Dear friends of the Amsterdam Sustainability Institute,
We did it again! For the second time in a row, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam was announced as the most sustainable university in the Netherlands during the SustainaBul Awards, the sustainability ranking for Dutch universities and colleges. The CO2 assistent, an initiative set up by VU medical students to include more sustainability-related content in their curricula, was awarded the first prize for best practice. The SustainaBul is a recognition of which we are very proud and to which the Amsterdam Sustainability Institute, and thus you, has contributed significantly by providing a platform for interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration. Thus, a very big thank you to all of you!
See VU press release for more details and the benchmark report here.
To celebrate the SustainaBul and to come together as community, we would like to invite you to the Sustainable Summer Soiree on 27 June, during which we can reflect on the past academic year and reconnect with each other in the leafy shade of the Botanical Garden Zuidas. You find more information below and here.
Best wishes,
Neele van den Bongardt, Martha Bailon & Philipp Pattberg
Amsterdam Sustainability InstituteSDG Academy
SDG Academy
Review SDG Academy Multi-stakeholder Partnerships Governing the SDGs: Vehicles for Transformative Change?
As the midpoint of the SDGs’ implementation timeline is reached and signs are showing of stalled progress in several issue areas, there is a need to accelerate action and pinpoint how the potential of partnerships could be realized. Our speakers ASI Director Philipp Pattberg, Karin Bäckstrand (Stockholm University), Oscar Widerberg (VU Amsterdam) and Sander Chan (Radboud University) launched a technical report on newly collected data on partnerships, the research project Transformative Partnerships 2030. Read more here and watch the recording here.
Invitations
Invitation: Groundbreaking Ideas Session Part 2 (27 June)
What research is needed to make the sustainability transition a reality? What are the obstacles that need to be overcome and how? ASI and VU Institutional Affairs invited a diverse group of VU researchers to think big and develop ideas for future research projects. A dozen interdisciplinary ideas were the result, besides the new contacts and engaged discussions.
All ASI members (and those who would like to join ASI) are invited to the second session on 27 June. Pitches for interdisciplinary research projects can be presented, either based on the ideas from the first round or not but involving at least two VU researchers from different disciplines. More information can be found here, interested VU colleagues can reach out to Neele. The VU Subsidiedesk and IXA will also be present and provide an overview of the funding landscape as well as advice during the conceptualisation. The most promising project ideas will be selected and awarded budget for further elaboration, such as grant writing or consortium development.
Invitation: Sustainable Summer Soiree (27 June)
In the afternoon of 27 June, ASI, the Sustainability Office VU and educational project Active8 Planet are inviting to a Sustainable Summer Soiree at the Botanical Garden Zuidas. From 16.00 on, all ASI members are invited to join the VU sustainability community for some drinks and snacks in the garden. For those of you interested in action-based education, anthropology students will present the results of their Greening the VU Campus project in a market setting from 13.30 on. So come by for a stroll, no registration needed, we are looking forward to having you there! More information here.
Please inform your students: Recruitment for dream team food waste challenge has started
In a dream team, students use each other’s knowledge and skills to take on a social challenge for a year. ASI is co-hosting the Science for Sustainability dream team which will work on reducing food waste on the VU campus. Questions such as: how can caterers better match supply and demand at VU Amsterdam? How can we ensure that we consume the food we buy? And how can we make use of leftovers? ASI researchers Ingeborg Brouwer and Margreet Olthof are supporting the team of Bachelor and Master students with their expertise and network.
More information can be found here. Deadline for applications is 22 June 2023.
From our network
WHAT IS NATURE? Three visual explorations of nature
What is nature? For whom is it? You may think of trees, birds, water and sky. Aren’t we nature ourselves? How do we appropriate nature? What does nature mean for whom? ASI's Biodiversity and Natural Resources research cluster presents three movies around the topic of nature – and has made them freely available for everyone! So, watch the movie here and spread the word.
Invitation: Landschapselementen voor Biodiversiteit (in Dutch)
The Stichting Deltaplan Biodiversiteitsherstel invites everyone to jointly realize the ambition of 10% green-blue veining in the Netherlands on 13 June from 13:30-17:00h. This knowledge and network meeting will consist of a plenary session with various sub-sessions about the role of provinces, municipalities, water boards, landscape managers and landowners. Please note that this event is in Dutch. More information and registration here.
Please inform your students: Sign up for a focus group about food choices and receive a voucher for 7.50€
How do you feel about the changes in the VU Restaurant? The VU Living Labs want to hear your voice! Talk to researchers about your food choices in a focus group and receive a voucher worth 7.50€. Sign up here.
Upcoming Events
Landschapselementen voor Biodiversiteit
June 12 from 13:30 - 17:00 at Akoesticum in Ede. Register here.
Sustainability Summer Soiree
June 27 from 13:30 - 17:30 at Botanical Garden Zuidas. More information here.
Groundbreaking Ideas Session Part 2
27 June; location to be confirmed. Interested? Reach out to Neele van den Bongardt
Outro
🎥 🎞️ Watch now: WHAT IS NATURE? Three visual explorations of nature