First Virtual International Conference on Sustainable Development SDL 2021

Illustration: SDL

1. Background

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for all the countries to achieve by 2030 in order to transform the world for sustainable future. There is a great need to raise awareness and knowledge about pressing global challenges that concern sustainability, amongst them human-induced climate change and global warming, environmental degradation, limited and recklessly exploited resources, poverty and unsustainable economic structures, demographic changes, etc. To facilitate the transition of the planet and the global society to a sustainable world, people should acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.

In response to the challenges, faced by governments and populations around the world, a lot is being made to thoroughly equip education as a key enabler of the SDGs. Much still remains to be done to consolidate the transformative potential of the relevant national and international stakeholders including government agencies, academic and educational institutions, NGOs, experts, parents and other active representatives of the public.

Our Mission is to unite all the interested parties in their striving to pursue the SDGs. Sharing the UN’s understanding of sustainable development as the international community’s most urgent priority, and the core aim of the post-2015 development agenda, we focus our attention on three sustainability pillars – environmental, economic, and social.

  • Environmental Responsibility. Living in true environmental sustainability presupposes consuming natural resources at a sustainable rate. Businesses and countries are to study the ways to accomplish their operations responsibly interacting with the planet and causing the lowest harm to the environment.
  • Economic Efficiency. Businesses and countries are to use their resources responsibly so that they can operate in a sustainable manner to consistently produce an operational profit. Lack of responsibility and efficiency will prevent them from sustaining their activities in the long term.
  • Social Solidarity. The society is to have the ability to persistently achieve a good social wellbeing and to maintain it in the long term. The well-cared and healthy society will stimulate the legitimate and healthy work relationship in order to favor the personal and collective development of the people.

2. Overall Goal

Since Critical Thinking underpins all the spheres of the sound and responsible life, the achievement of the desired SDGs seems to be impossible without raising good critical thinkers and skillful agents of sustainable future. Our task is to facilitate pursuing the SDGs through the transformation and modernization of the related systems and structures, that will consequently support people to be active contributors to more peaceful and sustainable societies and develop a sense of responsibility for our planet.

Thus, SDL 2021 encourages scholars and practitioners to meet and exchange ideas and views in the Virtual International Conference format, stimulating respectful dialogue and affording an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

3. Objectives

  • Raising global and national awareness on sustainable development challenges and the crucial role of strong global partnerships and cooperation as powerful enablers of the successful achievement of all the SDGs.
  • Raising awareness of the existing European and global frameworks that are relevant for sustainable development and pursuing the SDGs.
  • Bringing the problems and prospects of Ukraine on the agenda of the global, EU and national stakeholders in the sustainable development field.
  • Bringing together diversity of experiences from across the globe towards cooperation for change and bringing in the element of quality improvement in all the spheres of our life.

4. Format

The virtual CISCO-WebEx-based format of the Conference will include interactive plenaries for debate and dialogue and concurrent sessions for the in-depth discussion of the burning problems of sustainable development and the ways of fostering pursuing the SDGs.

It is also planned to conduct webinars and round tables addressing environmental, economic and social sustainability.

5. Keynote Speakers

The following researchers confirmed their participation as the Conference Keynote Speakers (the list to be updated): 

  • Dafina Gercheva, UNDP Resident Representative to Ukraine;
  • Sergiy Korsunsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Japan;
  • Pauline Deutz, Immediate Past President of the International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS);
  • Paul Vare, Academic Expert to the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Steering Committee on Education for Sustainable Development;
  • Andriy Pavlovytch, Coordinator of SALTO Eastern Europe and Caucasus Resource Centre, Team Leader of the EU4Youth Coordination and Support, Chairperson of the ISAR Ednannia Board. 

6. Date and Place

April 23-25, 2021, online.

To participate, please visit the Conference website (sdlconference.org) and choose the appropriate registration option.

7. Participation

The Conference aims at bringing together around 300 participants (internationally and nationally) representing the multi-disciplinary and diverse group of stakeholders including researchers, policy makers, teachers and educators, sustainable development experts, representatives of various professional networks, as well as individuals from the private sector and civil society.

Participation is FREE.

8. Working Languages

The Conference working language is English.

9. Organizers and Partners

The Conference is organized by the Non-Governmental Organization “Sustainable Development Landmarks” (sdl.org.ua) and Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University (pnu.edu.ua) under the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine (mon.gov.ua).

The Conference Partners are (the list to be updated):

10. Contact

Volodymyr Goshylyk, PhD, Associate Professor at the English Philology Department of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, Director of the NGO “Sustainable Development Landmarks” (IvanoFrankivsk, Ukraine); +380506752588, vbgoshylyk@gmail.com