Call for abstracts BISC2020: Beyond sustainable development

Climate change and sustainability has been on the agenda for half a century. Yet, the emissions are increasing and the effects of global warming are affecting everything. Avoiding change is no longer an option, but we can still shape the nature of that change. There is wide agreement on the urgent need for deep and rapid change at all levels of society in order to avoid the worst outcomes. However, we are acting too slow, and the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. What is stopping us from taking action when “everyone” is talking about sustainability? Deep change requires collaboration and knowledge-sharing that crosses disciplines and borders. We therefore invite undergraduate and postgraduate students from all countries and academic disciplines to participate in this important dialogue at the third Bergen International Student Conference in March 2020.

With this conference we want to explore the risks, blindspots and conflicts that are inherent on our way towards a more sustainable future. By doing so, new answers and solutions can be revealed in order to deal with the challenges we are facing. 

We invite contributions related (but not limited) to the following questions:

• Conflicts: What are the barriers to and opportunities for deep and rapid transformations, seen from your disciplinary viewpoint?
• Risks: What risks can we expect in the 21st century? 
• Blindspots: What is not usually taken into consideration when talking about sustainable development?
• What academic activities and methods are appropriate for the challenges of our time?

Dates and venue: 23–24 March 2020 in Bergen, Norway
Call for contributions: Submit your abstract by February 2, 2020
Contact: Submit your abstracts to collaboratory@uib.no.

Contribution guidelines: The abstract should not be longer than 500 words and can be written in English, Norwegian, Swedish or Danish. Your submission can be based upon a thesis, course paper, field project or other academic work that you have written or are currently working on. At the conference, the abstract will form the basis of a short presentation, which will be followed by informal and interactive group discussions between all participants. There is no fee for attending the conference, but we urge participants to seek out financial assistance regarding accommodation and travel expenses at their home institutions. For more information, please visit the conference webpage, the Facebook page or send us an email at collaboratory@uib.no.