Sustainability Learning Cafe – From the Sustainability Science Days 2023

July 7, 2023

Are staff in Universities and Companies being Trained for the Sustainability Transition?

Session questions(s):

What kind of sustainability knowledge and skills do employees need in different jobs and work communities? What kind of training or other continuous learning opportunities do employees receive to implement sustainability strategies in and through their work? Which structures, facilitated processes, resources or knowledge could promote sustainability efforts or activities of employees at work and with stakeholders outside the workplace? What are the hindrances for the sustainability efforts or activities of employees?

Session description:

Discussion in this table took a flexible form, moving between topics of interest related to sustainability staff training and mobilizing universities for radical sustainability transitions.

Session lesson(s):

– Sustainable development goals are often applied as a framework for discussing sustainability issues at work. It would be important to highlight the interconnected nature of these goals and how the goals, and actions toward these goals, interact and influence each other. Therefore, it’s important to recognize one’s own knowledge boundaries and seek multidisciplinary cooperation, combining expertise from several disciplines.
– In the universities, current pursuit for efficiency contradicts with sustainability aims. The heavy workload restricts staff from spending time on sustainability learning and action. University should encourage staff to allocate time in sustainability related studying, training and action. In any workplace, sustainability training should be easy to access, for instance by organizing training days or seminars on the subject. Sustainability could be part of the target and performance discussions between the employee and their superiors.
– Researchers at the university could do more to raise awareness on sustainability issues and degrowth ideas in the media and public debate. Universities and companies alike would do well to promote sustainability not only in their strategy discourse, but also through concrete examples of what they as organizations have done to promote sustainability. Awareness could also be raised by highlighting, for example, sustainability related projects or indicators relating to the carbon footprint and responsibility of a university or company. Research knowledge and status reports could be made available to a wider audience in the urban space, for example using billboards.
– There is a need to find diverse ways to increase the interest of employers to invest in the well-being of their own employees and in global and planetary well-being.

Questions arising:
– Is sustainability done at consumers end or production end?
– Sustainability from customer making the choice vs. from the producers making choices?
– Is it already expected to be sustainable?
– Is sustainability the decisive reason or just “nice to have”?
– Should there be specific stores to curate sustainable food?

Session keyword(s):

sustainability staff training, well-being, strategy implementation

Tuija Veintie, Rami Ratvio

University of Helsinki, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science & Centre for University Teaching and Learning

June 20, 2023June 20, 2023

Consumer Education on sustainable food – how to talk sustainability?

Session questions(s):

How can we educate the consumers on the impact of unsustainable in comparison to sustainable choices?
Our Carbon footprint labelling is not as much in the awareness of people, not even our own costumers.
What & how can we communicate in a more impactful way?
Do we need to combine sustainability with other relevant topics such as health or do we need a totally different indicator such as environmental cost?
How can sustainable consumer choices be communicated without sounding like greenwashing?
What comes after sustainability? When sustainability is “reached”, or the market is overs saturated, or the word is completely co-opted, then what can/could/should a company like Oatly do?

Session description:

The session was introduced with a bit of background of where Oatly is in terms of Sustainability and the current challenges.
Ideas on how people can be reached and what needs to be done to continue on the plant-based revolution, not only regarding communication but also in terms of availability/visibility.

Session lesson(s):

– Fun communication as we do in Oatly is an important entry point for sustainability discussions
– Full transparency on what is going good & bad
– Combine environmental more with Social sustainability (also look at farming)
– Have plant-based options at every public event as a choice (or default?)
– Challenge existing policies (supporting the old system)
– Communicate more around how to use plant-based products
– Widen the stereotype around plant-based (not just hipsters)
– Widen narrative on “you don’t need to be vegan to buy plant-milk”  Flexitarian
– Include farmers in the discussion

Session keyword(s):

sustainability education, communication, sustainable food

Lena Lölfing

Oatly

June 19, 2023June 19, 2023

What is the added value of international collaboration and joint programmes in sustainability education such as developing a joint BA in sustainability across different universities?

Session questions(s):

See the topic! 🙂

Session description:

We ended up discussing sustainability in general but we also tried to discuss a bit the contribution of joint international programmes and what they can bring to sustainability.

Session lesson(s):

We only had one person attending our session but we had such a nice conversation. I guess the main take-away from our discussion was that cultures play an important role in how sustainability and the various actions around it are experienced and discussed. When we have an international joint programme, such as the Bachelor in Sustainbility by Una Europa, we should definitely keep in mind how we can utilize these various mindsets and cultural differences.

Session keyword(s):

sustainability education, joint programmes

Laura Karilainen

Education Planning Officer at the University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

Sustainability and health? Best practices for integration in higher education

Session questions(s):

How is education on wellbeing and sustainability (e.g., planetary wellbeing, one health, planetary health or courses incorporating related content) presented both abroad and in Finland? What are the best practices? What are the current needs and key competences to be developed under different conditions (e.g. higher education institutions, disciplines, study paths)? What kind of opportunities exist for promoting collaborations between faculties or higher education institutions (e.g. Climate University platform or Kestävyysopintojen verkosto).

Session description:

The session was attended by representatives of higher education organisations, especially those involved in education planning. The discussion and group was representing different disciplines such as medicine, sustainable resource use, social sciences and restonomy. The discussion was mostly covering what type of education is existing, what are the challenges for students and teaching, and what could be done to overcome these.

Session lesson(s):

Whilst one health / planetary health / planetary wellbeing and similar topics are covered in education programmes, the contents are typically spread out to different courses in a fragmented manner. While this is a good approach in some sense, students and teachers/researchers alike are struggling to grasp the full complexity and inter-linkages on a systems level. Furthermore, while there could be theoretical knowledge, more emphasis is needed on practical implementation and solutions (incl. policies, economy). Development is needed in skills such as trans-disciplinary communication, future-thinking and action/practice.

Session keyword(s):

transdisciplinary, sustainability, wellbeing, health, education, teaching

Marju Prass

Specialist, Nature Step to Health 2022-2032, Lahti University Campus

June 19, 2023

Climate expert specialization education

Session questions(s):

What is needed for climate expertise? Where are climate experts needed?

Session description:

University of Helsinki, in collaboration with Finnish Meteorological Institute, Climate Leadership Coalition and Climate University network, is preparing a professional specialisation programme on climate expertise. Preparatory work is partly funded by Technology Industries of Finland. Continuous education programme of two years, 60 study credits, is planned to start in spring 2024.

Session lesson(s):

Climate expertise was seen as highly needed in many fields, also internationally. Importance of business and law was discussed, as well as different types of continuous education. Different backgrounds of learners was seen as an important factor to consider.

Session keyword(s):

climate expertise, professional specialisation, continuous education

Laura Riuttanen

University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023June 20, 2023

Climate University: new strategy

Session questions(s):

What is Climate University network and how to join it?

Session description:

Our discussion group was most interested in engaging university students and staff more to Climate University actions. Climate University network published new vision and strategy 23.5.2023: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/climateuniversity/2023/05/23/climate-university-new-vision-and-strategy-for-2023-2027/

Session lesson(s):

Our discussion group proposed several student engagement activities, like having an annual student gathering, workshops or summer schools for Climate University students, logo competitions, painting competitions etc. Mentor programme was proposed, as well as an alumni network. Students could also be trained as climate advocates and prepare policy briefings. Collaboration courses/events/projects could be ideated with other collaborators in the field. Climate University t-shirts were wished for. Also more in-depth trainings for teachers on sustainability pedagogies were wished for, as well as trainigs for non-academic staff of higher education institutions.

Session keyword(s):

Climate University, student engagement, co-creation

Laura Riuttanen

University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

Business opportunity recognition in SDGs

Session questions(s):

What is necessary for business opportunity recognition in SDGs?
Context:
-Who are your main external and internal stakeholders?
-How do you influence your stakeholders?
Motivation:
– Which of the SDGs are the ones that you see as motivators and drivers of your organization?
– Environmental or social or economic or governance?
– What is the problem you want to solve?
Networks and Resources:
– Map out your existing and prospective networks in terms of sustainable business opportunity recognition.
– What are your barriers and drivers in terms of sustainable business opportunity recognition?
Business modelling:
To utilise a sustainable business model canvas

Session description:

The SDG4BIZ Erasmus+ Knowledge Alliance project prepared a multidisciplinary, cross-border MOOC course about business opportunity recognition via the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It enhances the awareness of business growth potential in applying the SDGs and serves the innovation capabilities of European companies and the competence needs of European HEIs. The course is available in English, Finnish, Slovak, Italian, Turkish, Spanish, and German. Upon successful completion of the course modules, learners can receive certificates. Information on how to register and participate in this course can be found at https://www.sdg4biz.eu/en/registration
During the session, the topics in the SDG4BIZ course were discussed in depth.

Session lesson(s):

There are needs and interests for business opportunity recognition in SDGs courses.
Individual experiences and knowledge influence significantly the motivation of business opportunity recognition in SDGs.
Participants’ individual SDG business ideas were discussed with the session organisers to develop the idea further using the prepared questions and canvas.
SDG4BIZ MOOC is useful for both business and non-business major learners.

Session keyword(s):

SDG4BIZ, Sustainability, MOOC, Business Opportunity

Hye Jung-Majanen & Riitta Lehtinen & Annariikka Martikainen

Metropolia UAS; Haaga-Helia UAS

June 19, 2023

Academic research vs real life: education as a bridge for academia

Session questions(s):

To what extent your research impact real world decisions or transformations? What are the main barriers across academia and “real life”?

Session description:

The main topic of this session has slowly but surely become economic difficulties related to research. We discussed of why, in our opinion, knowledge tends to stay in the libraries and the researcher’s goal becomes just to publish. The funding challenge impact also how we conduct research and the tools we have available. Co-creation activities and workshops risk to be just a veil of appearance. The discussion revolved also around who is funding: what are the companies interested in taking up our research? Or – which countries? We compared the examples from different countries such as Finland, Italy, Germany and Ghana.

Session lesson(s):

We live and we have to deal with complex systems, but economic difficulties and equal opportunities are still a major struggle to bring fair and just research to the “outside world”. We still need to discuss how education is entangled with meritocracy and politics, power relations and investments. We need to protect ourselves and the education system from academic greenwashing.

Session keyword(s):

funding, power, academic greenwashing

Eugenia Castellazzi

University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

How to create an online learning environment where students can put sustainability knowledge into practice

Session questions(s):

How to create opportunities for engaging learning online?

How to build in opportunities for practice and active discussion, when students mostly study in MOOCs and asynchronous learning space?

How to facilitate different pedagogical spaces outside of formal learning environments?

Session description:

The main topics of discussion were related to different examples of teaching online and making it engaging for the students.
We shared a lot about the challenges of online teaching when it’s not connected to a physical element as well, there are less opportunities for putting ideas into words and really engaging with the topics in a personal way or see how it makes sense for you as a learner. How to combine online and physical learning spaces?
It was also important to think about what types of learners MOOCs and other asynchronous learning formats work for, it’s not inclusive of all. We also touched on media literacy and students needing the competences to understand and identify different kinds of texts and understand their context. That also lead to a conversation about the “hierarchy” of competences – what is more valuable and what should be prioritised more? That’s not always clear or something that we’re in agreement on. There are just more and more demands of the curriculum but not necessarily a clearer prioritisation of understanding what then has to be left out. We discussed how the knowledge gap on sustainability knowledge is not only among students but also teachers. Not strong enough knowledge on sustainability terminology, inability but also unwillingness to define concepts – how do we still discuss and explore, work with them? While putting knowledge into practice is often a goal or ambition, we also discussed what “practice” means and whether an engagement and exploration of the topic is also practice – not only having to come up with a “solution”, “business idea” or so on.
The group present was a mixed of professionals, teachers and students from different countries. Both people who teach in Finland and abroad, but also engage in curriculum design and also people who study.

Session lesson(s):

There were many great insights from the conversation and the session title became indeed the starting point from where we moved to many different places. Some key insights were:
– What do we mean by practice? Engaging actively and critically with terminology, learning to challenge and engage with concepts in a nuanced way, being able to use them and discuss with others is also a form of practice
– Students need to learn to challenge! To learn how to question what they’re presented; whether that is a challenge from a third party, a company or the assumed needed solutions, it’s important for students to not take for granted what’s being presented or to acknowledge the premise of that question or challenge.
– Engage with different stakeholders to understand what’s missing in terms of the skills and experiences where teaching, one person shared about the CEO breakfast, where the staff and teachers of the university engage with different employers and non-university actors to see how the world looks from their point of view
– Social skills and competences are really the key issues – also in terms of dealing with sustainability issues, while technology is important it’s just not enough
– If we want to encourage certain skills and learning in students we need to make sure that the assessment reflects and rewards those behaviours
– Contextual understanding, living with uncertainty, but still being able to take some actions and engage in uncertain situations are really key – it’s not enough to wait till the concepts are all clear and well-defined – that’s not the reality we’re dealing with today! How to create those spaces and learning opportunities for students!

Session keyword(s):

informal learning, online pedagogy, practice, activating knowledge

Stinne Vognæs

Una Europa / University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

Integrating sustainability into higher education curricula

Session questions(s):

1. What are the good practices that can enhance sustainability integration into higher education curricula across disciplines?

2. How can we achieve transformative change in higher education across disciplines?

3. Who are the kay actors in the process and what roles can they have?

Session description:

The participants of the session had different backgrounds, researchers from different fields, students and education developers. Thus, we had a lively conversation about integration of sustainability from many perspectives: what competencies and capabilities are most important for sustainability, what approaches and practices make it possible to embed sustainability, and what are students’ possibilities to act as change makers in academia.

Session lesson(s):

In the discussion we identified the importance to find a balance between high ambitions and the need to adjust the aims and the actions to the context. Embedding sustainability to different disciplines requires different approaches, the readiness of academics to include sustainability into teaching varies, and institutional context, and its atmosphere matter too. Thus, sometimes transformational action has to start with small steps. Or as one of our participants concluded: “Is it better to take one step or none? I think one step is better”. However, at the same time, the actors should keep in mind the long term goals. After one step there should always be the next one too.

We can identify researchers and teachers in the academia as key persons who have the role to advance sustainability. Students’ role as change makers is crucial too, and the institutions should listen to students. Institutional goal setting and support by the leadership and practical support measures such as support for teachers’ competence development is essential.

Session keyword(s):

sustainability, higher education, curricula, intergration

Noora Jaakkola

Aalto University, University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

Enhancement of HEI’s Regional Impact and Best Practices

Session questions(s):

– As HEI’s has also a role as regional developer, how you see the current situation and our impact among our stakeholders (Entrepreuners, communities, public sector etc)?

– How HEI’s can enhance the green transition and sustainability among the stakeholders in their region, best practices?

– What possibilities we can have to enhance the knowledge and attitude towards sustainability?

– Best practices to attract entrepreneurs to collaborate or attend in the workshops, webinars, seminars, or other activities, which are meant to increase the awareness?

Session description:

The main topics of the session were: How HEI’s can enhance the green transition and sustainability in their region via open platform studies or uninformal learning? Best practices?, Best examples of collaboration of HEI and stakeholder, e.g. considering increase of knowledge outside courses or educational programmes?, and Best practices to attract stakeholders to collaborate with HEI to enhance regional impact?

Discussion group had member from different countries and we had a opportunity to share the best collaboration practises in use in universities as well as in universities of applied sciences. We had a Padlet to share the examples, but the discussion was so frutiful that the coordinator of the table wrote down the memo and examples during the discussion.

Session lesson(s):

Key take-aways were to enhance positive impacting and HEI’s visibility in their region and networks (e.g. coming out of campuses, arranging seminars or workshops places people are already familiar with). Alumni can be like science diplomats and HEI’s should try to courage collaboration via them. We can show that science and research can be also fun and interesting in a easy way that we can lower the steps to come to get familiar with us. HEI’s collaboration together is also important, we don’t want to do overlapping work, and collaboration also supports the common goal we are sharing to make us more visible with the different stakeholders.

Some examples already in use:
– Arbonauts, alumni work
– Science Nights in several universities, “Technical Thursdays” seminars, etc.
– Tuni collaboration with Tampere Hall, monthly open events with different themes, e.g. project arrange presentation, workshop etc.
– Climate University collaboration
– “Tieto kiertoon”-model in Finland
– Primary School and Secondary education mentor projects, visiting scientists in class and courses
– Systematic collaboration agreement with local companies, HEI provides opportunity to tell about the business, and staff and students can build up new networks

Session keyword(s):

sustainability entrepreneurs, circular economy, green transition, collaboration

Sanna Tyni

Lapland University of Applied Sciences

June 19, 2023June 20, 2023

How can we learn sustainability through gaming?

Session questions(s):

What one can learn through games in sustainability education?
What kinds of games are there?
How to develop games for learning?

Session description:

– Games can be a powerful tool to make knowledge more memorable; to evoke feelings and meaning that contribute to deeper learning; and to help one become aware of the lenses through which they look at the world.

– Learning objectives should be in the centre when developing educational games, including assessing the benefits and challenges of different game media and platforms. Elements, such as whether the game is played solo or collaboratively, strongly impact the learning experience and outcomes. Maybe the future is in combining different game media: physical and digital; individual and group; AI or VR…

– The learning most often happens in the aftermath of the game, hence a good amount of time should be reserved for the discussion and analysis of the results, as well as “ventilation” of emotions. This should apply to different game media and formats in educational context.

Session lesson(s):

Session keyword(s):

gamification, sustainability education, learning objectives, futures thinking

Johanna Välinoro

Design Institute, LAB University of Applied Sciences

Joula Siponen

INAR, HELSUS, University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

Competencies for climate action, and how to acquire and develop them?

Session questions(s):

Reflecting on existing frameworks (also critically), what are the competencies needed to advance climate change mitigation and adaptation in society?

Thinking about different forms of education, in what context can we expect to develop the needed competencies?

Session description:

The discussion revolved around existing frameworks of climate change and sustainability competencies and skills, and their implementation in different levels and forms of education. We discussed the concept of competencies—individual and collective—and the wicked problem of climate change from the viewpoints of different cultural contexts and scientific backgrounds of the participants. The group consisted of researchers and students from Finland, but also elsewhere from Europe and Africa.

Session lesson(s):

– The competencies and skills for societal transitions and climate change mitigation and adaptation are highly context specific, and therefore comparison studies between different geographical, political and cultural contexts would be important and useful to increase the impact of competency/skill frameworks.

– We called for climate oriented anticipatory governance, which would tackle the dilemma of working in unmatching cycles of politics, economics, research and climate.

– Keeping up the momentum of continuous collective development and learning!

– Specific skills highlighted in our conversation: repurposing and finding meaning for existing structures; learning how to focus, hence how to find yourself in the middle of all the mess

– More critical perspective to education in needed; going back to reasons to find solutions; allowing organic process of visioning

– The interesting question remains: in what context can the ideal of climate competence be reached? Is it even possible?

Session keyword(s):

climate change mitigation; anticipatory governance; critical education; competencies

Joula Siponen

INAR, HELSUS, University of Helsinki

June 19, 2023

What do we talk about when we talk sustainable?

Session questions(s):

in the Sustainability Learning Café in SSD. The main theme discussion topics were (1) how do you understand sustainability in education? (2) What does sustainability in education mean to you in practice?

Session description:

Sustainability in education (SDG4) was discussed from various perspectives. Sai Väyrynen explained the sustainability in education targets, she also showed one example of the implementation of the UN Sustainability Development Goals in Helsinki 2023: From Agenda to Action. She stressed that different countries may have different targets. All participants discussed how they understood sustainability development, it should not only include the environmental issues, but also many important aspects, such as the importance of social and societal elements, such as vulnerable populations, people’s well-being, equality, inclusion, etc. dimensions. And All the sustainability goals are all inter-connected together.

Further on, all the participants shared their views on how they can take action and contribute to sustainability goals in their life and in their work in practice. One participant shared that as a researcher and as a social worker how he used resources to support immigrants in Finland in developing their capabilities and to be integrated in Finnish society. Teachers and teacher educators also discuss how they can incorporate Sustainability goals in their own teaching courses. They felt that more cross-disciplined courses are needed in eth future.

Session lesson(s):

The Sustainability Learning Café was a fruitful discussion for sharing and learning. Participants gained wider and richer perspectives and understanding of SDG and SDG4. All participants agreed that “substantiality should be connected with responsibilities”, also expressed that they will take further actions in practice towards sustainability development goals.

Session keyword(s):

SDG4, Education, Social justice, Inclusion

Sai Väyrynen & Jenny Niu

The Global Innovation Network for Teaching and Learning (GINTL) – Maaria Manyando