Panel: Towards Climate Sustainability – Taking the Academic System from Evidence to Action

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Academic institutions have long played a key role in providing evidence on the climate crisis as well as potential mitigation strategies. But what is the academic system itself doing with this evidence? Is academia walking the sustainability talk fast enough?

Download the ALLEA report

Every sector of society needs to rethink their current operational models if we are to limit global warming to 1.5°C as stipulated in the Paris Agreement. This also includes the academic system. ALLEA’s latest report Towards Climate Sustainability of the Academic System in Europe and beyond presents data that suggests that many sectors within the academic system far exceed the yearly emission levels required to remain under 1.5°C of global warming.

While some stakeholders have begun to engage with the issue of their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are implementing first steps to track, disclose and reduce them, there are still many widespread behaviours embedded in the academic system that contribute to the degradation of the climate. How can we change these practices without sacrificing research excellence or diminishing international collaboration in the process? What are the lessons learned from the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of positive ways to restructure the internal operations of academia? What best practices are already being implemented, and how can these be transferred to other academic sectors?

ALLEA, the Swiss Embassy in Berlin and Die Junge Akademie are partnering to address these and other important questions at our upcoming event ‘Towards Climate Sustainability – Taking the Academic System from Evidence to Action’ on 2 November 2022. This event will present some of the major findings from ALLEA’s report and will feature representatives from key stakeholder groups within the academic system who will present the programmes and strategies they have developed to embed sustainable practices in their operations and reduce the levels of emissions within their sectors. Registration for in-person and online attendance is available here.

This event will take place in the context of 2022 Berlin Science Week. The theme of this year’s international science festival is ‘Paradigm Shift. Co-Creating a Sustainable Now!‘ where science-driven organisations from Europe and beyond will hold several events, exhibitions, and interventions to evoke discussions and encourage inspiring alternatives to steer the world towards a more sustainable path.

Building an ERA that Fosters Freedom and Excellence

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In a new statement, ALLEA sets priorities for building a new European Research Area (ERA) and for implementing the Policy Action Points developed in the ERA Transition Forum.

In 2021, ALLEA was invited by the European Commission to be part of developing a new European Research Area (ERA) that supports the free circulation of researchers and knowledge, joint and more efficient use of research infrastructure, excellence, attractive careers, equal opportunities, and cooperation between research and innovation actors across Europe. With the ALLEA Statement for an ERA of Freedom and Excellence published today, the European Academies of Sciences and Humanities reflect on the 20 ERA Policy Agenda Action Points developed in the consultations of the ERA Transition Forum, which brings together delegates from the European Commission, Member States, Associated Countries, and Stakeholder Organisations.

The statement has been prepared by the ALLEA Working Group on the ERA, and it welcomes this initiative for a new ERA that reflects the European Academies’ vision for borderless and universal science as a global public good that transcends national and disciplinary boundaries. The statement strongly emphasises the need to enable scientific cooperation, particularly in times of multiple crises. This cooperation should take place in a robust and empowering institutional setting and should be based on good research practices. Accordingly, a strong ERA should be built on the principles of academic freedom, integrity and ethics, excellence, trustworthiness, inclusiveness, openness, sustainability, collaboration, mobility, equality, diversity, equity, as well as thinking and acting globally.

Highlighting these priorities and thereby commenting on various ERA Policy Agenda Action Points, the authors specifically stress the need for safeguarding academic freedom: “This includes advocating clear and unanimous support for Higher Education Institutions and Research Performing Organisations facing threats to academic freedom through political circumstances, such as internal or external oppression, or war.”

Other priorities for the ERA Policy Agenda highlighted in the statement are:

  • A continuous focus on scientific excellence as a guiding principle for research assessment as well as funding.
  • A need for fundamental research to sustain a genuinely world class science base in Europe in the long term.
  • An emphasis on establishing truly interdisciplinary partnerships and a recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary and international research collaborations.
  • An awareness of the growing importance and complexity of science-society and science-policy relations and how science relies on trust and trustworthiness.
  • Capacity building and improved accessibility to existing research infrastructure in the EU-13 countries.

Read the full statement for more information on how to implement an effective ERA beneficial for all Europeans.

Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Improving Inclusivity in Digital Education Requires a Systemic Approach that Addresses Teaching & Learning at Different Levels 

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Today, ALLEA, the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities, responded to the European Commission’s Call for evidence on digital education and digital skills. You can read it in full here. 

The European Commission recently issued two calls for ideas and evidence on ensuring equal access to digital education and promoting digital skills. The feedback will be used in the preparation of a Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on the enabling factors for successful digital education and for one on improving the provision of digital skills in education and training. The proposals are part of the Commission’s initiatives under the European Union’s Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027). 

In response to this call, ALLEA’s Working Group on Science Education, with Professor Timo Leuders as principal author, prepared a statement with recommendations on improving inclusivity in digital education and the effective provision of digital skills, built on a robust foundation of scientific evidence.  

The statement contends that a systemic approach that addresses teaching and learning at different levels – policy, research, curriculum design, teacher education, and practice – is necessary for the proposed actions to be implemented efficiently and effectively. The statement also calls for greater emphasis to be placed on interdisciplinarity, the integrated nature of digital technologies within STEM education, and the critical roles of empirical educational research, initial teacher education (ITE) and teachers’ professional learning (TPL).  

Some recommendations from the statement are highlighted below:  

Interdisciplinarity – Closing the digital gap requires interdisciplinary expert groups that reflect on the technical, educational, social, and ethical issues in relation to digital education, and that can advise on political, administrative, and curricular decisions in a coherent manner.  

Evidence-based reforms – Every decision about a technical or structural innovation in digital education must be tested against the latest scientific evidence on teaching and learning, including curricula, pedagogies, ITE and TPL.  

Initial teacher education and teachers’ professional learning – Too little emphasis is currently being placed on the roles of ITE and TPL. A coherent picture of digitalisation-related teacher professionalism is critical to all efforts of systematic development in educational institutions. Teachers need to be supported so they develop the requisite Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and skills needed to critically evaluate and implement technology-based innovations.   

The ALLEA statement encourages the European Commission to support national governments and individual teachers by identifying best practices in digital education across Europe so that they have access to an evidence-based roadmap towards a technology-driven educational landscape.  

You can read the statement by the ALLEA Working Group on Science Education in full here.  

Read more about the ALLEA Working Group on Science Education and its members here.

 

Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics Meeting

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Members of ALLEA Permanent Working Group on Science and Ethics meet in September 2022.

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New Report: Responses from the European Higher Education to the Ukraine Crisis

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The report includes important lessons and recommendations on how to support the science sector in Ukraine and in other countries affected by conflict and disaster.

The report, published on 31 August 2022, summarises the discussions of the conference ‘The Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors,’ organised jointly between ALLEA, Science for Ukraine, Kristiania University College and the International Science Council (ISC) in June 2022.

The report highlights 7 key principles for national governments, multilateral organisations and the global science sector to support the academic system in countries that have been affected by conflict:

  1. RESPONSIBILITY: Governments, the higher education, scientific and research community must work together to deliver their national commitments to recognizing and supporting the right to education and science within their country.
  2. INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY: Governments, the higher education, scientific and research community must work together to deliver their national commitments for supporting the participation of at-risk, displaced and refugee scholars and researchers in their home country or a third country if necessary.
  3. OPENNESS: The international scientific and research community should empower conflict-affected science systems with the means to rebuild by adopting the UNESCO recommendation on open science.
  4. INCLUSION: All stakeholders must ensure that programmes and opportunities are designed inclusively to avoid exclusion of specific groups of at-risk, displaced and refugee scholars and researchers based on characteristics such as language, family status, gender, disability, cultural background and psychosocial wellbeing.
  5. MOBILITY: Stakeholders must work together to develop global mechanisms and coordination structures that facilitate secure academic and scientific mobility – to ensure the potential of displaced and refugee scholars and students is not lost.
  6. FLEXIBILITY: All stakeholders must recognize the evolving needs of academics, researchers and students by designing more flexible programmatic and funding models that enable changes in location and allow for both remote and in-person participation.
  7. PREDICTABILITY: Stakeholders must work together to develop sustainable frameworks within and between national scientific, higher education and research systems that enable a more predictable and effective approach to the phases of preparedness, response and rebuilding in the aftermath of conflict or disaster.

The conference brought together over 150 stakeholders from across Europe. Over half of the attendees came from Ukraine, including the Minister of Education and Science for Ukraine, the Honourable Serhiy Shkarlet, who delivered a keynote speech. Participants reflected on the assistance provided to-date for academics, scientists, researchers and students who are at-risk, displaced or refugees as a result of the war in Ukraine, and put forward recommendations for mid- to long-term support, including rebuilding of the higher education and research sectors after conflict.

In launching the report, ALLEA President Antonio Loprieno remarked that “we are now six months into the invasion and there is a real need to remind people that the crisis has not gone away, so the report is very timely.” 

The report will be shared at the forthcoming Science|Business Network Conference ‘United Europe: Widening R&I cooperation in times of war’, which will take place on 7 September 2022.

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Download the conference report

Conference on the Ukraine Crisis: Responses from the European Higher Education and Research Sectors