Utrecht Summer School
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide us with a shared vision of “what” we want for the future. However, “how” will we reach this vision? How can we improve global sustainability governance to deliver the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs? How can we be better prepared for future challenges? How should we go beyond the 2030 Agenda and what future reforms are necessary?
These are questions we reflected upon during the Utrecht Summer School on “The Future of Sustainability Governance”. The Summer School took place on 26-30 August in Utrecht, the Netherlands. In the first three days, the Summer School offered a combination of lectures, workshops and practical experience. On August 29 and 30, participants took part in the GlobalGoals2024 conference on the “Future of the SDGs”.
Participants
The Utrecht Summer School, organized by the GLOBALGOALS Project based at Utrecht University, brought together a team of scholars dedicated to research, teaching and action in sustainability governance. It offered academic lectures, practical research skills and experiences with SDG implementation, building expertise on the state of play of the current sustainable development discussions.
Syllabus
It provided an environment conducive to knowledge sharing on challenging issues in global sustainability governance. In addition to being a learning space, it was an opportunity for network building in the context of the GLOBALGOALS2024 conference. Further, it enabled participants to advance in their academic skills, including writing, presenting, reviewing, and publishing.
The following formats were used:
- Lectures & Dialogue with sustainability governance scholars, focused on interaction and ample time for discussion will be provided.
- World Café & Lightning Talks using an informal setting for participants to explore an issue by discussing it in small groups, during multiple rounds. The focus was on enabling an open conversation between the participants and senior scholars.
- Writeshops focused on participants’ own work aimed to take initial ideas forward into concrete projects and publications.
- Futures Thinking Sessions with visioning and backcasting exercises, during which the participants jointly prepared research contributions and provided recommendations for the future of sustainability governance.
