idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
In September 2015, the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be adopted, designed to improve people's lives and protect the planet for future generations. As a research funder, the Volkswagen Foundation is convinced that science and scholarship play an essential role in meeting these ambitious goals. Therefore, we want to examine this role somewhat closer: To what extent have research and innovation supported to tackle the earlier Millennium Development Goals (or where did they fail to do so)? But even more important: What is the coming role of research in realizing the SDGs? And what kind of research is needed?
These questions will be asked against the backdrop of an area which is coming more and more into focus: coastal regions. Home to the majority of people already today, coastal regions are to face major challenges: urbanization, population growth, resource conflicts, pollution, sea level rise, increase of water temperature as well as extreme storm and flood events -to mention a few. Coastal regions are showcase systems to understand how human development and well-being are inextricably linked with environmental stewardship. Therefore, they constitute ideal frameworks to study all kinds of interfaces, both regarding 'natural' and 'anthropogenic' factors and processes, but also - on the more conceptional level -regarding the interlinkages between research, policy-making and society.
The symposium provides a platform for exchange about future challenges for research on these topics, together with a reflection of the role of scientists and scholars - and the driving value systems.
The symposium addresses three major goals. It focuses on the role of research in tackling the Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on coastal regions, it will try to identify topics for further research and discuss which funding measures are necessary to support this research.
The first day provides an overview and discusses, which role research could play in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in general and whether innovation and research had any impact on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The opening session looks at SDGs through the lens of coastal regions and seeks to clarify what impact they might have on civil society. Furthermore, it shall help to make clear why this symposium as one of the showcase systems for human life.
In the second session, three projects will present their results. They can be taken as an example for international cooperative research with a focus on topics such as environment, migration, sustainability, extreme weather events in coastal regions. These projects will show how this research has helped to realize the MDGs, what further research is needed and how a funding for this research should look like.
To guarantee a good networking process and to get further input from all participants, topic tables will be organized. The first day will conclude with a dinner speech that again looks at the SDGs and their challenges but from a completely different point of view than the opening session will do.
The second day is reserved for three theoretical (and even conceptual) point of views which focus on special topics of the SDGs like urbanization in coastal regions, the role of shared responsibilities and the inclusion of future generations in decision-making processes. These presentations will try to identify the need for future research on these topics and what impact this research might have on the achievement of the SDGs.
Information on participating / attending:
There are no fees for attendance but registration is essential. Please register at www.volkswagenstiftung.de/sdg
Date:
12/08/2015 10:30 - 12/09/2015 16:00
Event venue:
Schloss Herrenhausen / Herrenhausen Palace
Herrenhäuser Straße 5
30419 Hannover
Niedersachsen
Germany
Target group:
Scientists and scholars
Email address:
Relevance:
international
Subject areas:
Environment / ecology, Oceanology / climate, Politics, Social studies, Traffic / transport
Types of events:
Conference / symposium / (annual) conference
Entry:
09/16/2015
Sender/author:
Jens Rehländer
Department:
Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Event is free:
yes
Language of the text:
English
URL of this event: http://idw-online.de/en/event51953
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