3rd Sustainability Conference at the University of Akureyri

The annual sustainability conference

The environmental council of the University of Akureyri invites everybody to the 3rd sustainability conference at the University of Akureyri on 31.03.23. Participation is free of charge and no registration is required. The conference will be held in hybrid format, to accommodate both on-site interaction but also online, environmental friendly participation of international participants. The conference language is English.

Like last year, this year we start with a student-led session in which we discuss local sustainable food practices. The international speakers are going to discuss environmental topics of national and international dimension that focus on sustainability through the lenses of various scientific fields. Please check out our programme below.

We still welcome sponsors/exhibitors, online or on-site, and will consider digital material that can be included in the online program (breaks) or exhibitions on-site in the main entrance hallway of the University (with the option to keep exhibitions there for the week before and after the conference).

Contacts of environmental council members for further questions:

Participation is free and the conference will be held both on-site and online. Or personally in Room M101, Sólborg, University of Akureyri

PROGRAM

9:30 - 10:20 Sustainable Food Practices in North Iceland
Student-led panel discussion led by Silja Rún and Berglind Vala

10:20 - 10:50 Are UNGC Member Companies More Likely to Choose Voluntary CSR Reporting and Assurance Practices?
Kjartan Sigurðsson (University of Akureyri, Iceland), Magdalena Wójcik-Jurkiewicz (PhD, University of Economics, Cracow, Poland) and Paweł Zieniuk (PhD, University of Economics, Cracow, Poland)

10:50 - 11:00 Short break (infovideos from Húsavík Research Centre will be streamed)

11:00 - 11:30 Using a Macroalgal Cultivation System in Wastewater Bioremediation: A Case Study of Bolungarvík, Iceland
Ivan Nikonov (Master's graduate, University Centre of the Westfjords, Iceland)

11:30 - 12:00 Disrupting Waste Management Systems in the Arctic Region
Börkur Smári Kristinsson (Pure North Recycling)

12:00 - 12:30 Sustainable Tourism in Future Scenarios: A 2022 Study on the Perceptions of Local Stakeholders from Akureyrarbær, North Iceland
Julie Madsen (Master's graduate, Aalborg University, Denmark)

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch Break (infovideos from Húsavík Research Centre will be streamed)

13:30 - 14:00 Interdisciplinary Youth Participation in the Fight against the Climate Catastrophe
Julian Kessler (PhD student at University of Salzburg, Austria & President of ELSA Austria)

14:00 - 14:30 Last Call for 1.5 degrees – International Climate Negotiations in the Time of the Climate Crisis
Max-Erik Schulze-Steinen (Junior Researcher at Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, Germany)

14:30 - 15:00 Beyond Apocalypse and Utopia: Narratives and Community in the Columbia Climate Imaginations Network
Ben Mylius (PhD candidate at Columbia University, NYC)

15:00 - 15:30 Break (infovideos from Húsavík Research Centre will be streamed)

15:30 - 16:00 The Power of Wetlands
Finnur Ricart Andrason (Icelandic UN Youth Delegate on Climate & Climate Representative at Umhverfissinnar)

16:00 - 16:30 Climate Change – We Need System Change, Not Greenwashing
Guðrún Schmidt (Specialist at Landvernd)

16:30 - 17:00 Tracking Changes in Pacific Arctic Benthic Communities Related to Warming Temperatures
Christina Goethel (Fulbright Professor at University of Akureyri, Iceland & Associate Research Scientist at University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science)

PROGRAMS FROM RECENT YEARS