Message from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Greetings from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat! In this month’s issue, we feature reports from recent ESD events as well as upcoming sessions, including an exciting webinar presenting initial research findings from the ProSPER.Net project 'Circular Economy Integration for Sustainable Built Environment Education', led by RMIT. Take a look below for further information!

If you have any news, open calls, upcoming events, or publications you wish to share in a future bulletin, please complete this form and email your submission to the ProSPER.Net Secretariat at ProSPERNet@unu.edu (submissions close on the 15th of each month).

Sincerely,

ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Open Calls

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Circular Economy Integration for Built Environment Education

28 July, 2022, 17:00-18:30 (AEST), online

The Circular Economy (CE) model has been regarded as a promising solution to solve the limitations of the traditional economy model and contributes significant benefits to triple bottom line (TBL) of economic, environmental, and social sustainability. However, literature and practice demonstrate that CE currently has not yet achieved the full understanding. The implementation of CE is currently the emphasis on “reused, recycled and reduced” causing limits to a holistic and systematic thinking with regard to CE and its implementation to businesses and community. The built environment and other related disciplines are in the same situation. To bridge this gap, it is undeniable that education plays an important role to improve awareness and perception of different stakeholders.

To this end, this webinar as part of research outcomes of the ProSPER.Net project 'Circular Economy Integration for Sustainable Built Environment Education' aims to provide initial research findings that will eventually assist businesses and communities, with presentations to be made by the five universities participating in this joint project. The webinar will focus on CE concepts, case studies across different countries and initial analysis of CE implementation in these case studies. Learn more including how to register here.

Online YEA! Global Summit

5 July, 2022, online

Registrations are currently open for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Youth and Education Alliance - YEA! Global Summit, to be held on 5 July, 2022. This virtual Global Summit will bring together YEA! partners and the wider higher education community to provide an opportunity for universities and colleges around the world to learn more about YEA!, to get involved in a variety of initiatives to support climate action on campus, and to hear from higher education practitioners, youth and government representatives.

Find out more about the Summit here, and register for free here (deadline: 28 June, 2022).

Keynote by Professor Jacqueline Cramer – Circular Economy in Buildings and Construction, Photovoltaic, Textiles and Plastics

5 July, 2022, 10:00am-11:15am (AEST), online

Prof Jacqueline Cramer will visit Australia from late June to late August 2022 to support business, government, universities, and societal organisations in the implementation of the circular economy. As a Visiting Professor at RMIT, speaker at various events and leader of interactive workshops and strategic conversations, she will assist in sparking the circular economy in Australia. Learn more and register for this event here.

Latest News

Side Event Presents Research Findings on Learning Continuity for Climate Displaced Persons

On 5 June 2022, UNU-IAS co-organised a side event at the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Education Ministers’ Conference (APREMC II) in Bangkok, Thailand, presenting the findings of joint research with UNESCO on climate change displacement and the right to education. The session highlighted trends in climate displacement and the educational needs of climate-displaced persons, and discussed policy measures to ensure learning continuity. Read more

Session at DNC 2022 Explores Different Sector Approaches to Biodiversity Conservation

On 25 May, 2022, UNU-IAS participated in a session at the Dresden Nexus Conference 2022 (DNC 2022), organised by UNU-FLORES, TU Dresden, and the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER). The session, ‘Fostering Collective Action: Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Sectors’, featured presentations on different sectors’ approaches to biodiversity conservation and restoration in their respective fields.

Philip Vaughter (UNU-IAS) underlined ESD’s role in conceptualising biodiversity conservation and human development initiatives – complimenting rather than competing with one another – whereby education is used as a mechanism to translate global objectives for sustainable development into the context of the local communities in which they operate. Experiences from RCE projects featured in a recent RCE Biodiversity publication were presented, highlighting lessons learned, such as the importance of engaging with a wide cross-section of the community (including groups who are often overlooked) in outreach and capacity building activities, recognising local knowledge, and synthesising best practices at the household level and upscaling them. Read more

Biodiversity Day Symposium Promotes Building a Shared Future for All Life

On 20 May, 2022, UNU-IAS co-organised a symposium to celebrate International Day for Biological Diversity under the theme ‘Building a Shared Future for All Life’. It focused on linking local initiatives with the international policy agenda to accelerate global conservation efforts. A panel discussion featured Brittany Vermeulen (RCE Greater Western Sydney) who discussed a project in Australia that trained volunteer citizen scientists and students to collect samples from a river to study urban platypus presence (an umbrella species for waterway health). The project was featured in the most recent RCE Biodiversity publication.
 
Panellists at the event shared their experiences and views on engaging local communities in ecosystem and biodiversity conservation and restoration. They highlighted the importance of multi-stakeholder dialogue, using visualisation to communicate scientific data, and the interconnections between biodiversity, women’s empowerment, and youth engagement. Read more

This is a publication of UNU-IAS ProSPER.Net Secretariat. The bulletin is a great way to share your activities, events and news as a ProSPER.Net member with the rest of the network. Feel free to send us any information you may deem relevant for the rest of the community by completing this form and emailing it to prospernet@unu.edu. We look forward to your inputs! Visit ProSPER.Net regularly for up-to-date news and event information.