Workshop Program
1. September 2023
11:30 - 12:30 Workshop Session A
WS A1:
Integrating Sustainability into Basic Science Classrooms
Adélie Garin (EPFL) / Jacopo Grazioli (EPFL) / Tomoko Muranaka (EPFL) /
Valentina Rossi (EPFL)
Should basic science go beyond teaching ground knowledge and methods? This collaborative workshop will discuss the questions of why/how/when to incorporate sustainability into basic science courses (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology). Depending on the participants, this workshop could lead to the establishment of a Swiss network to share teaching materials and innovative teaching approaches.
WS A2:
Empowering Tomorrow's Sustainability Educators (POWER-SE): From Insight to Impact
Stefan Siegel (UNISG) / Lenka Kepkova (oikos) / Bernadette Dilger (UNISG)
This interactive workshop will provide insights into a newly planned virtual certificate course called POWER-SE. A sneak peek into this program will provide participants with exemplary approaches and methods in sustainability education (SE). Furthermore, workshop participants will take part in a tool-based and guided self reflection of their own SE-competencies, practice active listening as well as discuss questions around the certificate course, SE and SE-competencies.
WS A3:
Decolonizing Academic and Research Institutions
Medinat Malefakis (ETH Nadel) / Claire Sommerville (Geneva Graduate Institute)
Not Available
The basis of knowledge creation, pedagogies, curriculum development, teaching methods, research methodologies and research environments have all been plagued with relics of colonial hegemonies, power dynamics, and institutional racial hierarchies. This workshop explores the decolonization attempts of two institutions, one focusing on theoretical and physical space, the other one on implementing changes to teaching methods, admissions processes, and institutional frameworks. Participants will be provided with insights and reflections on these decolonization attemps. Part of the workshop will be an interactive session for experiential comparative analysis.
WS A4:
Leading the Beat Home - A Change Maker Program
Noa Kurz (Wyss Academy) / Pablo Esteves (Emzingo)
Not Available
In this workshop, learnings in the process of designing and launching the Changemakers Program (CMP). The CMP is a 6-month program that helps youth in Kenya, Peru, and Switzerland develop the skills and networks they need to lead sustainable projects to improve their communities. The program aims to contribute to the restoration and improvement of ecosystem health through four lines of action: education, mentoring, resources, and enabling environment. The question of how you can bring sustainability to higher education in a participant-centric approach to program design and facilitation will be explored.
WS A5:
Service Learning für nachhaltige Entwicklung: drei Ansätze an der Berner Fachhochschule
Claudia Michel (BFH) / Manuel Fischer (BFH) / Judith Studer (BFH)
Die Partizipation von Studierenden mit gesellschaftlichen Akteur*innen und die Beschäftigung mit konkreten Herausforderungen aus der Praxis, wie sie bei der Umsetzung von Service Learning ermöglicht wird, ist für den Aufbau von Wissen, Fertigkeiten und Haltungen, um Menschen zu befähigen, aktiv an der gesellschaftlichen Transformation mitzuwirken, eine zentrale Voraussetzung. Dieser Workshop wird die drei Ansätze der BFH ; interdisziplinäres Engagement von Studierenden fördern, durch ein departementsübergreifendes Projekt die curriculare Implementierung von Service Learning fördern und das Departement Soziale Arbeit mit Projektarbeit von Studierenden die gesellschaftlichen Partizipation und Öffnung von Hochschulen im Sinne der Third Mission vorantreiben, reflektieren und besprechen.
WS A6:
Cancelled - Supporting the Emergence of Gardening Practices at School: Interdisciplinarity and Durability in Action
Alaric Kohler (HEP-Bejune) / Gilles Blandenier (HEP-Bejune) / Tristan Donzé (HEP-Bejune)
Not Available
This workshop presents participants an ongoing research project that details a dozen practices with a school garden, emergent or established, situated in the Canton of Bern (french part), Jura and Neuchâtel. It aims to open up a new field for a synergy of skills and knowledge, moving «sustainable development» educational objectives into a new kind of practice in schools, allowing a learning-by-doing durability and interdisciplinary. Next to presenting the research, participants will discuss various questions around the project, focused on the emergence of gardening practices at school.
WS A7:
Integrating Sustainability into Higher Education Teaching: Further Developing Implementation Approaches and Frameworks
Sandra Haessig (OST) / Sandra Wilhelm (anders kompetent GmbH)
The results of a survey commissioned by the FOEN, in which Swiss universities participated, are presented in a short summary. The aim of the survey was to find examples of implementation for the integration of sustainability in teaching and to draw conclusions in order to find optimal framework conditions. The workshop participants will work in small groups to further develop and concretise new or already identified implementation approaches for the integration of sustainability in higher education teaching based on these framework conditions.
WS A8:
Sustainable Development and Responsible Leadership: Empowering Higher Education through Transformative Teaching Approaches
Ataa Dabour (Geneva Business School)
In this interactive workshop, participants will explore innovative teaching methods to integrate sustainable development, responsible leadership, soft skill development, and a sustainable mindset into higher education. Participants will be provided an introduction to responsible leadership through highlighting the role of soft skills, be presented with innovate teaching methods, be able to share their experiences as well as take part in interactive activities to experience and reflect on the application on these teaching methods in developing responsible leadership and soft skills.
WS A9:
How IDGs and Mindfulness will Save the World
Alexander Hunziker (BFH)
Do you think, change towards sustainability is going too slow – and wonder why? Maybe global warming and loss of biodiversity cannot be addressed without addressing the root causes: greed and loss of connection. A growing number of scientists believe, we need to develop “Inner Development Goals” in society in order to save the planet. In this workshop you will A) Have a look at the Inner Development Goals B) Do some mindfulness exercises to get a firsthand experience of what moving towards an Inner development goal might feel like. C) Look at some evidence how mindfulness is important for a sustainable world D) Discuss, how higher education can contribute to reaching the Inner Development Goals.
WS A10:
Teaching ESD: Resource Platform - Sustainability in Academia + Sustainability as a Bycatch, a Team Communication Approach
Clementine Robert (UNISG) / Simon Zysset (WWF Switzerland) /
Florin Schaelchli (WWF Switzerland)
+ Corinna Semling (OST) / Stefan Kammhuber (OST)
Sustainability in Academia (30 min):
The workshop will present and discuss a new online platform which aims to support faculty in integrating sustainability into their existing and/or new courses by offering high-quality, quickly findable and freely accessible learning material, presentations, case studies and instructions for innovative learning methods on sustainability and diverse pedagogical methods.
Sustainability as a Bycatch (30 min):
Participants will get insights in the module "Team communication for Engineers" (4 ECTS), one of the pilot project implementation of the research project "Tertiär A Implementierung der Nachhaltigkeit in die Hochschullehre der OST". Besides sharing intention behind this project the workshop aims to build a community of interested lecturers for similar approaches.
WS A11:
Sustainability Transformation and Monitoring ESD Integration at Two Bernese HEI's
Jonas Chastonay (UNIBE) / Lilian Trechsel (UNIBE) / Laurenzia Karrer (UNIBE) / Christelle Ganne-Chédeville (BFH) / Ingrid Kissling-Näf (BFH)
The workshop will present two aspects of Sustainability Transformation at two HEI's. The first aspect focuses on the Sustainability Transformation of a whole Institution, namely the Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH). It will show the strategy and organization behind sustainable development at the BFH, as well as the history of the creation of the strategic field sustainable development with highlights on the aspect of education for sustainable development (ESD). The second aspect focuses on the monitoring of the Integration of ESD at the University of Bern. Since 2017, the University monitors the ESD integration yearly through a quanitative approach, which will be presented at the workshop. Participants will get to discuss and bring in their ideas on the further continution of these aspects.
WS A12:
A Trinational Study Program to Promote ESD Business Practice across Borders
Jörg Wombacher (FHNW) / Claus-Heinrich Daub (FHNW) / Arie Verkuil (FHNW)
Not Available
This workshop will present a planned tri-national and interdisciplinary Master's degree program in Sustainable Business Development. The focus of this program is to provide specialist knowledge on closed-loop systems, resource efficiency, ethics, sustainable development, digitalization and business skills. What is learned in the classroom is continuously applied and deepened within the framework of study-integrated practical projects, so-called impact projects, with partners from industry and public organizations in the Upper Rhine region. The degree program will be presented and then discussed with the participants.
WS A13:
Promote Student Commitment to Sustainability - Two approaches from across Switzerland
Yves Gärtner (UChange) / Lucrezia Oberli (UChange) / Angela Serratore (Focus Sustainability) / Mégane Schafhirt (VSS & VSN Sustainability)
This interactive workshop will focus on student engagement in sustainability and show how the whole HE system can benefit from fostering student engagement. During the workshop UChange will be presented. UChange fosters student projects as well as discusses and highlights different projects from various expert perspectives. Furthermore Focus Sustainability, the national centre for student engagement with sustainability in Switzerland, will be presented in this workshop. They will share their evaluation on student engagement in Switzerland and will discuss what needs and criteria are relevant to engage students in sustainability.
14:00 - 15:00 Workshop Session B
WS B1:
Teachable Moments in Climate Change Films
Sophie Rudolph (OST)
Climate change films are a form of climate change communication and a potential driver of public engagement. Critical thinking, engagement and questioning may be stimulated by the public debate surrounding a film, i.e. by audience reaction, rather than by the film itself. Workshop participants will be able to view a short climate documentary, after which you will have the opportunity to learn about integrating film analysis into different educational settings as well as discuss how you could integrate them in the respective educational settings.
WS B2:
How to Teach Students to Recognize, Understand, and Solve Trade-offs in Sustainability
Emily Elsner (ETH) / Alejandro Nuñez-Jimenez (ETH) / Volker Hoffmann (ETH) / Johannes Meuer (KLU (DE))
This interactive workshop will discuss the use of case studies to explore theoretical and conceptual aspects of sustainability in corporate contexts. It will explore how soft skills, such as negotiation and leadership, are essential for effective communication and advocacy of sustainability, and showcase a "360° case study approach" to sustainability, exploring multiple sustainability challenges simultaneously, explicitly designed to foster students' abilities to evaluate and negotiate sustainability topics in a simulated company context.
WS B3:
Transformation of Higher Education in Austria - It's all about the Change!
Mira Simon (UniNetZ Österreich) / Karin Oberauer (UniNetZ Österreich)
This workshop will provide insights into working fields such as students’ teaching, implementation of ESD in curricula, training educators and a survey of existing teaching formats. It will discuss and spread the ideas of the Austria-wide and cross-university project “UniNEtZ”, to discuss similar projects and options for expansions or adaptations within Switzerland. This workshop will be hosted in the form of a World Café.
WS B4:
Study Week: Sustainable Development and Transformation
Jeannette Behringer (UZH)
This interactive workshop will present and discuss a study week taking place at the University of Zurich called "Sustainable Development and Transformation". In addition to teaching the basics on sustainable development as well as critical reflection, the focus will be on the understanding and functioning of societal transformation for sustainable development. In this week, scientists and practice partners will support students in five fields of action (circular economy, social inequality, climate justice, sustainability and finance, agroecology) for the development of case studies and solutions.
WS B5:
Cancelled - Professionelle Handlungskompetenzen Lehrender im Bereich BNE
Stephan Schoenenberger (PHTG) / Marit Kristine List (DIPF (DE)) /
Johannes Hartig (DIPF (DE))
Not Available
Die professionellen Kompetenzen Lehrender im Bereich BNE werden mit der Verankerung von BNE in schweizer Lernplänen wissenschaftlich diskutiert und in unterschiedlichen Modellen abgebildet. Mit einer qualitativen Studie wurde untersucht, wie das aus den Bildungswissenschaften etablierte Professionsmodell COACTIV im Kontext von BNE für Lehrpersonen Zyklus 3 generalisiert werden kann. Im Workshop wird das Modell vorgestellt und mit den Teilnehmenden diskutiert. Aus den transdisziplinären Ansätzen zu zentralen Bereichen und Facetten des vorgestellten BNE-Kompetenzmodells und Bezug zu anderen Kompetenzmodellen für Dozierende und Lehrpersonen ergeben sich Perspektiven zur weiteren Entwicklung eigener Studienprogramme und Module.
WS B6:
Better Science Initiative: Sustainable Research and Teaching Culture
Joel Schaad (UNIBE) / Eva Schürch (UNIBE)
The workshop introduces an inter-university project called the Better Science Initiative. It will highlight how diversity, sustainability, and equal opportunities are interlinked in higher education and will offer 10 call to actions. The initiative focuses on how students and team members are empowered to co-create and maintain a sustainable team culture. The workshop will allow participants to reflect on their own ideas and will enable you to foster good team culture. As such, the workshop will provide an instrument for the constitutive phase of collaboration in learning situations, i.e., before group work in lectures and seminars. In doing so, it is made sure that all participants will be able to apply the strategies in their own contexts.
WS B7:
Transforming Study Plans with Prospective Approaches
Marie Du Pontavice (HES-SO) / Eric Domon (HES-SO)
This contribution aims to share a methodology and tools used at HES-SO to guide program directors and professors in transforming their study plans within a framework of strong sustainability. Thinking in depth with a forward-looking mindset and gathering weak signals on an emerging future, is essential to initiate changes that will be current at the time of their implementation and can even cope with the societal challenges that await us. The workshop will be divided into three parts: an contextual introduction, an interactive activity and a moment to gather insights and learnings.
WS B8:
Fostering Competencies for Sustainable Development - Community-Engaged Learning and Challenge-Based Learning
Michaela Krummen (BFH-HAFL) / Annick Delapierre (BFH-HAFL) / Line Pillet (HES-SO) / Emmanuel Fragnière (HES-SO) / Benjamin Nanchen (HES-SO)
In this workshop, participants will be able to learn from two learning apporaches which are used in two different contexts. For one, Community-Engaged Learning will be presented through the example of a management course in a Swiss business school for tourism. The Quintuple-Helix innovation model will be presented which supports the development of a win-win situation between ecology, knowledge, and innovation and creates synergies between economy, society, and democracy. The second learning approach, Challenge-Based Learning, will be presented in the context of a new bachelor course "Umwelt- und Ressourcenmanagement". It will discuss the benefits of this learning method and show and discuss how it can be implemented in courses.
WS B9:
Transdisciplinary Capacity Building: Real-life Student Consulting Project @ Ost: A urban real-world laboratory
+ A Interdisciplinary Interinstitutional Education Success Story
Clemens Mader (OST) / Claudia Brönimann (OST) / Sonia Lippe (OST) / Anaïs Sägesser (OST) / Sandra Wilhelm (OST)
+ Veronia Petrencu (E4S) / Jean-Philippe Bonardi (E4S) / Michael Aklin (E4S) / Olivier Gallay (E4S) / Jasmina Djordevic (E4S)
Real-life Student Consulting Project @ Ost: A urban real-world laboratory (30 min):
The first part of the workshop will introduce the concept of a real-life student consulting projects at OST. The context of those projects are capacity building and competence development for sustainable development and in light of the SDGs and UNESCO competences for sustainable development. This presentation will be followed up by a discussion about said project and reflect upon its learnings.
A Interdisciplinary Interinstitutional Education Success Story (30 min):
The second part presents the inter-institutional master's program on Science in Sustainable Management and Technology. This master's program is open to students with both engineering and management/economics bachelor backgrounds. The E4S center will be presented and the new program discussed from various perspectives involved.
WS B10:
Working Together with Nature - Campus4Biodiversity and Tiny Food Forest Approach
Sophie Vögele (ZHdK) / Daniel Lis (Permakultur Schweiz) / Paul Wieduwilt (UZH) / Timea Rusz (BFH) / Katrin Hauser (scaling4good) / Anaïs Sägesser (scaling4good) / Barbora Starovicova (BFH)
This workshop will focus on two different projects adressing public spaces. The first project presented is an intervention into the public space by planning and initiating a forest garden (tiny food forest). Students from Zürich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and from sociocultural animation at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU), work together with experts in permaculture and anti-discrimination to develop the place and the format of a tiny food forest. They discuss and find ways of cultural participation that counters inequality and discrimination, and explore sustainable development in its interrelation with questions around social equity and diversity. The second project focuses on developing a transformative teaching approach for increasing biodiversity in urban areas for universities of applied sciences and universities with specialisations in the construction sector. This project will show how the topic of biodiversity can be interwoven in a technically oriented bachelor course and then present the mentioned transformative teaching approaches.
WS B11:
Inner Development as a Catalyst for Sustainability in Higher Education
Anna Lena Lewis (UNIBE) / Melanie Studer (EPFL) / Niels Rot (Rflect)
The workshop builds on three parts: experience, reflection, and action. In the first part, ‘experience’, participants will experience an activity, which develops inner capacities such as empathy, long term thinking, imagination, active hope, individual and collective resilience and dealing with uncertainty. In the second part, ‘reflection’, participants will debrief on the experience of the activity and on the relevance of integrating inner dimensions into teaching and learning. In the last part of the workshop, ‘action’, various paths of how participants can better integrate inner development in their institutions will be explored, should they desire so. Further will the project "Transforming Higher Education for Sustainability by Fostering Inner Dimensions of Learners", be presented. This project is a collaboration between eight higher education institutions across Europe and the US. Lastly a new tool enabling the integration of scalable inner development into existing education programs and courses is introduced.
WS B12:
Co-creating the Paradigm Shift in Higher Education: A Manifesto for Transformative Learning
Anne Zimmermann (UNIBE) / Ruth Förster (Dr. Ruth Förster Training & Counseling) / Marlene Mader (ETH) / Helene Sironi (SironiWeiss) / Sandra Wilhelm (anders kompetent GmbH) / Jost Hamschmidt (UNISG) / Clementine Robert (UNISG)
Transformative learning (TL) is a powerful approach to integrate sustainability in curricula and to practice Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). How can we move the agenda forward in a transformative way? In this Workshop you will learn about the Manifesto for Transformative Learning created by the ESD Working Group of the Swiss Academic Society for Environmental Research and Ecology (SAGUF). It comprises four demands and twelve core messages and also contains straightforward explanations based on long-term practice and theory of TL and ESD (see www.learning-for-transformation.ch). Participants will have a chance to respond to the Manifesto, reflect about TL, discuss their possibilities of contributing to the paradigm shift in their higher education context, and start joining forces for this important change. In the process, we will experience a few examples of how to trigger TL.
WS B13:
Transformation unseres Wirtschaftssystems – Ansätze zur motivierenden Vermittlung komplexer Themen
Ion Karagounis (WWF Schweiz) / Andrea Essl (UNIBE) / Manuel Fischer (BFH)
Für die Nachhaltige Entwicklung ist eine grundlegende Transformation unseres Wirtschaftssystems zentral. Wissen und Verständnis zu den notwendigen Transformationen, den Herausforderungen und gegenseitigen Abhängigkeiten sind bei den Studierenden zu fördern – in den wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Studiengängen und darüber hinaus. Komplexe und anspruchsvolle Themenbereiche wie Planetary Boundaries, Doughnut-Modell, neue Wirtschaftsmodelle, Transformationspfade und Bezüge zu betriebswirtschaftlichen Fragen sollen verständlich und motivierend vermittelt werden. Im Workshop werden die inhaltlichen Ansätze kurz vorgestellt, mit Ansätzen der Teilnehmenden ergänzt und dann Erfahrungen und Vorschläge zur Vermittlung in Gross- und Kleingruppensettings diskutiert.