Multidisciplinary sustainability conference brings leading experts to Jyväskylä on May
Wisdom Days is organized by the School of Resource Wisdom at the University of Jyväskylä (JYU.Wisdom) and the Sustainability Transformations Doctoral Education Pilot (SusTra). Wisdom Days will be held on-site at the Seminaarinmäki campus in Jyväskylä. The main venues of Wisdom Days are the University Main building Capitolium (C) and the Seminarium building (S).
The Wisdom Days conference provides a platform for collaboration and networking that fosters new insights and concrete solutions to advance the transition to sustainability. Interest in the conference was high. Over 270 abstracts were submitted, and more than 300 researchers and experts in the field of sustainability are expected to participate.
“The sustainability transition is not happening by itself, it must be made to happen. Our goal was to create a forum where this idea is transformed into collective action toward planetary well-being. I am pleased that our call has been answered with such a large number of participants, emphasizes Janne Kotiaho, Professor of Ecology and the director of the School of Resource Wisdom (JYU.Wisdom) at the University of Jyväskylä.
International keynote speakers and an interactive programme
The programme for the Wisdom Days conference consists of international keynote speeches, scientific presentations and interactive workshops. In addition, a networking event will be held. The aim is to bring together future sustainability experts from the science, business world and other actors in society. The program emphasizes networking, discussion, and collaborative learning.
The conference’s three keynote speakers will provide insights from different fields of research. Research professor Rauna Kuokkanen (University of Lapland, 7 May at 9:00 AM) will begin by posing the following question: What would it mean to design sustainability transformations that begin from Indigenous futures, rather than fit Indigenous peoples, their ways of knowing, governing, and relating into pre-existing models?
Professor Christian A. Klöckner (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7 May at 1:00 PM) will present success stories of how people manage to change their behaviour in a more sustainable direction, but also failures to do so. Specialized in environmental psychology, he reflects on the potential and limits of behaviour science to address the big challenges of our societies.
Professor Jörn Fischer (Leuphana University Lüneburg, 8 May at 2:40 PM) will explore regeneration, which has entered discourses in several different fields. He notes that parallels between the fields can offer generalized insights on regenerative systems, which can in turn spark further insights for sustainability science and practice.
Working together for social impact
The Wisdom Days conference promotes an evidence-based sustainability transition within and outside the scientific community. The conference is committed in a joint declaration drawn up by the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters to accelerate sustainability transition.
The event will launch a joint fundraising campaign for the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation by the School of Resource Wisdom at the University of Jyväskylä (JYU.Wisdom) and the Sustainability Transformations Doctoral Education Pilot (SusTra). Through this campaign, the Wisdom Days community encourages participants and partners to join the effort to reduce nature loss.
“In our daily lives, it’s important to remember that every action brings us one step closer or further away from sustainability. With this fundraising campaign, we’re inviting everyone to take concrete responsibility for advancing the planetary well-being,” says Kotiaho.
We warmly welcome media representatives to the celebrations! We are happy to forward interview requests to our speakers and experts in advance.
