THIRD SUSTAINABILITY FORUM
Guiding theme: Shaping futures worth living
Event description
Date: Thursday, May 15, 2025, 11:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Aula 2, main building of the University of Cologne
Organizer: This year's Sustainability Forum is organized by the Vice-Rectorate for Sustainability, the Sustainability Office and the Faculty of Human Sciences at the University of Cologne.
Target group: The third Sustainability Forum invites all members of the University - from students and academics to administrative staff - to get actively involved. The focus is on the aspiration to shape liveable futures in an action-oriented manner.
Registration deadline: April 30, 2025
Speakers
"Shaping the future: On the role and responsibility of (educational) science in socio-ecological crises"
Prof. Dr. Ursula Stenger, Chair of Educational Science with a focus on early childhood and family. Research perspectives: transformation of educational institutions into cultures of sustainability; care research; ethics, practice and didactics of conviviality. Disciplinary development of educational science from the perspective of sustainability: Initiator of the DGfE working group "Sustainability or non-sustainability and planetary futures".
"Nature Conservation in the Global South: A Way to Solve Problems of Global Environmental Change, Poverty and Participation at the Same Time?"
Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig, Chair of Anthropology, spokesperson of the SFB/TR 228 Future Rural Africa, PI of the ERC Advanced Grant rewilding the Anthropocene, board member of the Cologne Global South Studies Center (GSSC). Main research interests: Global environmental change, especially biodiversity crisis and climate change, political ecology of nature conservation; regions: Southern & Eastern Africa.
Lecture title to follow shortly
Prof. Dr. Bart Thomma, holder of an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship for evolutionary microbiology, deputy speaker of the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), head of the Thomma working group at the Institute of Plant Sciences.
Workshop offer on the day of the event
Workshop 1: ‘Making the future worth living together’
Moderation: Lukas Plenk (Personal advisor to the Vice-Rector for Sustainability)
The workshop examines how stakeholders at the University of Cologne can actively help shape a future worth living. The focus will be on challenges and opportunities in research, teaching and learning as well as opportunities for participation. The aim is to jointly develop and discuss potentials and changes in perspective in order to create new networks and approaches. The aim is to identify design potential and to locate existing expertise in the field of sustainability at the university. The results should also help to shape the programmes offered by the sustainability research hub at the UoC, which will be launched in 2025, and contribute to the development of a sustainability skills model for all teaching staff and students.
Workshop 2: ‘Growing with climate feelings: tools for personal resilience and the ability to act’
Moderation: Inna Klee (M. Sc. Clinical Psychology & Systemic Counsellor)
Climate change and its consequences trigger stressful feelings in many people: Worry, powerlessness, anger or sadness. In this workshop, you will learn to recognise your own stress caused by these feelings and develop a constructive way of dealing with them. You will learn how you can remain capable of acting and grow personally despite the challenges. We will look at specific strategies for greater resilience in dealing with feelings of stress: What role do the expression of feelings and acceptance play in our mental health? How can we organise our media consumption in a healthy way? You will try out new perspectives and approaches in practical exercises and small groups. The workshop is aimed at all members of the university who would like to strengthen their personal resilience and develop a conscious approach to climate-related feelings in order to be able to shape a future worth living in the long term.
The workshop is organised in cooperation with the Healthy University Cologne.
Workshop 3: ‘Gamification as an alternative approach to teaching sustainability skills’
Moderation: Dr Hannes Laermanns (Study Coordination International Master of Environmental Sciences)
Gamification approaches offer an innovative way to teach complex topics such as climate change, sustainability and the associated competences in an accessible and interactive way. The workshop offers an insight into didactic climate and sustainability games and uses the role-playing and simulation game Sustain2030 as an example. The aim is to sensitise participants to the potential of sustainability games - whether for use in teaching or as a low-threshold introduction to this often challenging content.
The workshop will be held in English.
Workshop 4: ‘From strategy to implementation: sustainability at the University of Cologne in dialogue’
Moderation: Prof Dr Kirk W. Junker (Vice-Rector for Sustainability), Dr Pamela Kilian (Head of the Sustainability Office)
This workshop presents the implementation plan for the University of Cologne's sustainability strategy, which was adopted by the Rectorate in 2024 and confirmed by the Senate. The focus will be on the planned measures, processes and responsibilities that will drive sustainability development at the university in the coming years. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in a joint dialogue. The questions and results will then be presented to the Sustainability Council for discussion at its meeting in the summer semester of 2025.
You can select your favorite workshop during the registration process. Click here go directly to the registration.
Preliminary program
11:30 Arrival and get-together
12:00 Opening and welcome
- Prof. Dr. Junker, Vice-Rector for Sustainability
- Prof. Dr. Weber, Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Human Sciences
12:30 Lecture 1 : "Shaping the future: On the role and responsibility of (educational) science in socio-ecological crises"
- Prof. Dr. Ursula Stenger (Faculty of Human Sciences)
13:00 Lecture 2 : "Nature conservation in the Global South: A way to simultaneously solve problems of global environmental change, poverty and participation?"
- Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig (Faculty of Humanities)
13:30 Lecture 3 : to follow shortly
- Prof. Dr. Bart Thomma (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences)
14:00 Presentation of initiatives & projects at the University of Cologne in the field of sustainability
14:15 Break / catering and get-together in the poster gallery
15:15 Panel discussion on the main topic : "Shaping futures worth living"
Moderation: Armin Himmelrath, Moderator & Head of the Education Department at SPIEGEL
Participants:
- Prof. Dr. Ursula Stenger (Faculty of Human Sciences)
- Prof. Dr. Michael Bollig (Faculty of Humanities)
- Prof. Dr. Bart Thomma (Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences)
- Hannah Runge (Faculty of Law)
- Dr. med. Alina Herrmann (Faculty of Medicine)
- Pia Willers (Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences)
16:30 Summary & outlook
16:45 Break / Catering
17:30 Workshop phase
- Workshop 1: "Making the future worth living together"
- Workshop 2: "Dealing with climate emotions"
- Workshop 3: "Gamification as an alternative approach to teaching sustainability skills"
- Workshop 4: "From strategy to implementation: sustainability at the University of Cologne in dialog"
19:00 Joint finale
Contact: If you have any questions about the event, please contact the Sustainability Office of the University of Cologne by e-mail: nachhaltigkeit
verw.uni-koeln.de