatinka Wågsæther, Centre for Climate & Energy Transformation, University of Bergen

Type of event: Physical and digital event

Facebook event

Does co-production unambiguously play a role in grounding research and policy, removing the fear of the perceived intellectual elite and bridging divides? Or might it also obscure power relationships and create false legitimacy for unjust outcomes? 

Co-production of knowledge is seen as having the potential to provide a space for engaging with different points of view, and for bringing academic knowledge and politics in closer dialogue. But it has also become a buzzword, with the danger that it may conceal power relations and construct legitimacy for projects that produce unjust and undemocratic outcomes. 

The Center for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET) invites you to a discussion between scientists and technocrats on how we can best co-produce solutions for sustainable transformations.

We are delighted to have in the Zoom room: 
- Professor Coleen Vogel from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg
- Smiso Bhengu, Climate Protection Scientist with the Municipality of eThekwini (Durban)  
- Dr Scott Bremer from the University of Bergen

They will each be sharing their experiences and critical reflections from co-production practice, after which we will be facilitating a discussion with participants. 

CET’s aim is to produce actionable knowledge through critical assessment of and direct participation in sustainability transformations. We need to reframe and reimagine discourses on sustainability. As social scientists, we should challenge dominant narratives and question “who is in the room?” 

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 13: Climate Action

Epistemic Inequalities: The Challenge of Decolonizing Knowledge in Gender Studies

Contact personRedi Koobak, SKOK, UiB

Type of event: Physical and digital event

Facebook event

This panel takes up the recent upsurge of interest in and attempts to decolonize knowledge which has important repercussions for gender studies and the production of knowledge on gender, race and sexuality on the local, national and transnational level. While feminists have for long debated whose knowledge counts, feminist knowledge itself is firmly implicated in power relations and legacies of colonialism.

In particular, we will contemplate the challenges of living up to this perceived ideal of decolonizing knowledge in various geopolitical contexts, considering how it is taken up differently in the Global North and the Global South. The discussion will revolve around the following questions:

  • How does the call to decolonize knowledge circulate across the globe and what kind of new knowledge does it make possible?
  • How do we avoid reproducing colonial dynamics in our research dedicated to promoting social justice with reference to e.g. gender-based violence and migration?
  • How do we work together across physical and structural borders?
  • How do we foster a transnational analytic of care and solidarity to challenge epistemic inequalities?

This event is relevant for SDG 5: Gender Equality

Vindkraft - redning eller mareritt?

KontaktpersonFinn Gunnar Nielsen, UiB

Arrangementstype: Kun digitalt

Norge er eit land med mykje vind, og i dei seinare åra har det vorte bygd mange vindkraftparkar på kysten. I tillegg er to havområde (Utsira Nord) og Sørlige Nordsjø II opna for havvindparkar. Motstanden mot vindkraft har auka og vorte meir organisert.

Meiningane om vindkraft er sterke og påstandane mange. Kva er fakta og kva er mytar når det gjeld vindkraft? Kva regelverk gjeld for utbygging av vindkraft til lands og til havs? Vil havvind verta det industri-eventyret leverandørindustri og politikarar håper på?

Arranementet er for alle som vil læra meir om vindkraft på land og til havs.

Program

Introduksjon om vindkraft, Thomas Hansen, Bergen Offshore Wind Centre, UiB

Tekniske prinsipp, størrelse, kapasitetsfaktor, landvind vs havvind

Vindressursar i Nordsjøen (NORA3), Astrid Nybø, Bergen Offshore Wind Centre, UiB  

Konsesjonsprosessen for vindkraft

På land, Ingunn Elise Myklebust, UiB / Katrine Broch Hauge, UiO

Til havs, Eirik Finserås, Bergen Offshore Wind Centre, UiB

Korte innlegg frå næringsliv om potensialet

Paul Christian Rieber, GC Rieber/Norges Rederiforbund

Dag Raymond Rasch, DOF Subsea

Kristian Holm, Equinor

Spørsmål frå publikum

Dette arrangementet er relevant for:
- SDG 7: Ren energi for alle
- SDG 13: Stoppe klimaendringene
- SDG 14: Liv under vann
- SDG 15: Liv på land

The Grounded Project: A framework for bottom-up institutional travel policy reform

Contact personRyan Hamilton, Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), UiO

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

In this workshop, we will present The Grounded Project’s framework for creating bottom-up, enduring change for your institution’s consumptive travel habits and policies. The aim of this event is to equip participants with tools they need to lobby for change in their academic institute or workplace. 

The workshop will include collaborative activities where participants can discuss barriers to change their institution faces and ways to overcome these challenges through goal oriented collaboration within their institution.

Although the aims of The Grounded Project are focused explicitly with travel policy, the lessons learned though a year of experience are applicable for policy reform, sustainable practices, and activism broadly.

This event is relevant SDG for: 
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities 
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities 
- SDG 12: Responsible Production and Consumption

Hva er egentlig grønn vekst? Og er det mulig?

Kontaktperson: Marie Storli, Rethinking Economics Norge

Arrangementstype: Kun digitalt

Facebook-arrangement

Næringslivet har raskt kastet seg på ballen, enten ved å reelt gjøre produksjonen sin bærekraftig, eller ved grønnvasking - altså ved å la det «se sånn ut».

Per Espen Stoknes’ tredje bok «Grønn vekst. En sunn økonomi for det 21. århundre» tar opp disse debattene og gir oss et oversiktsbilde på hvor debatten om grønn vekst, grønnvasking og internasjonal miljøpolitikk ligger idag. Økonomen og klimapsykologen bruker egne erfaringer som naturelsker, forsker og gründer, til å argumentere for at kapitalismen kan «formes og bremses». Stoknes er optimist - men kan beskyttelse av natur og økosystemer virkelig realiseres i mer og mer frislupne markeder?

Boken problematiserer ikke hvem som har tilgang på ressurser, og på hvilke premisser. Dette skriver stipendiat ved NMBU, Ellen Stenslie i sin anmeldelse av boken. Her stiller hun spørsmålstegn ved Stoknes optimisme til at næringslivet kan bli en «primus motor for det grønne skiftet».

Speakers:
Per Espen Stoknes
Ellen Stenslie
Benedikt Goodman (moderator)

Dette arrangementet er relevant for:
- SDG 8: Anstendig arbeid og økonomisk vekst.
- SDG 9: Innovasjon og infrastruktur
- SDG 12: Ansvarlig forbruk og produksjon

Education's role in overcoming inequality

75 years of education for Sustainable Development. United Nations Association looks into the future of teaching SDGs

Contact personKai Grieg, FN-sambandet i Bergen

Type of event: Digital event only

The United Nations Association of Norway (FNsambandet) has 75 years of experience on education on International a!airs and sustainable development.

The educational system favors children and students with some skills. Can we meet all learners on an equal level and treat all as equal?

In the workshop we will share some examples on how to bring awareness to teaching respect for others.

This event is relevant SDG for:
- SDG 1: No Poverty
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 4: Quality Education
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

15:00 - 15:30 Break with Networking

15:30 - 17:00

Globalt samarbeid – Bedre utdanning hjemme og ute?

KontaktpersonHege Toje, Diku - Direktoratet for internasjonalisering og kvalitetsutvikling i høyere utdanning

Arrangementstype: Kun digitalt

Hovedlinjen i norsk kunnskapspolitikk går i retning av at kvalitetsutvikling i høyere utdanning foregår gjennom samarbeid med høytrangerte og prestisjetunge universiteter og oppfordrer institusjonene til å utvikle samarbeid der Norge har spesifikke økonomiske og politiske interesser.

Mange norske fagfolk velger imidlertid å legge betydelig arbeid og krefter ned i utdanningssamarbeid i områder med svakere utviklete utdanningsinstitusjoner og med færre økonomiske ressurser. Eurasiaprogrammet og NORPART finansierer slike samarbeid, og disse programmene er nylig evaluert. Funnene fra disse evalueringene viser at innsatsen fra disse samarbeidene har stor betydning for utviklingen av høyere utdanning i det globale sør og i øst.

Utdanningen i Norge endres og utvikles også gjennom disse samarbeidene. Denne panelsesjonen innledes med en diskusjon mellom tre prosjektledere med finansiering fra NORPART og Eurasiaprogrammet. Hugo de Boer (UiO), Stina Torjesen (UiA) og Dhayalan Velauthapillai (HVL) vil belyse hvordan og hvorfor deres samarbeid er viktig for utviklingen av utdanning og fag ute og hjemme og diskutere hvilken rolle samarbeidene kan spille for bærekraftig utvikling. 

Denne samtalen leder opp til en paneldebatt mellom:

Åse Gornitzka (Viserektor for forskning og internasjonalisering ved Universitetet i Oslo)
Solve Sæbø (Prorektor for utdanning ved NMBU)
Bård Vegar Solhjell (Direktør i Norad) 
Pia Solli Sellereite (Avdelingsdirektør i Kunnskapsdepartmentet)

Disse skal blant annet diskutere hva «god utdanning» innebærer i et bærekraftperspektiv både internasjonalt og for norsk utdanning, hva utdanningssamarbeid med det globale sør kan bety for utvikling av kompetanse og ferdigheter for bærekraftig utvikling og hvorvidt slike samarbeid kan benyttes mer strategisk for å nå FNs bærekraftmål.

Dette arrangementet er relevant for SDG 4: God utdanning

The Inequality of Politics: Why Democratic Representation Malfunctions

Contact person: Yvette Peters, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

This panel deals with some of the most pressing issues facing democracies today: political inequality and insufficient representation. We explore the state of representative democracy by looking at citizen-state relations. More specifically, we explore key questions on representation and political equality (do people get what they want equally?).

Because political equality is a fundamental condition for the existence of democracy, and representation structures the way democracies function, these questions are vital.

Panel members are involved in high-quality research dealing with political inequality from different angles, ranging from affluence biases in Norway and beyond, to an undermining of the young in climate issues, evidence that easier access to politics through the internet does not eradicate inequality, and the discovery of some of the drivers of political inequality in democracies--and with that, some careful suggestions for solving this problem.

Speakers:
- Troy Broderstad, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB
Mari Helliesen, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB
Ruben Mathisen, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB
Trajche Panov, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB
Andrea Fumarola, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB
Yvette Peters, Department of Comparative Politics, UiB

Moderator: Don Kalb, Department of Social Anthropology, UiB

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 13: Climate Action

Ja takk, begge deler? Bærekraft og arbeidsrelevans i utdanningene

Arrangør: UN Global Compact og Universitetet i Bergen

KontaktpersonOda Bjerkan, UN Global Compact Norge

Arrangementstype: Fysisk og digitalt 

Facebook-arrangement

Tiden fram til 2030 er knapp. Bærekraftsmålene fordrer nye og styrkede partnerskap for å nå målene - både globalt, nasjonalt og lokalt. Hvordan kan akademia og arbeidslivet dra mer nytte av hverandre?

Denne våren kommer Regjeringen med en nasjonal handlingsplan for bærekraftsmålene, og en stortingsmelding om arbeidsrelevans i høyere utdanning. Kan det økte fokuset på bærekraft og arbeidsrelevans hos norske universiteter og høyskoler sees i sammenheng?

UN Global Compact, FNs organisasjon for bærekraftig næringsliv, spør sammen med Universitetet i Bergen hva som skal til for at flere studenter får tilgang til arbeidslivet under studiene, og for at arbeidslivet får tilgang på flere studenter som kan utfordre de i en mer bærekraftig retning.

Om UN Global Compact 
UN Global Compact er FNs organisasjon for bærekraftig næringsliv og verdens største bedriftsinitiativ for bærekraft. Over 12 000 bedrifter er medlemmer globalt og UNGC har lokale organisasjoner i 158 land. I Norge har vi over 250 medlemmer.

Innledere og paneldeltagere:

Henrik Asheim, forsknings- og høyere utdanningsminister
Kristin Vinje, Administrerende direktør for Nasjonalt organ for kvalitet i utdanningen (NOKUT)
Kim Gabrielli, Administrerende direktør for UN Global Compact Norge
Margareth Hagen, Rektor ved Universitetet i Bergen (UiB)
Andreas Trohjell, Leder av Norsk Studentorganisasjon (NSO)
Sveinung Jørgensen, Førsteamanuensis ved Norges Handelshøyskole (NHH)
Lars Jacob Tysnes Pedersen, Førsteamanuensis ved Norges Handelshøyskole (NHH)

Dette arrangementet er relevant for:
- SDG 4: God utdanning
- SDG 8: Anstendig arbeid og økonomisk vekst
- SDG 17: Samarbeid for å nå målene

Mobilizing SDG knowledge in Higher Education

Contact person: Tom Skauge, Norwegian Network for Ethics in Professions - Secretariat at HVL; Committee for SDG relevance in Business Education (UHR-ØA).

Type of event: Physical and digital event

Presentations in Norwegian

How can higher education institutions be important knowledge actors for the Road to 2030, and how can they foster responsible professions?

The joint university sector report on “SDG Quality in higher education” is optimistic:

"Through education universities have a particular opportunity to create change-makers for sustainability. The universities educate professionals, who again through their working life can contribute to the reduction of social inequality, prevent the destruction of the environment, animal habitats and the atmosphere. Professionals with knowledge and understanding of the interconnection between the social, environmental and natural worlds, can be the most important change agents.” (s.4).

Most higher education institutions worldwide will agree. In Norway most universities and university colleges claim SDG in their strategic goals. This workshop invites scholars and students to present experiences on teaching programs, pedagogic, research and dissemination on SDG and for educating responsible professions. What can be strategies for accelerating education for the SDGs in the universities?

This event is relevant for: 
- SDG 1: No Poverty 
- SDG 4: Quality Education 
- SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy 
- SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth 
- SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure 
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities 
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities 
- SDG 12: Responsible Production and Consumption 
- SDG 13: Climate Action 
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Carbon Capture and Storage in 2021: What do we know and what do we not know?

Contact Person: Dorothy J. Dankel, University of Bergen (@dorothydankel #SDGbergen21)

Organizers: ACTOM, PERCCSEPTIONS, OceanNETs and REX-CO2 projects

Type of event: Physical and digital event

Carbon Capture and Storage: A Social Science and Technology Brief on Sustainability

This session features a panel of scientists who outline the social, economic and environmental/climate promises of CCS as a technology as well as the unavoidable uncertainties of full-scale CCS.

The following talks are 10 min each with 5 minutes of Q/A afterwards:

  • Tore Furevik, Director, Bjerknes Centre for climate research: Why do we need CCS? A quick 10 min “tour” of what IPCC scenarios tell us about CCS and what this means for science & society.
  • Siri Veland, NORCE: Can we trust CCS? What are the current public perceptions of CCS and how can industry create a social-license-to-operate through applied social science?
  • Sarah Gasda, NORCE: What’s the impact on the Ocean? How can marine ecology know-how and sensor technology spot any CO2 leaks?
  • Logan Brunner, TNO: Recycle and Re-use? From oil extraction to Carbon injection: Existing oil and gas industry installations which cover large parts of the potential CCS chain are already in place, and an increasing number of reservoirs have come to the end of their production lifetime and are earmarked as major targets for initiating large-scale CCUS operations. What opportunities and challenges do existing wells present?
  • Dorothy Dankel, UiB: What is Responsible CCS? We may understand the need for CCS technology, but we must not take the technology for granted. How can scientists and industry be more reflexive in their work with this technology? Dorothy will explain the research frame of “Responsible Research and Innovation” in the CCS context with examples from the ACTOM project.
  • Plenary Q/A and discussions

Profesjonene og bærekraftsmålene

Forutsetninger- og muligheter for faglig autonomi og medbestemmelse i gjennomføring av målene

Kontaktperson: Jan-Christian Koltsø, Unio

Arrangementstype: Fysisk og digitalt

De fleste mål og delmål berører arbeidslivet og gruppene som Unio-forbundene organiserer. Profesjonene er sentrale aktører i gjennomføring av målene. Det er de både som kunnskapsarbeidere og profesjonsutøvere, men også som forhandlingspart i det store reformarbeidet som gjennomføring av bærekraftsmålsmodellen representerer.

Profesjoner har pr. definisjon stor grad av yrkesautonomi. Profesjonsutøvelse bygger på forskingsbasert kunnskap som profesjonene selv er med på å utvikle. De påvirker igjen samfunnet gjennom sine tolkinger av problem og valg av løsninger. Hvordan opplever ulike profesjoner deres betingelser for å bidra i arbeidet med å nå bærekraftsmålene?

Workshopen omhandler profesjonsutøvere generelt, men har et særlig fokus på lærerprofesjonen, sykepleie og den akademiske profesjonen. Gjennom workshopen presenteres foreløpige forskningsresultater fra prosjektet «Profesjonene og bærekraftsmålene».

Dette arrangementet er relevant for alle bærekraftsmålene.

Embedding sustainability in academic cultures and activities

Contact person: Kjetil Rommetveit, Centre for the study of the sciences and humanities (SVT), UiB

Type of event: Physical and digital event

This session will be hosted by the Sustainability Education Collective (Bærekraftskollegiet), a forum for teachers, students, and researchers involved in sustainability activities at the University of Bergen. The session explores how to implement and promote sustainability as a task for universities. A number of initiatives at universities world-wide seek to develop and implement interdisciplinary, student-active sustainability education in different institutional cultures and academic structures.

We will discuss topics such as: models for implementing mutual learning arenas dedicated to sustainability; concrete experiences with such arenas; strategic and long-term considerations; institutional arrangements; conditions for interdisciplinary collaboration; and more. We will learn from successful initiatives and discuss challenges and opportunities in implementing interdisciplinary education at our respective universities.

The session will be introduced by a keynote speaker (Professor Gunilla Öberg, Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities), followed up with short presentations of 5 minutes each, and rounded off by a plenary discussion. We invite participants to submit short abstracts (300 words) with proposals for short presentations.

This event is relevant for SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Workshop for searching for an equitable platform for fighting gender inequality 

Contact person: Shahnaz Amin Haaq, Department of Psychosocial Sciences, UiB

Type of event: Physical and digital event

Today, we are experiencing that:

  • lion’s share of fighting gender inequality lies on the girls and their parents.
  • social practices are by and large are failing to include boys and their parents in establishing gender equality.
  • educating boys how to give, and that they are nothing more but equal, remains ignored in the process of educating girls how to claim and that they are nothing less but equal.
  • males are privileged with many unwritten rights and we all have taken these as granted and we are naturalizing these rights.

This workshop is an opportunity to understand causes and consequences of such inequal practices and how can we put an end to such inequalities.

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities

Trippel helix: partnerships for the goals

Contakt personAnne Gry Gudmundsdotter, University of South-Eastern Norway (Senter for bærekraftig omstilling/Centre for Sustainability Transition)

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

Facebook event

Goal 17 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) states that new and strong partnerships are imperative in achieving the goals. This means, stimulating well-functioning partnerships between the public sector, the private sector and the civil society. This is precisely one of the primary goals of the University of South-Eastern Norway's (USN) newly established Centre for Sustainability Transition.

The workshop will present specific R&D projects where researchers at USN collaborate with private and public partners to approach sustainability challenges. A panel comprised of a student, external partners and researchers from USN, will discuss and request inputs on the instruments, methodologies and arenas that can best facilitate strong partnerships in achieving SDG No. 17.

The panelists are: 
Associate Professor Mona Sæbø (USN and Standard Bio) will talk about the NFR project "Catch & Kill", with the goal is to develop a new type of cleaning material for microbes in water and air.

Assistant Professor and PhD-candidate Anette Momrak (USN) will talk about the DIKU project ‘Innovation in Teams’ and the methodology they use to connect interdisciplinary student groups and companies to work with specific sustainability issues.

Associate Professor Niklas Kreander (USN) will talk about USN as Norway's only fair-trade university and the social responsibility that comes with it. 

Master's student at USN, Vilde Solbakken, will talk about her work with SALT, a company in Lofoten about her project related to plastic removal. She will focus on the Triple Helix collaboration from a student perspective.

Linn Johnsen, head of the Climate and Energy Network in Vestfold and Telemark County Authority, will talk about the importance of collaboration with academia in corporate networks.

This event is relevant to SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals 

CANCELLED: Inaakonigewin: Safe drinking water with a focus on Indigenous peoples, governance and nature

Contact person: Shirley Thompson, University of Manitoba

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Safe drinking water needs to be viewed through a two-eyed seeing approach considering the inequity of infrastructure in many Indigenous communities for water, wastewater and other infrastructure along with Indigenous water stewardship. The power, policies, practices and programmes of colonialist governments desecrated water through unsustainable development. Making water safe requires that we consider water to be linked to health and of a sacred nature.

This webinar workshop will consider sustainable ideas from natural law, Indigenous stewardship, Indigenous governance, UNDRIP, sustainable development and possible solutions through technology with nature. Dr. Ballard will discuss the Anishinaabe concept of Inaakonigewin.

This event is relevant for SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation

Studying sustainability while sailing over the Pacific in summer 2022

Contact personKatja Enberg, BIO/ University of Bergen

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

Facebook event

SDG200: Ocean, climate, society is a completely new 30 ECTS interdisciplinary sustainability course at the UiB. The course will be run for the first time from May to August 2022 on board the sailing ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl, while the ship sails across the Pacific from Valparaíso in Chile to Palau. The ship is circumnavigating the globe in One Ocean Expedition, as a part of the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

This course will employ the SDGs as a platform from which to gain a comprehensive understanding of planetary sustainability. This includes building necessary skills for the transformative interdisciplinary cooperation needed if humanity is to continue to thrive for generations to come, while avoiding large-scale abrupt or irreversible environmental change. The students participating on SDG200 will live and study on board and become part of the crew, dividing their time between sailing the ship and studying, eating and resting.

We invite particularly students interested in participating in SDG200 to learn about the course and discuss our plans with us. As a participant in our event, you will be able to contribute to the development of the course!

This event is relevant for all the Sustainable Development Goals.

The fluid-permanence of urban habitation: Launch of journal Parangolé

A journal about the urbanised planet.

Contact personElina Troscenko, Global Research Programme on Inequality (GRIP), UiB 

Type of event: Physical and digital event

Facebook event

PARANGOLÉ is an emerging annual journal that explores ideas on inequality, urbanisation and design from around the world. The first issue of Parangolé, entitled Motherland, is concerned with people living in emergency shelters, camps, informal settlements.

The event will highlight some of the contributions in the Motherland issue. The speakers will discuss how humanitarians, theoreticians and the built environment practitioners can engage and advance the SDGs by addressing migration and displacement in cities.

Participants:
Bjørn Enge Bertelsen (GRIP)
Are John Knudsen (CMI)
Ida Zeline Lien (Urban-A)
Alfredo Brillembourg (U-TT)
Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman (University of California)
Irit Katz (University of Cambridge)
Manuel Herz (Basel, Germany)

This event is relevant for:
- SDG 1: No Poverty
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Universities and the SDGs: the end of research autonomy?

Contact personThomas Völker, Centre for the study of the sciences and humanities (SVT), UiB

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

The 2030 Agenda calls for social, economic and political transformations. To this end the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were introduced, providing targets to achieve these transformations. Universities are regarded as key actors in achieving the goals set out by this agenda.

The underlying premise is that universities themselves need to transform to be able to better contribute to achieving the SDGs. Normative assumptions about re-ordering of science-society relations or a new contract between science and society are thus a central part of these debates.

This poses several questions: How can universities contribute to achieving the SDGs? What kind of knowledge is needed? Whose knowledge is needed? In addition, more fundamental issues are at stake: how does working towards the SDGs relate to (often idealized) ideas of an autonomy of science? Should universities operate according to a logic of discovery or a logic of delivery? How could a “new" contract between science and society look like?

These questions will be discussed by the co-chairs and members of the UNESCO Global Independent Expert Group on the Universities and the 2030 Agenda (EGU2030):
- Dag Olav Hessen (University of Oslo)
- Sylvia Schmelkes (Universidad Iberoamericana)
- Adrian Parr (University of Texas/University of Oregon)
- Tristan McCowan (University College London)

This event is relevant for: 
- SDG 4: Quality Education 
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Not the roaring twenties, exactly

The second housing crises, COVID 19 and the SDGs towards 2030

Contact person: Erik Berg, Habitat Norway

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

Globally we are in the midst of this century's second housing crises. It comes in addition to an existential climate threat. The first crises in 2008 had its roots in the financing of private houses in the US. It spread all over the world through a consistent global finance system. 

The second housing crises of today, however, is promoted by the COVID 19 pandemic. It is caused by a situation whereby housing becomes too expensive. Population growth and property speculation also contribute to this. Existing housing consequently becomes overpopulated, lacking basic services like water and sanitation. Inadequate housing conditions are decisive for contagious spread and is critical for individual vulnerability. 

Draft programme
Introduction: "Planet of cities.", housing, COVID 19 and the SDGs. E. Berg, Chair Habitat Norway

Film screening "PUSH"

Commodification of Housing - global effects and remedies. Why a Shift? L. Fahra. UN Advisor for Adequate Housing (ret.)

The Norwegian Oil Fund - Investing in Evictions? O. Iglebæk. Journalist/Architect

Affordable housing during Corona. Social approaches for the future. Ellen S.de Vibe, Chief of Urban Planning, Oslo (ret.)

This event is relevant SDG for:
- SDG 1: No Poverty
- SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
- SDG 5: Gender Equality
- SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- SDG 13: Climate Action
- SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Økologisk økonomi med Tone Smith

Kontaktperson: Marie Storli, Rethinking Economics Norge

Arrangementstype: Kun digitalt

Facebook-arrangement

Temaer som klimaendringer, tap av biologisk mangfold og energi er mer relevante enn noen gang før. Økologisk økonomi er en fagretning bygget på grunnleggende innsikter fra naturvitenskapene, og man forstår økonomiske prosesser som forankret i biofysiske prosesser - hvilket også betyr at det finnes grenser for vekst.

Økologisk økonomi er en av de teoretiske skolene i økonomifaget som vanligvis blir utelatt fra pensum i økonomiutdanningen. I motsetning til de fleste andre økonomiske teorier er økologisk økonomi opptatt av bærekraft, moderasjon og det gode liv, heller enn økonomisk vekst. Den nære sammenhengen mellom økonomisk vekst og vekst i ressursforbruk og forurensning, gjør at en problematisering av økonomisk vekst står helt sentralt i faget.

Mot denne bakgrunn anses SDG 8 om økonomisk vekst som vanskelig å forene med de andre bærekraftsmålene. I dette møtet får du en kort introduksjon til den akademiske tradisjonen økologisk økonomi, etterfulgt av en diskusjon rundt ovenfornevnte problemer.

Tone Smith er samfunnsgeograf og økologisk økonom (Ph.D)

Dette arrangementet er relevant for SDG 8: Anstendig arbeid og økonomisk vekst.

10: Reduced Inequalities
- SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

17:30 - 19:00 Break with Networking

19:00 - 21:30

Screening of the documentary "Picture a Scientist" and debate

We will screen the award-winning documentary Picture a Scientist by Ian Cheney and Sharon Shattuck. The film will be available 'on demand'.

Before the film, Dr Dorothy J. Dankel (UiB) discuss gender equality and discrimination in academia with UiB Rector Margareth Hagen, OsloMet Rector Curt Rice (Chair of Norway’s Committee on Gender Equality and Diversity in Research), the film's co-director Sharon Shattuc, producer Manette Pottle and Dr Jane Willenbring, one of the scientists featured in the documentary.

About Picture a Scientist
This documentary chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks, and geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights.

Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries - including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists - who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

-o-