ProSPER.Net E-Bulletin Issue 92 (September 2020)

Header

Message from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Greetings from the ProSPER.Net Secretariat! We hope this bulletin finds you well and that you are all remaining in good health.

This month, the ProSPER.Net Secretariat announced the ProSPER.Net Webinar on Sustainability in Higher Education happening next month, which we invite all members and those interested to participate in. We are very excited to be bringing you this important event, where challenges and opportunities for HEIs during and post COVID-19 will be discussed, as well as what HEIs can do to build back better. Please see below for details on how to register.

Thank you once again to all members who completed the ProSPER.Net COVID-19 survey in recent months. The findings on how members have responded to the crisis have been included in an IAU Report (see below).

Should you have any news, open calls, upcoming events, or publications to share via this bulletin, we would love to hear from you! 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

Call for Applications: The Global University Climate Forum

The Global University Climate Forum brings student activists together to share ideas, learn, connect, and act on the global imperative of addressing climate change. Multidisciplinary teams of students at all levels from all parts of the world are invited to submit their ideas for climate action projects. Applications are due by midnight EST on 30 September, 2020. Find out more here.

Call for Abstracts: III International Symposium 'Education for Sustainable Development for All Generations – Social Agreement'

Abstracts are currently being accepted for the III International Symposium ‘Education for Sustainable Development for All Generations – Social Agreement', to be held at the Belarusian State Pedagogical University named after Maxim Tank, Minsk, Belarus, from 2-3 December, 2020. Along with on-site and online participation formats, the Program Committee invites the submission of abstracts for the Symposium proceedings. Submissions about suggested topic areas, as well as other topics from all fields of ESD and educational tools for SDGs promotion are welcomed. The deadline to submit papers is 15 October, 2020. Read more

Upcoming Events

Registrations Open: ProSPER.Net Webinar on Sustainability in Higher Education

16 October, 2020, 3:00pm-5:00pm (JST) (online via Zoom)

UNU-IAS will be holding a ProSPER.Net webinar on Sustainability in Higher Education titled 'Accelerating transition towards achieving the SDGs during and after the COVID-19 pandemic' on 16 October, 2020.

Speakers from the International Association of Universities, Gadjah Mada University, Asian Institute of Technology, Sophia University and UNU-IAS will share experiences and discuss the challenges and opportunities for higher education institutions from a short, mid-term and long-term perspective during and post the COVID-19 era, as well as what they can do to build back better and to accelerate actions toward achieving the SDGs.

View the draft concept note and the flyer for more information on the webinar.

This webinar will be open to the public. Registrations are currently open for the webinar here. The deadline is 14 October, 2020 (11:59pm JST).

WCEF Oceania Side Event

7 October, 2020, 5:30pm-7:00pm (JST) (online)

The Circular Economy (CE) is often viewed as a strategic lens arising from resource scarcity challenges where access to resources or landfill pose constraints that encourage prudent use of resources. Resource rich nations such as Australia have been considered to be laggards in the uptake of circularity practices. In this panel session, the challenges associated with catalysing CE adoption in Australia will be analysed, with a special focus on understanding how Australia’s cultural and political mileu has shaped approaches to transition to circularity in the region. Further information and registration details can be found here.

Publications

IAU Report: Regional/National Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education

Following the publication of its First Global Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education, the International Association of Universities (IAU) has released a new report on Regional and National Perspectives on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education.

The IAU's first Global Survey on the Impact of COVID-19 on Higher Education aimed to capture a description of the impact of COVID-19 at the global level and on higher education, including all areas: teaching & learning, research, and community engagement. In order to complement the report and shed some light on the above mentioned topics, IAU called its member organisations to contribute to a new report focusing on Regional/National perspectives by contextualizing the results of the IAU global survey in their local realities and providing additional information.

Included within this report are the main findings from the survey conducted amongst the ProSPER.Net network, on how members have responded to the COVID-19 crisis (see pages 31-34) including how teaching and learning have been affected, areas of concern, opportunities that have arisen, and the overall impact on the ESD agenda at universities. Thank you again to all members for their feedback and contributions to this survey. Access the full report here.

Global Action Programme (GAP) Key Partners' Report (2015-2019)

During the Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD, which ran from 2015 to 2019, UNESCO worked with a network of 97 GAP Key Partners from government, civil society, the private sector and academia active in five Priority Action Areas, to accelerate progress on sustainable development and scale up ESD action. Published by UNESCO, this report presents the analysis of the quantitative responses of these partners across 10 indicators (two from each Priority Action Area). The report concludes with some lessons learned from the GAP that can inform the implementation of the new global framework 'ESD for 2030'. Download the report here.

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.

ProSPER.Net Secretariat 

United Nations University 
Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability 
5-53-70 Jingumae, 
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8925 
Japan