Programme Conference Day
The Pathways to Sustainability Conference Day 2021 will take place on 14 October. We offer you inspirational speakers reflecting on this year's theme Making Change Happen from different perspectives.
8.30 Registration and coffee
Moderator of the day is Lynn Zebeda. Lynn is co-founder of Dr. Monk, an international innovation think tank with a global network of young people committed to a just, clean and beautiful world. As a social entrepreneur, board member and strategist, Lynn has worked with partners on five continents on reinventing the world. She likes to dive deep into the content, raise the bar, and create soulful conversations in which change can take place. Her dedication lies with the challenges that connect us all: climate justice and global inequality.
9.00 Welcome
9.05 - Economist Mariana Mazzucato argues that an inclusive and sustainable future calls for mission-driven policy making and innovation, redefining the role of the government, the market and the university. She now acts as an advisor to prime-ministers and presidents and a wide range of governments and organisations around the world. But she also rethinks the role of the universities in achieving this. What is her advise? Keynote, followed by an interview by Maarten Hajer, scientific director of Pathways to Sustainability.
09.30 - Opening by Henk Kummeling, rector Magnificus of Utrecht University.
09.45 - Making Change Happen by Maarten Hajer, scientific director of Pathways to Sustainability.
10.00 - The State We are In. Our honorary doctor and climate scientist Valerie Masson-Delmotte is lead author of various IPCC reports and is closely involved with the social and political side of climate research.
10.30 - Pathways to Sustainability Award
11.10 - Decolonizing sustainability by Edgar Pieterse. Edgar Pieterse is founding director of the African Centre for Cities and Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning, both at the University of Cape Town. His interests include the theory and practice of imaginaries to make cities in the Global South more just, open and experimental.
11.40 - Night Walk with Marjolijn van Heemstra. Theatre maker and poet Marjolijn van Heemstra shares her explorations of the darkness of the night. In a compelling performance she reveals how we can reconnect to our ‘other half’, contrasting the dominant ‘rat race’ at the time of day to the deep and humbling experience of life at night.
12.00 - Lunch
We offer you a variety of projects and initiatives that you can visit during lunch time.
13.30 - Breakout sessions
In the afternoon we will actively discuss the different roles we have in the theme Making Change Happen. What is the role of the university? Of youth? Of activism? What is needed for a radical innovation towards a sustainable future? You can actively participate in one of the breakout sessions.
15.30 - A just transition - No Time to Waste
"As an individual, I cannot move as freely as the waste I generate. We are in a reality where our waste travels the world freely, without being subject to scrutiny or suspicion. My waste identity allows me endless movement, it allows me the privilege to move, perhaps in embodying this identity, the world would be fluid and permeable to me, I can go anywhere and everywhere, travelling far and wide, to the remotest places, unchecked, unhindered….." (Aàdesokan)
Do we do the right things as academics? With our research we seek to further the commitment to create a ‘circular economy’ or a ‘just transition’. We have well established research groups working on themes like the Sustainable Development Goals. We are part of large ‘Groeifonds’ or ‘Horizon 2020’ consortia. But is our work fit to really make change happen? In ‘No Time to Waste’ the audience will participate in an immersive reflection on the limits of our work as academics. With the Nigerian Artist Aàdesokan; Edgar Pieterse, professor Urban Policy at Capetown University; Ernst Worrell, professor Energy, Materials & Environment and Heba Khalil, professor Sustainable Urbanism at Caïro University.
16.45 - Catch-up drinks
We will end the day together with some drinks. We have not seen each other in a very long time, so there is a lot to catch up on. Inspired and with lots of ideas to think about we will part around 17:30.
Pathways to Sustainability Conference Day
Date: Thursday 14 October 2021, 9:00 - 17:30
Venue: TivoliVredenburg Utrecht
Admission: Free of charge
Next to your registration you need a corona admission ticket, we may then let go of the 1.5 metres distance. This is a QR code based on either a proof of vaccination, a recovery certificate or a recent negative test result through Testen voor Toegang (Testing for Entry). At the entrance we’ll ask you to show this ticket in the Corona Check-App together with your ID. For more information please visit Testen voor Toegang (also available in English).