Date/Time: 28 June, 2023, 9:00–17:00 (CET), Hamburg, Germany

The Research and Transfer Centre ‘Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management' in Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, host of RCE Hamburg, will organise the ‘World Symposium of Sustainable Development Centres' next year in June 2023. The event will provide an opportunity for sustainable development centres from across the world to present their work, studies they are undertaking, as well as research and practical projects which may contribute to the implementation of sustainable development as a whole, the UN SDGs in particular, and in pursuing sustainable future scenarios. Furthermore, the aim is to identify, document and disseminate ideas, experiences and visions from science managers and educators, on how to foster the cause of sustainable development in a more systematic way. As an output of the event, the book 'Fostering Sustainable Development in Practice' will be produced with all accepted papers, to be published by Springer.

Over the past 20 years, efforts to implement sustainable development across a wide range of subjects and disciplines, and by means of research projects, events and practical initiatives, have been driven by centres devoted to this topic. Regardless of their formal title, many sustainable development centres have been playing a key role in fostering the case of sustainable development. But despite the importance of their work, sustainable development centres often operate in an isolated manner, with few opportunities being provided to them to meet, discuss common interests and seek synergies. Yet, much could be gained if centres working on matters related to sustainability in both industrialised and developing nations, could come together. Against this background, the 'World Symposium of Sustainable Development Centres' is conceived and will take place on 28 June, 2023, from 9:00-17:00 Central European Time, in Hamburg, Germany. This unique event is a  great opportunity to bring managers and staff from sustainability centres together, discuss how research-intensive and how practice-oriented their operations are, and to promote their work to a world audience. The event will be of special interest to those colleagues who act as directors of sustainability centres, those who have management responsibilities, as well as senior staff at these centres, who are responsible for their operations.

Expressions of interest, (abstracts consisting of 200 words outline of a paper and/or presentation, along with the names and full contact details of the authors) should be sent to the coordinating team at: isdrup@ls.haw-hamburg.de.  

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 December, 2022. Full papers are due by 20 May, 2023. Further details will be discussed with the authors whose abstracts have been accepted.  More information can be found here.