Our second Una Europa Talk took place on 2 November 2021. This year's panel discussion focused on sustainability.

You can rewatch the Una Europa Talk on our Youtube channel.

Driving the Sustainable University of the Future?

Sustainable development is one of the biggest global challenges of our time. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Union's European Green Deal address the global challenges we face today and provide the framework to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. They highlight the need to work across different disciplines and sectors and for closer engagement with citizens. As central actors of the knowledge square, Higher Education Institutions have a crucial role to play as drivers of fresh thinking and innovation and key contributors to the objectives of both the European Green Deal and the UN SDGs.

The focus on sustainability is fundamental to Una Europa, as a strategic building block of our alliance. Una Europa partner universities see it as their institutional responsibility to actively shape global discourse and address the related challenges in all areas of our universities, developing a 'whole-institution approach' to sustainability in linking efforts in teaching, research, service to society as well as governance and campus management.

The Una Talk brings together experts from across Una Europa partner institutions and CHARM-EU European University to discuss the role and responsibility of European Universities in driving the sustainable university of the future and achieving well-being of citizens and society at large. Our panel brings together diverse viewpoints, notably students, teachers, researchers and professional staff from across the European University community; the community that will be so central to transforming into a Sustainable University of the Future.

Invited Speakers were:

• Aleksandra Liss, PhD Student in Cultural Studies, Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie

• Doris Alexander, Associate Director of European Engagement at Trinity College Dublin and Member of the Project Management Team for CHARM-EU European University Alliance
• Soledad Garcia Ferrari, Personal Chair of Global Urbanism and Resilience, University of Edinburgh & Member of the Future UniLab Sustainability Visionaries
• Verena Blechinger-Talcott, Vice President International Affairs, Freie Universität Berlin & Chair of the Una Europa Board of Directors

The Una Europa Talk is part of the Berlin Science Week 2021.