From Research to Action: Working Together for a Sustainable Future
Panel discussion on October 16th with the aim to provide inspiring examples of how research can be effectively applied to enhance the sustainability of our society and natural environment. The panel, featuring Dr. Adina Rom, will focus on real-world examples and combine insights from both academics and practitioners. The panelists will share experiences from their work bridging research with action then the audience will have time to ask the panel questions.
When: Wednesday, October 16th 2019
Time: 17:30-19:00
Where: Senatszimmer, KOL-E-13 EV, University of Zurich
Register external page here by October 8th 2019.
Whether driven by a personal interest in activism, increasing pressure from funding institutions, or public demand, scholars increasingly want to make the practical relevance of their work clear. Especially when it comes to research on critical topics such as social and environmental sustainability, researchers are now expected and often want to combine academic rigor with real world impact. However, how to do so is often unclear.
Likewise, sustainability often entails collaborating with different stakeholder groups across sectors. Partnerships between sustainability professionals and academic researchers can offer exciting research-based opportunities to address sustainability challenges. But bridging the divide between research and practice can be complicated, and many challenges arise when applying research to create solutions for sustainability issues.
The aim of this panel discussion is to provide inspiring examples of how research can be effectively applied to enhance the sustainability of our society and natural environment. The panel will focus on real-world examples and combine insights from both academics and practitioners. The panelists will share experiences from their work bridging research with action then the audience will have time to ask the panel questions. Following the panel there will be a networking opportunity with drinks and light snacks.
Panelists
Christoph Kühnhanss is Vice-President of external page Consciente since 2017. Consciente is an initiative for high-quality education for all which has been active in the department of Morazán, El Salvador since 2012. Their sustainability education program is thus an indispensable building block of a sustainable bottom-up development process. It is one of the first Swiss organizations to consistently pursue an evidence-based approach in its project work.
Maria Rosa (Rosy) Mondardini is the Managing Director of the external page Citizen Science Center Zurich, a joint effort of the University of Zurich and ETH to supports participative research projects. She is also Co-Director at the Citizen Cyberlab, a partnership between CERN, UNITAR, and University of Geneva. From 2008 to 2015 Rosy was Associate Director at the World Economic Forum, where she established and managed the Young Global Leaders Alumni community.
Dr. Adina Rom is the Executive Director of ETH4D an ETH wide initiative to explore new research and teaching approaches to develop, test and scale solutions for the global population. Adina is also serving as the CEO of Policy Analytics, a startup she founded in 2017, which helps companies and public agencies use and generate data to increase their effectiveness and social impact. Policy Analytics has been recognized as an "ETH Spin-Off".
Prof. Dr. Michael Stauffacher, PhD in sociology and Titularprofessor at ETH Zurich, is co-director of the Transdisciplinarity Lab of the Department of Environmental Systems Science at the ETH Zurich. In his research, he is interested in the interplay of individual decisions and broader societal contexts and processes. His research has always a problem-focus where close interaction with societal actors is of key importance, both in co-designing the research and co-producing knowledge throughout the whole process – an approach known as transdisciplinary research.
The event will be held in English and is sponsored by the external page Career Elixier Women’s Peer Mentoring Group and funded by the UZH Graduate Campus. Childcare can be organized, if requested before September 23rd.
For more information please contact Amanda Williams or external page Lauren Howe of the Career Elixier Peer Mentoring Group