Potsdam Summer School 2024: “Responsibility & Ethics in Sustainability Science”

Humankind is facing a huge challenge: Climate change threatens the foundations of life on our planet. To preserve these foundations, the era of fossil fuel use must come to an end. This will lead to profound changes in our ways of producing goods, our means of transportation, and ultimately the way in which we live. We are at the beginning of a great transformation, which can bring benefits as well as new inequalities. It is important to shape this in a just and sustainable manner, while protecting the environment and thereby securing future life for people in all regions around the globe.

Our evolution is deeply intertwined with the state of our ecosystems. It is human influence that has the greatest geophysical impact on the anthropocene. As humankind, we are responsible for the future of the planet and its ecosystems. We do not own nature, but we have the capacity to change it irreversibly. Nature should be considered as an entity on which people’s lives depend.

Therefore, we must accept that humankind has a strong influence on the Earth system and from this is derived its responsibility for the future of the planet and its ecosystems. Collectively we must accept this responsibility and start shaping the planet for the better and increase resilience to the challenges of climate change and biodiversity loss.

For instance, accelerating rates of environmental change and the continued loss of global biodiversity threaten functions and services delivered by ecosystems. On the other hand, new technological developments such as advanced genetic sequencing and the digitalisation of agriculture can offer promising prospects to realise the potential of a sustainable bioeconomy. But what are the trade-offs and drawbacks? Do these developments underpin the wellbeing of all people in all places?

Against the backdrop of these findings and questions, the Potsdam Summer School 2024 aims to delve deeper into the interactions between biodiversity, bioeconomy, digitalisation and sustainable development. The goal is to get a holistic view of selected topics, on their interactions and interdependencies.

We will deal with:

• The Role of Nature in the Anthropocene
• Biodiversity and Resilience of Ecosystem Functions
• Interactions of Biodiversity and Bioeconomy
• Landscape Ecology
• Sustainable Land Use
• Digitalisation of Agriculture

Participants of the Potsdam Summer School will be engaged in discussions and group works and will be provided with tools to develop effective strategies to solve the challenges they face in their daily work.

The aim of the Potsdam Summer School is to bring together talented early-career scientists and young professionals operating in the private sector, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organisations from many different parts of the world to discuss frontier (research) questions on future sustainable development.

We also intend to enable participants to engage with various sectors of the public in their home countries. Our goal is to improve science awareness and help to develop informed opinions and enhance the transferable skills of researchers and practitioners. Experts, stakeholders, and guest lecturers from high level national and international institutes and organisations will contribute knowledge and insights to the Summer School programme which will comprise lectures, various discussion formats, and interactive group work activities.

Thus, the Potsdam Summer School provides a unique opportunity for all participants to foster international cooperation and an interdisciplinary exchange of ideas.

In partnership with the City of Potsdam, the 2024 Potsdam Summer School will be jointly organised by the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy ; the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the Research Institute for Sustainability – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam (RIFS), and the University of Potsdam.

The call for applications will start on January 01, 2024. The deadline for submitting applications will be on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, at 23:59 UTC.