On 25 October 2024, The United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) in its role as ProSPER.Net Secretariat, hosted the ProSPER.Net 18th General Assembly and 24th Board Meeting. Held online, the meeting was attended by representatives from 18 ProSPER.Net member institutions and featured updates on activities of the network, election of board members, and the introduction of four new member universities.
A highlight of the event was the announcement of the four new member institutions to the network: Kumamoto University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia, and the University of Nottingham Malaysia. Each institution expressed its commitment to advancing Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and integrating sustainability principles into their respective research and curriculum development.
Elections were also held for the ProSPER.Net Board for the 2024-2026 term, with Prof. Deepak Sharma of the Asian Institute of Technology re-elected as Board Chair, and Prof. Miki Sugimura of Sophia University reappointed as Vice-Chair. Both leaders expressed their gratitude for the continued support and reaffirmed their commitment to advancing the mission of the network.
Prof. Shinobu Yume Yamaguchi (Director, UNU-IAS) welcomed the new members and emphasized the importance of their contributions in strengthening ProSPER.Net’s efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She acknowledged the active role of existing members in fostering collaborative research and highlighted recent initiatives that have made significant progress in promoting sustainability in higher education. Ms. Tokie Izaki (Deputy Director, Office of Environmental Education, Ministry of the Environment, Japan) highlighted ProSPER.Net as a key ESD program funded by the Japanese government, gave recognition to contributions of the network to carbon neutrality efforts, and reaffirmed the commitment of the Ministry to supporting regional collaboration among higher education institutions across the Asia-Pacific region. Prof. Deepak Sharma (ProSPER.Net Board Chair) highlighted the meeting as an opportunity to review the progress of the network and strategise on advancing its mission.
Ateneo de Manila University reported on the successful hosting of the 2024 ProSPER.Net Sustainability Forum which discussed how to advance circular economy practices within the Asia-Pacific region. University of Peradeniya presented on the upcoming 2024 Young Researchers’ School (YRS) program, with the theme “Building Resilience: Integrating Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change”. The YRS will provide selected post-graduate students with the opportunity to participate workshops, field visits, and community engagement activities in Sri Lanka.
The ProSPER.Net Secretariat provided updates on the collaboration between the Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI) and ProSPER.Net as its network member. As part of this collaboration, UNU-IAS is co-leading an action group on the “Futures of Higher Education and Artificial Intelligence”, and encouraged ProSPER.Net member universities to participate in the proposed activities.
The meeting concluded with a call for applications to board membership positions and an invitation for members to participate in upcoming events.
The ProSPER.Net Secretariat would like to congratulate the four new members to the network (Kumamoto University, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia, and the University of Nottingham Malaysia), the re-elected Board Chair and re-appointed Vice-Chair. The Secretariat would like thank the Ministry of the Environment, Japan for its continuous support of ProSPER.Net, and to all attendees for their active contributions and participation in the meeting.