Global Sustainable Development Congress (GSDC) | Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

The Times Higher Education Global Sustainable Development Congress, opens in a new window (GSDC) will bring together 3000 global thought leaders and innovators to discuss urgent solutions to the sustainability emergency. Challenging the usual thinking on what higher education, governments, businesses and society must do to help society meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the congress is a call to action for global universities and businesses to pivot their educational, research, innovation and outreach programmes towards tangible outcomes.

UNSW is a content partner for the GSDC, which takes place in Bangkok, Thailand from 10-13 June 2024.

The congress will serve as a platform for discussing and advancing the SDGs on a global scale. UNSW staff who are passionate about sustainability and actively engaged or interested in SDG-related research, projects, and initiatives may wish to attend as part of the UNSW delegation.

To explore the full agenda, visit the Times Higher Education event website., opens in a new window
UNSW is increasingly a trusted partner and source of expertise in the Asia Pacific and will participate as a content partner, opens in a new window in the GSDC, sponsoring and leading two events – a roundtable and a workshop - which are being coordinated by the Institute for Global Development as a convenor of UNSW’s sustainable development expertise and regional partnerships to progress the SDGs.

UNSW's delegation leaders include:

Professor Verity Firth AM, Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement

Professor Rita Henderson, Chair of UNSW Sustainable Development Goals Steering Committee and Associate Dean (Equity & Diversity), UNSW Engineering

Professor Bruce Watson, PVC Inclusion

A. Professor George Varughese, Director, UNSW Institute for Global Development

Professor Julien Epps, Dean, UNSW Engineering.

More information on the two events is below.

Tickets

Faculty	Contact/s
Arts, Design & Architecture	Josh Wiesberger, Philip Oldfield
UNSW Business School	Nitika Garg, Rhiannon Tout
UNSW Canberra	Tom Arthur
Engineering	Rita Henderson, Bo Hedwards
Law & Justice	Bronwen Morgan
Medicine & Health	Sara Grafenauer, Emily Hogden
Science	Katie West

Two UNSW-hosted events

Exterior shot of the Law and Justice Building, Kensington, UNSW.

Roundtable: Water, energy, and food goals post 2030: Can carbon be the currency to a just world?

Tuesday 11 June, 12-1pm (UTC+7)

Sustainably meeting global water, energy and food (WEF) challenges requires aligning global CO2 emission pathways with WEF goals post-2030. With this comes the opportunity for social justice. The approach must bring together traditional knowledge and capacity across water-food systems and new technology uptake to satisfy growing national energy demands. Carbon mitigation must empower communities and traditional land practices to foster water, energy, and food security while supporting biodiversity and valuable ecological services.

Co-hosted by UNSW and the United Nations Development Coordination Office –Asia Pacific, this roundtable discusses lessons and approaches that align both WEF and carbon strategies in addressing global inequality.

Learn more

Roundtable speakers

Professor Verity Firth AM

Vice-President Societal Impact, Equity and Engagement, UNSW Sydney

David McLachlan-Karr

Regional Director for Asia-Pacific, United Nations Development Coordination Office in Asia-Pacific

Dr Andrew Dansie

Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead, Humanitarian Engineering, UNSW Engineering

Professor Cordelia Selomulya

Associate Dean - Research, UNSW Engineering

Professor Greg Leslie

Director, UNSW Global Water Institute

Michael Burnside

Manager, UNSW Sustainable Development Reform Hub

Workshop: The last urban migration and a post-SDG agenda for cities: What do we measure and for whom?

Wednesday 12 June, 12-1.30pm (UTC+7)

The Asia-Pacific region is home to almost half the world’s population. Its growing youth demographic and burgeoning middle class exemplify the rapid socio-economic and demographic shifts that constantly reshape cities. There is urgency around enabling city systems to transition at pace to respond to complex legacies of settlement, marginalisation and neglect. This workshop will bring together practitioners, scholars and those with lived experience from across the region to draw out priorities for a post-SDG agenda for cities. It will explore key stressors through the lens of intergenerational equity, Indigenous knowledge, policy drivers and the role of measurement that matters.

Learn more

Workshop speakers

Professor Peter Poulet

Director, UNSW Cities Institute Convenor

Keziah Bennett-Brook

Program Head, The George Institute’s Guunu-maana (Heal) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Program

Thematic lead: Engagement and Power.

Associate Professor Melissa Edwards

Research & Innovation Director, Centre for Social Impact UNSW

Thematic lead: Metrics that matter.

Michael Rose AM

Chair, Committee for Sydney

Thematic Lead: Practice and Conceptualisation.

Professor Ben Newell

Deputy Head, UNSW Science
Director, UNSW Institute for Climate Risk & Response

Thematic lead: Climate stressors.

Dr Jinhee Kim

Scientia Fellow, UNSW Cities Institute

Thematic lead: Wellbeing.

Questions

For any general enquiries please contact Rebecca Martin and Meg Walker.

More information

Sustainability matters

Explore UNSW's contributions to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, designed to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges, such as ending poverty and hunger, climate change, the reduction of inequalities and more.