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Knowledge for Sustainable Development 2024 – Our shared future in times of global conflict and crises

Knowledge for Sustainable Development is an annual research conference, aimed at all researchers at Lund University who want to increase their knowledge about the challenges that lie ahead, learn how their research can contribute to change, and strengthen their contacts with researchers from other disciplines. On 4th of December 2024, the 4th Lund University Conference on Knowledge for Sustainable Development was held at Stadshallen in Lund.

Summary

The Lund University Research Conference showcased the breadth of sustainability research across faculties, with keynote presentations, parallel session presentations, poster presentations, a creative workshop, and a networking event in the form of a glögg-mingle. 140 participants attended the 1-day conference, including researchers, students and other academic staff within Lund University as well as external participants from other universities, industry, non-governmental organizations or governmental organizations.

Pro-vice chancellor for Research, Sustainability, and Campus Development Per Mickwitz opened the conference with an overview of the current state of the world and the challenges that both the world and academia faces. But there is also a lot of great sustainability research done at Lund University which helps to pave the way forward for a better future. 

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Pro Vice-Chancellor Per Mickwitz opens the conference at Konsertsalen in Stadshallen. Photo: Stina Lundkvist

The welcome greetings were followed by two keynote speakers. The first speaker was Åsa Persson from Swedish Environment Institute who talked about the current state of 2030 Agenda and how on track the world is in achieving the agreed Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. Åsa mentioned that the achievement of many goals has either stagnated or regressed due to big global events such as the pandemic and ongoing armed conflicts and the ones who are on track are mostly due to technical advancements. The goals will not be met by 2030, but to advance the progression of the goals the interlinkages and synergies need to be understood better. It is also important to remember that sustainability transformations and conventional politics are poorly fitted to each other due to different motivations, time perspectives and accountability.

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Invited Keynote speaker Åsa Persson during her talk "Agenda 2030 at halfway point – headwinds, tailwinds and the role of research". Photo: Stina Lundkvist

The second speaker was Caroline Delgado from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute who talked about how food insecurity, conflict and climate are interlinked through integrated approaches. They can be destructive in their own sense, creating negative spirals if handled incorrectly. But they can also have positive outcomes with proper mitigation and adaptation. Development work is done at different levels and there are many specialized agencies to handle peacebuilding, humanitarian action or climate change, but they are not necessarily working together.

In the afternoon the theme of the conference was further deepened by two additional keynote speakers. The first speaker was David Gisselsson Nord who is the vice dean at the Faculty of Medicine. David talked about how academic freedom and opportunities for scientific collaboration have changed over the years, where past limitations were more connected to cash flow and where current limitations are more connected to politics. The world is moving from globalization to securitization, which leads to decreased and restricted collaboration in research and education. It is more important now to understand your collaborator’s political system and find common grounds for scientific exchanges.

The second speaker was Antje Jackelén, the former archbishop of the Church of Sweden and senior adviser at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies. Antje talked about the importance of spiritual sustainability and how the polycrisis of the world is widely marked by what she calls the five poisonous P:s, namely polarization, populism, protectionism, post-truth and patriarchy. It is important to not only look at sustainability from an intellectual perspective, but that spirituality is needed to foster courage needed for change and adaptation. Spirituality may strengthen resilience and provide a moral motivation to envision a more wholesome future and give hope that it is possible. 

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Invited Keyonte speaker Antje Jackelén during her talk "Reconnecting to Humanity: The Role of Spirituality in Sustainable Practices". Photo: Stina Lundkvist

 

Parallell Sessions and Poster Presentations

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Tullia Jack during her presentation "Sharing for sustainable development" at the Parallel Session "Social dynamics and economic ideas". Photo Johanna Weitekamp

Divided into four venues in the morning and three in the afternoon, the conference continued with parallel sessions of research presentations by Lund University researchers. With three to four presentations in each, the first parallel session were divided into four themes:

I. Regulation, policy and responsibility

II. Empowering people and organizations

III. People at risk

IV. Navigating global networks and circular economy

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Conference participants during the lunch break at Stadshallen. Photo: Stina Lundkvist

After lunch with 9 poster presentations by LU researchers and two table talk activities by the student co-workers at Sustainability Forum and LU Innovation in the common area of Stadshallen, the second parallel session started with the themes:

I. Natural resources – controversies and redefinitions

II. Social dynamics and economic ideals

III. Workshop: From Insight to Impact (organized by LU innovation)

 

The annual conference is organized by the Research Board in collaboration with the Sustainability Forum at Lund University. A special thanks to all the presenters and participants who contributed to the discussions!

Summary by Ylva van Meeningen, Research coordinator at Sustainability Forum, Lund University.