dr. Maud Huynen participated in the UNESCO World Higher Education Conference

Together with colleagues dr. Orla Kelly (University College Dublin), prof. Pim Martens (Maastricht University) and dr. Sam Illingworth (University of Western Australia), Maud Huynen hosted a round-table session relating to the work and experiences within the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Education in a Warming World research consortium. The session reflected on the learnings, activities and outputs that have resulted from this collaborative effort. Maud specifically discussed her experiences and research into climate anxiety in bachelor students, exchanging ideas about how teachers can address and cope with students’ climate worry/anxiety in their education.  This roundtable also presented the WUN consortium report Tertiary Education in a Warming World, a compilation of research, practical examples, and reflections from the  consortium members’ own experience of advancing pro-environmental agendas at the Tertiary Level. Finally, the Coping with Catastrophe Podcast was promoted, which is also one of the WUN consortium outcomes.  This podcast series features discussions with researchers, educators, and activists working on the climate and ecological crises about the impact it has on them in their personal and professional lives, their coping strategies, and how we can reimagine our world. The session resulted in some interesting new contacts, and possibilities for further collaboration are already being explored.

The WHEC2022 conference also provided a platform for several global initiatives and events relating to sustainability in higher education. The WHEC2022 was, for example, linked to UNESCO’s Futures of Education initiative, which aims to reimagine how knowledge and learning can shape the future of humanity and the planet. The associated report Reimagining our futures together: a new social contract for education was launched during one of the WHEC2022-roundtables. In addition, the meeting also hosted the official launch of the UNESCO report "Knowledge-driven actions: Transforming higher education for sustainability". In the closing of the three-day conference, UNESCO presented the roadmap for Higher Education for the next decade; this roadmap responds to the challenges faced by humanity and the planet, and encourages higher education systems to build bridges and promote partnerships that put sustainability at the core.