Events

UNESCO MOST Programme and Groupe d’Études Géopolitiques are hosting the third session of the UNESCO SHS MOST/GEG seminars on Human Sciences and Social Transformations on June 23, 2023, from 6:00PM to 7:30PM CET at the UNESCO Headquarters (7 Place de Fontenoy, Paris) and online. BRDIGES Executive Director, Steven Hartman, will contribute to this seminar as a respondent.

As stated by the hosts, the debate will focus on the anthropological transformations caused by ecological transition, the emergence of a new ethics, and the potential emergence of aspirations other than overconsumption. It will examine the effects of this transformation on social structures and relationships, the possibility of a socio-ecological response to growing inequalities, and the emergence of new forms of solidarity.

Speakers include Cécile Duflot (OXFAM), Camille Etienne (environmental activist and author), Apareçida Vilaça (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro), Caroline Zickgraf (PSIA), and Ricardo Safra de Campos (Global Systems Institute).

Theme: Human Transformations in the Face of the Climate Crisis
Date: June 23, 2023
Time: 6:00PM – 7:30PM CET
Location: Hybrid—UNESCO Headquarters and online*

*Please note, the event will be held in English only.

In-Person Registration

Online Registration

Help us close out our inaugural season of the BRIDGING Communities Café series right by joining us for this final session on June 8, 2023. Whether or not you have been able to participate in the past, all are welcome (registration required).

Date: Thursday, June 8th
Time: 7pm SAST/CEST | 6pm BST | 1pm EDT | 10am MST
Location: Online (register for Zoom information)

Description:
Recent years have seen a number of breakthroughs in establishing the past as a key dimension for global change researchers and highlighting the need to bring environmental history, archaeology, environmental humanities, environmental science disciplines and more together with nonacademic holders of local and traditional knowledge and practitioners attempting to manage resources for sustainability. In multiple fields we are seeing acceptance of the importance of our stories of long-term human ecodynamics. Heritage and community engagement are now recognized as key elements in shaping more successful responses to global change impacts and in rallying support for action on climate change. But many challenges remain for teams to move from isolated and often superficially understood “lessons of history” to deliver influential and actionable advice to managers and decision-makers alike. A fundamental challenge remains how best to gain the open-minded attention of policy-makers and those involved in implementing policy using what strategies and tools. Historians and archaeologists (among others) believe we can make a significant contribution, but we urgently need guidance in these areas.

We look forward to exploring these challenges and opportunities with you at our fifth BRIDGING Communities Café session co-hosted by the BRIDGES CUNY/Princeton Hub in the Northeastern USA.

**The BRIDGING Communities Café Series is a signature program of the BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition, an UNESCO Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme (https://bridges.earth/). This special Earth Month Café session is co-hosted by the BRIDGES Flagship Hub at ASU and The Narrative Storytelling Initiative at ASU. For questions or feedback about the BRIDGING Communities Café Series, please contact Julianna Gwiszcz ([email protected]).

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When you think of where you belong, what sounds do you hear? What emotions, memories, realizations come to mind? Do those sounds transplant you to a particular place or time?

These are the kinds of questions the “Sounds of Belonging” project encourages people to consider. The project invites individuals from all backgrounds to record a soundscape and share their story. We are also encouraging stories from Indigenous communities to highlight their voices and long-term knowledge of place. We respect the sovereignty of each person’s stories.*

The project is intended to open up the world of sound and insight from disparate locations. The hope is that “Sounds of Belonging” can help make the vast landscape of our planet closer and more intimate.

Join us for this special Earth Month BRIDGING Communities Café** session featuring Dr. Melissa K. Nelson, Professor of Indigenous Sustainability at Arizona State University. Learn how you can connect your inner voice with your outer soundscape and share your unique narrative with the world.

*For questions about Indigenous stories, contact Native co-producer Melissa K Nelson ([email protected]).

**The BRIDGING Communities Café Series is a signature program of the BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition, an UNESCO Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme (https://bridges.earth/). This special Earth Month Café session is co-hosted by the BRIDGES Flagship Hub at ASU and The Narrative Storytelling Initiative at ASU. For questions or feedback about the BRIDGING Communities Café Series, please contact Julianna Gwiszcz ([email protected]).

Click Here to Register

The BRIDGES Coalition is excited to take part in the Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Forum, taking place on April 18, 2023. The MOST Forum is the space for solutions-oriented debate on how to reset our societies along a more equitable and smarter path. As a humanities-led sustainability science coalition of the MOST program, the BRIDGES Coalition looks forward to making a meaningful contribution to the Forum.

The MOST Forum accompanies the 16th Ordinary Session (April 18-19) of the Intergovernmental Council (IGC) of the Management of Social Transformations programme, an intergovernmental science programme that aims to build the knowledge-policy nexus for positive and inclusive social change.

The MOST Forum is organized under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Council of the Management of Social Transformations programme (President Amb. Dr. Mary M. Khimulu) and the Office of the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO Social and Human Sciences (ADG/SHS Gabriela Ramos). Leading thinkers and policy-makers from a variety of disciplines will gather at UNESCO in Paris, in Room II, from 2:00 to 6:15 pm (GMT +2), on 18 April 2023 for the Forum. 

The BRIDGES Coalition will be featured in the final panel of the Forum, taking place on April 18, at 17:00 – 18:15, in Room II.

The final panel of the MOST Forum focused on the BRIDGES Coalition on Sustainability Science will be moderated by Brian Head, President of the MOST Scientific Advisory Committee and Professor of Public Policy, University of Queensland (Australia). Introductory remarks setting the scene for the panel discussion will also be offered by Steven Hartman, the Executive Director of BRIDGES. The BRIDGES panel also includes interventions by: Simon Reid-Henry, Director of the Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen Mary University (UK);  Christopher Bail (USA), Professor of Sociology and Political Science, Duke University; Michelle Mycoo (Trinidad and Tobago), IPCC Lead author and Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, The University of the West Indies;  Carlos Álvarez Pereira (Spain), Vice President, The Club of Rome; Nolita Thuna Mvunelo (South Africa), Program Manager, The Club of Rome; and Gil Eyal (Israel), Professor of Sociology at Columbia University.

Learn More & Register Here

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Other sessions earlier in the MOST Forum include a High-Level Panel on Drivers of inequality and ways to tackle it and a Think–Tank Roundtable delving deeper into the policy-research nexus, with a continued focus on reducing inequalities. Participating speakers include:

• Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, University College London, and Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)
• Peter Gluckman, President of the International Science Council (ISC)
• Mr Gilles Gressani, President of the Groupe d’études géopolitiques
• Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Dean at Cape Town University, Founder of Umlambo Foundation, former Executive Director of UN Women, former Deputy President of South Africa
• Kako Nubukpo, Commissioner of Togo at the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), former Minister for Foresight and Public Policy Evaluation of Togo​​
• Mathias Vicherat, President, SciencesPo
• Dennis Snower, President, Global Solutions Initiative
• Fabrizio Barca, Coordinator of the Forum on Inequalities and Diversity, Former Minister for Territorial Cohesion of Italy
• Laszlo Andor, Vice-President of the MOST Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and Senior Fellow at Hertie School of Governance, former EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
• Silvia Giorguli, President of El Colegio de México, A.C. and Professor at the Center for Demographic, Urban and Environmental Studies
• Wendell Wallach, Carnegie-Uehiro Fellow at Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, Co-Director of the Artificial Intelligence & Equality Initiative (AIEI)
• Sandra Jovchelovitch, Director, Social and Cultural Psychology Programme, London School of Economics and Political Science, Fellow at the British Psychological Society (online)
• N’Dri T. Assié-Lumumba, Professor, Africana Studies and Research Center, College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University, and former President of the MOST Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) (online)
• Ori Heffetz, Associate Professor, S. C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Cornell University (online)

Learn More & Register Here

The World Academy of Science and Art (WAAS) has partnered with UNESCO BRIDGES and other partner organisations, including the Global Futures Laboratory of Arizona State University, SDSN Europe, and the World University Consortium to bring to you the International Conference on Education for Human Security.

The following panel is co-sponsored by WAAS and the BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition in UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations progamme, led by the UK Hub at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

“Learning with (not about) the world: Anthropological methods for a resilient future”

Participants: Luci Attala, Fadwa El Guindi, Steven Hartman, Marta Neskovic & Vesna Vučinić
When? 6:00 – 6:50 pm CET on Mar 7, 2023

Thinking about the future can be overwhelming, but mechanisms that encourage creative thinking about prospects can empower and engender resilience. This panel thinks through the imaginative intersections between diverse research methods and educational activities so as to consider their role in creating a safe future fit for the generations to come.

Learning with (not about) the world is at the root of Anthropology. Anthropology views its core methodology as a relational contextual exercise whereby engaging parties learn from each other to avoid doing both social and environmental damage. This diverges from many research methods that might involve creating artificial conditions and changing variables to understand the world.

The panel will discuss how anthropological tools may be used to think about what futures we all want, whilst also encouraging the resilience and confidence to adapt in the real world. Such educational tools that enrich available methods for understanding and engaging in the world, whilst enabling learners to participate in co-creating the conditions for equitable human security at different scales, may well be essential to meeting the very real social and environmental challenges of present and future generations.

The Conference will take place online.

Register here.

The World Academy of Science and Art (WAAS) has partnered with the BRIDGES Coalition in UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformaitons programme and other partner organisations, including the Global Futures Laboratory of Arizona State University, SDSN Europe, and the World University Consortium to bring to you the International Conference on Education for Human Security.

The following session is co-sponsored by the BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition and the “Turn it Around!” initiative, both anchored at Arizona State University’s Global Futures Laboratory and both supported by UNESCO. The session is organized in collaboration with People and Planet, the UNESCO Social and Human Sciences Sector and the UNESCO Cairo Office.

“Youth-led Knowledge and Education for Climate Change and Human Security”

Participants: Marwa Alkhairo, Julianna Gwiszcz, Steven Hartman, Iveta Silova & Telmo Simões,
When? 4:00 – 4:50 p.m. CET, March 8, 2023

In a 60/90-minute interactive discussion, panelists and assembled audience members will explore the learning needs of young people in their efforts to address the climate crisis, particularly as this global challenge impacts human security at many levels regionally and locally. Climate change and human security are thus intertwined. Climate change can be a direct and indirect cause of conflict, as it exacerbates key drivers of fragility — such as the struggle for basic resources and livelihoods, the absence of which can lead to displacement and other forms of human vulnerability. The climate crisis thus has an undeniable impact in all seven elements of human security. The session will take up a number of distinct educational implications of organized efforts to address climate change-related human insecurity, including how the educational sector in the broadest sense must be mobilized to better prepare for and mitigate attendant vulnerabilities, with an emphasis on the central role of young people in societies around the world.

The Conference will take place online.

Register here.

What are the learning needs and dimensions of youth-led climate action?

The BRIDGES Coalition celebrated the International Day of Education at the LearningPlanet Festival in 2023, together with partner project People & Planet, in a co-sponsored session on the learning dimensions of youth-led climate action in a cross-regional perspective.

Foregrounding the findings of the reports ‘European Youth and Climate Change: A Community Baseline’ (People & Planet) and ‘Regional Report on Knowledge for Youth-led Climate Action in the Arab Region’ (UNESCO), this session also highlighted the experiences of FELCOS Umbria’s partners from Palestine and Kurdistan.

Learn more about both reports, and the insights they yielded, in the video of this interactive session from the festival!

#BRIDGES #PeopleAndPlanet #UNESCO #ClimateAction #YouthAction

Presentation at COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt by Antonio Louro, Vice-Mayor of the Municipality of Mação and President of the Mação Landowners Association, and Steven Hartman, Executive Director of the BRIDGES Coalition and Co-PI of the FÔLEGO sub-project “Ice and Fire.”

This presentation took place at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh on 11 November 2022, in an official side event co-organized by Future Earth and Colorado State University in partnership with the BRIDGES Sustainability Science Coalition. The side event addressed “Wildfire increase, a challenge for Earth system and societies.”

Description of the side event

Climate and land use changes affect frequency, distribution and intensity of wildfires, which impact ecosystems, societies, weather and climate. Wildfires also provide ecosystem services and nutrients to marine biota. Here we discuss fire risk from a natural and social science view.

Presentation contributed by the BRIDGES coalition

In the municipality of Mação, Portugal, collaborative multi-stakeholder efforts joining local government, the landowners association and both academic and non-academic knowledge communities are taking an innovative approach to social-ecological planning and land management to address the persistent and worsening problems of devastating wildfires in the central region of Portugal. This presentation provides an introduction to the problem and current efforts to find effective solutions through a well coordinated transdisciplinary approach that is proactive nut reactive.

The presentation was produced by the “Ice & Fire” sub-project of FÔLEGO (producer Ines Camara), as funded by the EEA & Norway Fund, a collaboration of Academia de Produtores Culturais and the University of Iceland in partnership with the BRIDGES Coalition in UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations programme and the UNESCO Chair on Humanities and Cultural Integrated Landscape Management at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar (IPT).

The UK Hub of the UNESCO BRIDGES Coalition at University of Wales Trinity Saint David launched  in an event that brought together academia, community projects, art, gaming, and indigenous knowledge.

The launch event, entitled E(e)arth, took place in The Reading Room of the Alex Building in Swansea, Wales on the 2nd of November 2022.

The launch introduced the aims, values and opportunities of the UK Hub by showcasing projects that use the strengths of the Humanities to generate innovation in thinking and action.

The launch was not a passive affair. It was active, informal and required the audience’s engagement. If we are to move into new ways of understanding, we need bold action. The launch responded to that call.

E(e)arth

The projects presented at the launch demonstrate different approaches and methods of knowing the Earth (and earth).

1. Munekan Masha: Reviving Water in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta

The first project was devised and is led, by a group of indigenous people from Colombia who decided to teach conventional environmental scientists their previously unrecorded methods of land regeneration. This project is presented by Prof. Alan Ereira, UWTSD, the Tairona Heritage Trust (THT) and a representative of the Kogi people, Jose Manuel Mamatacan who was trained as emissary by his people to be able to join the launch event.

2. What it is to be there

The second project presented is an interdisciplinary collaboration with a Welsh artist, Helen Acklam, who asks questions about being in the earth and uses the arts to work with the soil and explore relationships with the taken for granted lives underfoot.

3. Serious Gaming: can games save the world?

The third project, presented by GamEngage, demonstrates the imaginative and creative power of playing games to seek solutions to environmental issues. Games encourage positivity and allow players to collaborate to harness tensions and frustrations to untangle complex problems around sustainability and climate solutions.