UNESCO Chair Newsletter March 2023

Dear Colleagues, Network Partners, and Friends,

Greetings from Toronto. Welcome to the March edition of the UNESCO Chair Newsletter! From 6-10 March 2023, we will celebrate the global SDG Awareness Week and the national SDG Week Canada as a broad collaboration of the higher education community, featuring a number of events and activities. The week is dedicated to promote awareness and action for the SDGs among students, faculty and staff in the higher education communities across the globe and to inspire local activities to achieve our shared vision of sustainable development.

Charles Hopkins will contribute a (virtual) public lecture, Educating for Tomorrow’s Unknowns: Sustainability Front & Centre, on 7 March 2023 at 7 pm (EST) to discuss how we can elevate sustainability – from being a topic to talk about towards a purpose of education, and the unique role(s) that education can play in striving towards a better future.

A lot more is happening in March! Find a selection of events and opportunities as well as recent publications and other news that might be of interest to you. Please feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues and make sure to stay well.

Charles Hopkins & Katrin Kohl
UNESCO Chair in Reorienting Education towards Sustainability, York University

Climate change or rising inequalities, whether happening locally or in other parts of the world, do not only impact our individual future but are central for collective action in tackling these and other global challenges.

How can we understand global issues? How can we learn to live happily, sustainably, and ethically without the feeling of only cutting back? What does this exactly mean for educators, parents, and students?

Join us for a public lecture on 7 March 2023 at 7 pm (EST) on the potential of educating for a sustainable future for young people to become global citizens in this complicated world.

York University will participate in the national and global efforts in promoting awareness and action towards achieving the SDGs during 6-10 March 2023.

Sustainable Development Goals Action & Awareness Week 2023

The University Global Coalition (UGC), the UNITAR higher education network, in partnership with the State University of New York (SUNY), will offer a series of events. Find out more and participate to take global action for the SDGs.

SDG Week Canada

The SDG Week Canada is an opportunity for the Canadian higher education community to showcase and accelerate their SDG efforts on all campuses in a coordinated, collaborative way. It is co-organized by the Sustainability Hub at UBC, SDSN Canada, and Colleges and Institutes Canada. Find out more and participate to promote the SDGs in Canada.

Have your say! Take part in the online consultation for the 2024/5 UNESCO GEM Report on leadership and education.

The next UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report will look at the visions and goals that are driving leadership in education and will examine the extent to which – and through what practices – the exercise of leadership contributes to better education outcomes. The 2024/5 GEM Report will examine the requirements of good leadership in education and how they vary between countries and over time.

Join the global consultation by commenting on the designated website or by sending a message to gemreport@unesco.org to provide feedback on the concept note, suggest relevant evidence for the theme or new areas of research to be explored.

Transforming Education Summit Report 2022

The UN Secretary-General convened the Transforming Education Summit (TES) in September 2022 as his first priority in a broader effort to accelerate SDG progress fit for the future. The TES was an important milestone for education across the world, now and into the future. The true impact will be determined by the effectiveness of the follow-up at national, regional, and global levels.

Accelerating Action for the SDGs

The International Association of Universities (IAU) recently launched the report of the third global survey on Higher Education and Research for Sustainable Development (HESD). From 464 responses from higher education institutions in 120 countries, findings show that higher education institutions and their partners are in a unique position to foster the engagement with sustainable development.

Indigenous Learners in Light of a Pandemic

The #IndigenousESD is an international network of researchers focusing on improving the education outcomes of Indigenous children and youth in light of the SDGs. The #IndigenousESD research follows a community-based participatory research approach. Written by Katrin Kohl and Charles Hopkins, the third article in a series of reflections focuses on the post-pandemic recovery of Indigenous Peoples.

Come and see how students embed the SDGs in community action! The SDGs in Action Knowledge Fair will take place on 1 March from 9 am to 11 am (EST) via Zoom Webinar. You will be able to hear from York University students and their peers from around the world as they demonstrate ways to address the SDGs in the community.

The International Association of Universities (IAU) has launched the 6th edition of the Global Survey on Internationalization: The Future of Internationalization of Higher Education.

The sixth edition of the Global Survey aims at understanding such transformations, but the success of the Global Survey depends on the participation of universities and other Higher Education Institutions around the world. This IAU Global Survey is an institutional survey. For this reason, only one comprehensive answer before 31 March 2023 is needed per institution which represents the perspective of the institution as a whole.

Free Online Course: Learning for a Sustainable Future 2023

New: Earth Charter International 2023 Masterclass Series

Join a personal and professional global learning journey towards a sustainable future at the University of Edinburgh. The course is set to start on 13 March 2023. What on Earth could be more important?

Join the 2023 Masterclass Series to learn about leadership, sustainability and education in an ethical and systems approach. There is much to learn from the experience and knowledge of leaders working in different cultural and geographical contexts.

The 12th World Environmental Education Congress 2024, to be held Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) on 29 January – 2 February 2024, will focus on Connecting People, Creating Tomorrow. The call for abstract submission is now open.

You can present works, research, and activities in the field of environmental education. WEEC 2024 seeks to facilitate the exchange of ideas, to advance progress towards a sustainable, resilient, and adaptable future. The event will encourage exploratory dialogue on the different dimensions involved in environmental education to facilitate progress in the future. Learn more and submit your abstract before 30 June 2023.

The Office of Information and Communications Technology within the Secretariat of the United Nations (UN) has launched an initiative called Unite Research, a SharePoint-based platform to share research on issues pertaining to technology, innovation and other emerging trends that support the mandates of the UN.

Unite Research is looking for contributors from academia to write and/or peer-review papers for the platform. Showcase your commitment to the SDGs and contribute today!

Applications for the 2023 International Green Gown Awards are now open. The International Green Gown Awards, in association with Allianz Global Investors, are inter alia supported by the UN Environment Programme and IAU and are open to any university or college around the world. Closing date is 31 March 2023. For more information and how to enter, click here.

On 16 February 2023, the University of Education Lahore (Pakistan) in collaboration with the University of Education (UE) Toastmasters Lahore, and the University of Management and Technology Lahore hosted an in-person seminar at Main Campus (Township) on the role of leadership in education institutions for bringing about change towards sustainability. UNESCO Chair Charles Hopkins contributed a keynote, giving an overview on current global trends and developments in education in a framework of the SDGs. Participants from higher education and the local community agreed on the importance of education for all, especially pre-service and in-service teacher education. As teacher education institutions are at the forefront of change, their graduates will not only influence future generations but the institutions themselves can be models of change and experiment with the approaches for leadership for sustainability. Embedding the SDGs in the whole institution is a framework that participants found valuable for effective change.

UNESCO is set to host a series of learning webinars on ESD pedagogy to highlight and promote innovative practices in ESD. These webinars aim to provide the ESD-Net 2030 community of practice with innovative pedagogical approaches that can be adapted and implemented through a diversity of contexts.

UNESCO Chair Charles Hopkins is invited to speak in a webcast co-organized by UNESCO with IAU on 30 March 2023 at 7 am (EST) / 1 pm (CEST). Save the date, check back here and on our social media channels for more details.

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