Institutes of higher education are well positioned to coordinate efforts to build local resilience across the economic and civil sectors and reduce the harmful impacts of disasters and crises on lives and livelihoods. Their ability to experiment, move quickly, mobilize a wide range of stakeholders and capital through their networks of collaborators, and strategically support risk-taking makes them unique actors in the sustainable consumptions and production (SCP) ecosystem. As such, institutes of higher education can contribute significantly to local, national, and global actions to ensure that current recovery efforts result in substantive progress toward SCP and local resilience. Indeed, they can be key players in achieving models of sustainable resilience that align with the central objective of the Sustainable Development Goals to “leave no one behind.” This approach places emphasis on eradicating poverty, ending exclusion and discrimination, and reducing the vulnerabilities and inequalities that undermine human flourishing and capabilities.

This webinar will examine how universities can lead or contribute to efforts to build sustainable systems of consumption and production that are equitable, secure, resilient, and leave no one behind. The workshop will explore three key aspects of post-secondary educational institutions and investigator-driven pursuit of knowledge that lend themselves to developing just these sorts of systems, particularly with regard to disaster/crisis preparedness, response, and resilience.

Speakers

• Roger Petry, Professor of Philosophy, Luther College, University of Regina in the Department of Philosophy and Classics
• Md Ashikur Rahman Joarder, Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
• Daniel Neyer, Senior Researcher, Unit of Energy-Efficient Building, University of Innsbruck, Austria
• Kanat Sultanaliev, Executive Director, TSPC, American University of Central Asia
• Antonio López, Professor of Communications and Media Studies, John Cabot University, Rome