Bridging Academia and Action: Advancing Partnerships for SDG 14, Knowledge-sharing, and Ocean Literacy

Friday 13 June, 2 - 3.30 pm

As part of the official side events around the UN Ocean Conference 2025, IAU, the University of Bergen, the University of the West Indies, the International Science Council and other partners organised an online event bringing together voices from higher education, science and other key partners for advancing SDG 14: Life Below Water.

Higher Education stakeholders are driving meaningful progress toward SDG 14 by fostering collaboration between academia, policymakers, industry, and civil society. At Universities, teaching, research, community engagement are areas aligned to Ocean Decade Actions. In this online discussion, international experts will present how universities are building capacity and sharing knowledge to enhance ocean literacy and partnerships, while making use of research to shape the future of ocean science education. Leading experts will present innovative educational approaches and identify key tools to strengthen ocean sustainability efforts. They will also explore how to leverage the Ocean Decade and its initiatives to build a global network of ocean knowledge, catalyzing action, and accelerating impact.

Organised by the International Association of Universities with the University of Bergen, University of the West Indies, University of Cape Town, Ocean University of China, International Science Council (ISC), University of Costa Rica, OceanX.

Speakers

• Opening words: Prof. Sigrunn Eliassen, Vice-dean for education, University of Bergen, Norway
• Prof. Liang Yantao, Professor, Ocean University China
• Dr. Awnesh Singh, Associate Professor and Acting Director of the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, University of the South Pacific and UNOC3 expert group, ISC
• Dr. Louise Gammage, Researcher, University of Cape Town, South Africa (slides here)
• Dr. Deborah Villarroel-Lamb, Lecturer in Coastal Zone Engineering & Management, University of the West Indies 
• Mattie Rodrigue, Science Programme Director, OceanX
• Closing Words: Hilligje van’t Land, Secretary General, International Association of Universities (IAU), France/global
  Moderators: Øyvind Fiksen, Marine Dean, University of Bergen, Norway, and Isabel Toman

Recording

Watch the recording here

Further links

Shared by speakers during the webinar, projects related to UNOC3:

• POCCA Project (USP) https://www.usp.ac.fj/pace-sd/projects/protectpacific/
• PEUMP Project (USP) https://www.peump.dev/home
• ECOP https://www.ecopdecade.org
• NBS Engrossed Project (UWI) https://nbs-engrossed.com
• USP-UiB Collaboration https://www.usp.ac.fj/research/external-projects/n-poc/

IAU SDG 14 Voluntary Commitment (submit input by 15 July): 

Higher Education best practices for the Ocean and SDG 14: https://forms.office.com/e/NZ04zKp1Zg 

As a member of the International Association of Universities (IAU), we are pleased to highlight American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) and their participation in the Responsible Futures International programme (RFI) for the 2024/25 cohort. This supported change programme and accreditation mark led by Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) and co-delivered by the IAU, focuses on embedding sustainability into student learning and the whole institution.  

AIUB is the first university from Asia to join this programme, demonstrating its commitment to pioneering for sustainability and climate justice in higher education. With support from its Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC), AIUB is working to integrate sustainability practices across its curriculum and institutional operations, in line with international best practices.

This partnership provides AIUB with the opportunity to drive transformative change, empowering students and institutions to co-create a sustainable future. As part of AIUB’s engagement with the RFI programme, we are pleased to highlight recent developments for sustainability organised by AIUB’s Social Welfare Club – Shamoy (ASC):  

About AIUB’s Social Welfare Club – Shamoy (ASC): The AIUB Social Welfare Club – Shomoy (ASC), initiated in 2009, is all about getting students involved in helping others and making a positive difference. The club focuses on social issues like poverty, gender discrimination, and food insecurity, while also spreading awareness about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Members volunteer in different activities such as flood relief, blood donation, and winter clothing drives. They also work with NGOs, support underprivileged children, and run fundraising campaigns. Anyone from AIUB’s four faculties can join the club, and there are currently 126 active members. ASC is guided by the Office of Student Affairs and is run by an Executive Committee. Looking ahead, the club hopes to grow its efforts, reach more people, and keep inspiring students to become future leaders through volunteerism and social work.

The AIUB Social Welfare Club has actively engaged in various community service initiatives. Here is an overview of their activities:

• Winter Clothing Drive 2024-25: The AIUB Social Welfare Club, Shomoy, carried out a winter clothing drive during the 2024-25 season to collect and distribute warm clothing to those in need.
•  "Oder Eid, Amader Khushi" Initiative: On April 15, 2024, Shomoy organized this event to celebrate Eid with underprivileged children. The club collected funds to provide new clothes, food, and gifts, aiming to share the joy of Eid and bring smiles to the children's faces. 
• Blood Donation Campaign: On March 6, 2024, Shomoy partnered with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society to organize a blood donation drive on campus. The campaign aimed to raise awareness about the importance of blood donation and encourage students and staff to participate in this life-saving act.
• The IDEAS Challenge 2K23: Shomoy hosted this competition to foster innovative thinking among students. Participants were encouraged to present creative solutions to social issues, promoting a culture of problem-solving and social responsibility within the university community.  
• World Environment Day 2022 Celebration: In collaboration with the Department of Public Health, Shomoy celebrated World Environment Day on June 8, 2022. The event included activities aimed at raising awareness about environmental issues and promoting sustainable practices among students and staff.

🔗 Learn more about the programme: Responsible Futures International 

The book “Achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 8: Economic Growth and Decent Work for All” is now available for open access!

It is a significant outcome of a global initiative by the International Association of Universities to involve universities in Global Cluster on Higher Education for Sustainable Development. Led by the University of Gothenburg, SDG 8 Cluster group with universities from Chile, Colombia, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Vietnam collaborate to produce this book. 

At the heart of SDG 8 is the challenge of achieving economic growth without compromising the environment and upholding human rights, particularly the right to equal, safe, and decent work. This book provides a critical analysis of SDG 8, exploring its targets and indicators, and addressing the biases, tensions, and contradictions that need to be overcome to make real progress. It brings together essential knowledge on how to achieve SDG 8 especially for academia and higher education. 

As an open access resource, this book is freely available to all and is an excellent tool for policymakers, researchers, educators, and anyone interested in advancing SDG 8 and its related targets.

Access the book here.

Discover the 2025 Finalists' sustainability achievements for the 2025 International Green Gown Awards.

Together with our partners, IAU is delighted to announce the 97 finalists from 59 institutions and 27 countries, many of them IAU Members.

Learn more here: https://www.greengownawards.org/showcasing-our-2025-international-finalists 

The winners will be announced later this fall.

About the IGGAs

The International Green Gown Awards, organised by EAUC in partnership with the International Association of Universities, ACU and AUF, are now accepting applications. The awards recognise higher education institutions' initiatives for sustainable development, with several IAU Members among previous year winners and finalists.  

Learn more about the Awards: https://www.greengownawards.org/home 

The next round of applications will open in Spring 2026.

➨IAU-EWORA: Gender Equality in Higher Education and Research – Strategies for Empowerment

Date: Wednesday, 5 March 2025 (10:00-11:30 CET)

UN Women calls for more Rights. Equality. Empowerment on this IWD 2025. Therefore, EWORA and the IAU invited participants to discuss how higher education institutions can empower staff to take action in favour of Gender Equality – be it through Teaching and Learning, research, campus initiatives, or when engaging with the wider community. During the panel presentations, experts will share their perspectives on policies and institutional approaches, universal challenges and innovative approaches to foster collaboration, support for academics and staff, and interdisciplinary research and partnerships at the whole institution level.

For several years, EWORA and the IAU have been advocating jointly for gender equality and equity in higher education. Furthermore, the IAU created a network, the IAU HESD Global Cluster, in 2018 with the aim to connect universities and engage them with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Speakers:

• Opening words: Kerstin Tham, President of the European Women Rectors Association (EWORA), Professor, and former Vice-Chancellor at Malmö University, Sweden
• Lora Gailly, Associate Project Officer, Gender and Science, UNESCO
• Pamela Gillies, Board Member, EWORA, and former Vice-Chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, UK
• Sunungurai Chingarande, Rector, Women’s University in Africa, Zimbabwe
• Anders Söderholm, President, KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
• Sabrine Yassine, Steering Committee Member, Global Student Forum, and NUS Australia
• Moderator: Hilligje van’t Land, Secretary General, International Association of Universities (IAU), France/global

Experts shared their insights on the panel, followed by a discussion and Q&A. 

Event recording
Watch the recording now

IAU and Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) were pleased to celebrate the first cohort of international institutions participating in the Responsible Futures Programme during the recent IAU International Conference at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan (22-24 November 2024).  

Sonya Peres, Senior Project Manager - Education at SOS-UK joined Isabel Toman, Programme Officer for HESD at IAU, to present a poster exposition highlighting the partnerships’’ work and to exchange with the delegates during the 3-day conference. 

Responsible Futures is a whole-institution approach to embedding holistic sustainability across the formal and informal curriculum in higher education. It is a supported change programme and accreditation mark that works to put sustainability at the heart of student learning. The Responsible Futures framework assists in creating an environment for staff and students to work together, in partnership, to embed sustainability throughout teaching and learning. 

Next cohort starting now

In parallel to the pilot completing the audits, the new cohort, including many of the pilot institutions, has continued and started to engage with RF. Congratulations to all RF International participants on their achievements so far and best wishes for the continued ESD Journey!  

Learn more

IAU Members interested in participating in the Responsible Futures International in 2025 are invited to contact Isabel Toman (i.toman@iau-aiu.net) to receive further information on requirements. 

Website: https://www.responsiblefutures.org.uk/international-programme 

There is now an intense focus on the purpose and role of education in times of unprecedented uncertainty, instability and existential crises. UNESCO states that society globally faces a stark choice between “continuing on an unsustainable path or radically changing course". Education is crucial to such transformative change, says UNESCO, but only if education can itself be transformed. In other words, for higher education to be an agent of change, it needs to be a subject of change itself.

Drawing on his new book Learning and Sustainability in Dangerous Times Stephen Sterling, Emeritus Professor of Sustainability Education at the University of Plymouth, outlines ten issues that restrict the ability of ESD (education for sustainable development) and parallel movements to fulfill their potential, and ten keys which could unlock the potential of education to help secure a safe and liveable future.

The language of educational change increasingly embraces concepts of “renewal”, “regeneration” and “reimagining” yet this movement can be encapsulated in a single notion: the fundamental repurposing of education. Several decades of work and debate gave rise in 2021 to the ICFE’s key report and the ensuing Future of Education initiative. Despite genuine advances and the acceptance of the sustainability agenda by many institutions, there is also some evidence of inertia and circularity in the emerging discourse.

We live in times when urgency demands agency in HE towards sustainability. This session approaches this conundrum and asks how higher education stakeholders can cut through the noise and shape policy and practice to repurpose education towards the common good and well-being of people and planet.

Speakers

In addition to Professor Sterling, the IAU will welcome the following speakers:

Dr. Elena Toukan, Research Specialist, UNESCO Futures of Education

Prof. Arjen Wals, Professor of Transformative Learning for Socio-Ecological Sustainability and UNESCO Chair of Social Learning and Sustainable Development, Wageningen University

Prof. Iveta Silova, Associate Dean of Global Engagement and Professor, MLF Teachers College, Arizona State University

Dr. Hilligje van't Land, Secretary General, IAU

Recording and Resources

To watch the recording of the webinar, please click here.

To access the slides, please click here: Slides Stephen Sterling / Slides IAU and Poll results

For additional information and resources shared in the chat, please go to the resources document prepared by IAU here.