2nd Transatlantic Symposium on Sustainable Development in Higher Education

The Symposium aims to congregate representatives from universities and research organisations on the one hand, but also from companies and enterprises on the other, from Europe and North America, working on matters related to sustainable development in a higher education context. It also aims at providing a platform for the exchange of information, paving the way for technology transfer and networking.

Furthermore, the Symposium intends to provide a fertile basis upon which European and North American organisations may cooperate more closely in this key area.

Delegates come from a cross-sectoral range of areas. They are:
members of university administrations;

• teaching staff
• research staff;
• students;
• campus facilities and operations staff;
• project officers and consultants;
• other people interested in the field.
   

The Symposium is divided into four tracks dealing with strategic issues for sustainability in higher education:

• Theme Cluster 1:   Sustainable Campus Operations
• Theme Cluster 2: Sustainability and the Curriculum: teaching on, about, and for sustainable development
• Theme Cluster 3:  Sustainability research
• Theme Cluster 4: Community engagement, cooperation

The Symposium will be held in the city of Hasselt, the capital of Limburg province, Flanders Region, northeastern Belgium, on the campus of PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts. 
The city of Hasselt lies along the Demer River near the Albert Canal, northwest of Liège. 
Hasselt was founded in the 7th century, on the Helbeek, a tributary of the Demer river. During the Middle Ages it became one of the free cities of the county of Loon (which had borders approximately the same as the current province of Limburg).

The exact address of the Symposium location is:
PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Elfde Liniestraat 24
3500 Hasselt, Limburg, Belgium

How to get there:
International delegates may find it convenient to use Brussels airport or Brussels railway station as the entry point to Belgium. It takes an average of 1h 13m to travel from Brussels to Hasselt by train, over a distance of around 43 miles (69 km). There are normally 56 trains per day. 

Accommodation options:
On the website of the local tourism authority: www.visithasselt.be/en, you will find some suggested hotels (the titles are in English but the descriptions are in the Dutch language, so please click on your preferred hotels for texts in English). You are also welcome to check Air BnB and/or use Google and find an accommodation that suits you. 

Guided tours can be booked here: https://www.visithasselt.be/en/guided-tours
 

There are two possibilities for attending the symposium: 
1.  By only attending the symposium (without a paper presentation)
2.  By presenting a paper: Researchers may submit any complete, original, and unpublished research papers, either conceptual or empirical. The Turnitin similarity index must be below 20%. To participate, participants need to submit an abstract of 200 to 300 words, along with the authors' names and full contact details before 30th May 2024. Full papers are due by 30th October 2024. Abstracts should be submitted to Lais.VieraTrevisan (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de by using the following template: Template Download 

The details will be discussed with the selected authors.

Please note: For both possibilities for attending the Symposium you need to register and each author wishing to participate must complete the form.

Register now!

The earlier submission of abstracts is strongly encouraged. The deadline for submissions of abstracts should not be regarded as the date the abstracts are due. Rather, it is the last possible day. 

Therefore, authors who submit their abstracts at  a later stage should be mindful of the fact that presentation slots may be taken, and only poster presentations may be possible. Please submit your abstract as soon as you can, to avoid possible problems.

In other to offset some of the costs with the organisation of the event, a registration fee of Euro 290 (plus taxes) will be charged per delegate. The fee also includes the coffee breaks and lunches during the days of the Symposium, and a PDF of the book to the authors who have contributed. For cancellations up to 2 months before the event, a full refund will be made. For cancellations of up to 30 days, a 50% refund will be made. For cancellations within less than 30 days, no refunds are possible.

The deadline for registrations is 30th August 2024.

The details on how to register will be sent to those authors whose abstracts have been accepted.

Register now!

• PXL University of Applied Science and Arts
• University of Hasselt, Centre for Environmental Sciences
• Manchester Metropolitan University
•  Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Research and Transfer Centre “Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management" 

• CIFAL Flanders
• Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE)
• European School of Sustainability Science and Research (ESSSR)
• Inter-University Sustainable Development Research Programme (IUSDRP)
• UK Consortium of Sustainability Research (UK-CSR)
   

• German Consortium of Sustainability Research (DEKONA)
• GlobalGoals.community (The Netherlands) 

Chairpersons

PROF. WALTER LEAL (BSc, PhD, DSc, DPhil, DEd, DLitt, FSB, FRGS, FLS)
HAW Hamburg, Germany, & Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
walter.leal2 (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de

PROF. DIRK FRANCO  (Dsc) 
PXL University of Applied Sciences and Arts and University of Hasselt, Belgium 
dirk.franco@ pxl.be;
dirk.franco (at) uhasselt (dot) be 
 

All questions related to the papers and registrations should be sent to:

LAIS TREVISAN
HAW Hamburg
Lais.VieraTrevisan (at) haw-hamburg (dot) de or
FTZ-Events (at) hamburg (dot) de 

All logistical questions related to the Symposium should be sent to:

MARJAN GOOSSENS
CMK UHasselt
marjan.goossens (at) uhasselt (dot) be