The Saskatchewan Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (SK RCE on ESD) will hold the 2022 RCE ESD Awards Event in collaboration with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum as an in-person event on 4 May 2022. This year, the RCE SK on ESD will celebrate the sustainability achievements of such diverse groups as the University of Regina, Ducks Unlimited, the Prince Albert Historical Society, Saskatchewan Polytechnic, SaskOutdoors, Calling Lakes EcoMuseum and others. UNESCO Chairholder Charles Hopkins will deliver the keynote on Education for Sustainable Development in the Anthropocene in light of a new exhibit at Royal Saskatchewan Museum titled Life in the Anthropocene. You can register here to attend in person. The event will be livestreamed on YouTube.
Have your voice heard for the second Sustainable on the Go Conference SOTG 2022: We are looking for you to make a difference! Join the discussion with higher education institutions around the world to emerge stronger from the pandemic. What is done well? What should change? Who gets to participate and who is missing? Make internationalization more responsible, inclusive – make it better! This pre-conference Youth Engagement Program is facilitated by our conference partner, Crossing Borders Education (CBE). It will provide you with the international group experience of building trust across cultural differences and establish a dialogue culture to actively engage with each other, collaborate, and creatively contribute to the themes of the SOTG 2022 Conference. Apply today!
The UNESCO World Higher Education Conference (WHEC2022) will soon take place in Barcelona as a hybrid event to be most accessible for the growing global higher education community. WHEC 2022 will aim at reshaping ideas and practices in higher education to ensure sustainable development for the planet and humanity. UNESCO Chairholder Charles Hopkins will be on a panel at a joint IAU–SDSN session titled Higher Education’s role in securing the future – a more equitable, peaceful and sustainable society. Are universities ready to assume their full responsibility? on Friday, 20 May 2022 at 9.30 am CEST. Stay tuned on our social media channels or check the UNESCO conference website for more details.
The third iteration of the IAU Global Survey on higher education and research for sustainable development (HESD) on ‘The role of higher education in fostering sustainable development: How do institutions engage with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs’, is online!
York’s UNESCO Chair team was active in the working group designing of this year´s survey and is pleased to share the final product. The survey aims to better understand how HEIs foster and engage with sustainable development within the SDG framework. Outcomes will help inform policy and support universities already engaged as well as those who want begin engaging with the SDGs. Participate in the survey and share your views!
In advance of the 10th annual Teaching in Focus Conference, the York University SDGs-in-the-Classroom Community of Practice will host its 1st SDG Virtual Teach-in Event, on Tuesday, 10 May 2022, 10:00 – 4:00 EDT. titled Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals: The World’s Challenges Can Be Found in Your Classroom.
The event is open to those beginning to explore how the 17 SDGs might intersect with the subjects in their classrooms or those who have deep research and teaching familiarity with these goals. The half-day teach-in will include panel discussions, interactive sessions, and experiential learning about teaching the SDGs. Together, organizers and participants will share approaches to working with the SDGs as a learning framework, discover strategies for engaging students with SDG-focused lessons, and share experiences as teachers and learners in the SDG classroom. Registration for the event is now open!
Held on 28 March 2022, a Knowledge Fair featured innovative community action projects presentations from student teams in the inaugural cohort of the SDGs in Action Student Challenge, funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Global Skills Opportunity program. Participating student teams presented the project plans they had been working towards since January. The top three performing teams were presented awards in recognition of their work, and all student participants were encouraged to continue their projects into their experiences abroad through academic exchanges, internships, research and extracurricular work ahead. Awarded with the best overall project was a community project titled PADS – Promoting Access and Deconstructing Stigma with UNESCO Chair´s Katrin Kohl and York University´s Provostial Fellow Cheryl van Daalen-Smith serving as faculty mentors.
The well-known IAU webinar series on the futures of higher education in conjunction with WHEC 2022 will take place on 10 May 2022 and 12 May 2022. Join the International Association of Universities (IAU) and their partners tackling the big questions in higher education today and for the future. More details and registration are available here.
We are in ‘a battle for our lives’, as we struggle to transform our societies to reach the 1.5-degree path recommended by the Paris Agreement. The time to learn and act for our planet is now!
Have you missed the first session of the UNESCO-UNFCCC’s joint webinar series On the Road to COP27, dedicated to the goal of greening every education policy and curriculum to be climate ready? No problem, you can join now!
The next webinar focuses on How climate change knowledge can become action and takes place on 31 May 2022. Taking place on the last Tuesday of every month throughout 2022, each episode will explore the critical role of climate change education, and how to harness its transformative power, in leading up to COP27. Register here to participate in the webinar series.
The Association of Canadian Deans of Education (ACDE) is an alliance of deans, directors, and chairs of faculties and departments of education committed to pan-Canadian leadership in teacher education. ACDE accords represent their most public statements concerning public education in Canada. Recently, ACDE released a new accord on education for a sustainable future, prominently mentioning Charles Hopkins’ perspective on ESD.
Canada´s Clean 50 were highlighted with stories and interviews during Earth Week 2022. Congratulations again to UNESCO Chairholder Charles (Chuck) Hopkins for receiving a Clean 50 Lifetime Achievement Award for your tireless in education for sustainable development (ESD)! Check out 9 full pages of Earth Week Clean50 Content in last week’s Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper!
Learning for a Sustainable Future (LSF) will hold the 4th Annual Dr. David V.J. Bell Memorial Lecture virtually on 17 May 2022 from 7:00–8:30 pm EDT. Dr. David V.J. Bell became a member of LSF in 1995, became Chair of the Board of Directors in 2006, and was an integral part of our organization for over 22 years. His passion, commitment and dedication to sustainability and education left a permanent imprint on policy makers, educators and youth across Canada and internationally. Registration is free, more details here. To enable LSF to continue to host this yearly lecture in David’s memory you can make a donation to the Dr. David V. J. Bell Memorial Fund.