The Realistic Side of the World - Sustainable Development
and the Role of Economic and Political Institutions.
Student Summit for Sustainability (S3) - Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSC-SD)
January 25 - February 1, 2009 in Zurich (ETH)/Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
> Download the pdf version of this Call for Papers & Posters
The Student Summit for Sustainability (S3), held from January 25 - February 1, 2009 in Zurich (ETH)/Kreuzlingen, Switzerland is the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Student Community for Sustainable Development (WSC-SD) and will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS).
The conference will bring together leading students and researchers in various fields related to sustainable development to exchange on and learn about a specific topic. This year’s S3 theme will be “The Realistic Side of the World - Sustainable Development and the Role of Economic and Political Institutions”. Students will also take part at the AGS Annual Meeting that will be all about “Urban Futures: the challenge of sustainability”.
The S3 conference will aim to give its participants a better understanding of today’s economic and political institutions in relation to sustainable development: their functioning, the logic supporting them and the driving forces behind them, with the objective of understanding their implications for the goals of sustainable development.
The AGS conference is devoted to the challenges posed by the dramatic growth of the world’s urban population and is guided by two propositions: that cities, properly managed, can be transformative arenas in which natural resources are used more efficiently and economically, contributing to a high quality of life for everyone; and that reinventing cities offers one of the most effective ways of reducing human impacts upon the environment.
Poster and paper presentation categories
S3
1. Geopolitics
Geopolitics refers to the contention between existing and aspiring great powers for control over territory and resources. What are the great strategic objectives governing geopolitics in the 21st century to secure resources in the face of a growing population and increasingly scarce resources? What are the existential needs of a state? Who are the important players and what are their goals? What are the local and global consequences?
2. Financial Institutions
Global financial markets refers to the way investments and exchanges are made for goods and services in the global marketplace. Which roles do taxes, subsidies and financial investments (including speculative ones) play in determining how society uses and distributes its increasingly scarce resources? How does the financial world help or hinder the anticipation of natural limits?
3. Non-monetary incentives
Non-monetary incentives refers to incentives existing today in modern societies for individuals to act beyond a pure logic of “Homo economicus”. What are they? Where do they come from? How can they grow? We suppose that new types of incentives are emerging and traditional ones taking new roots. We see the Open Source movement as a prominent manifestation of such non-monetary incentives.
AGS
4. Urban design and sustainability
5. Sustainable building and construction
6. Urban ecology and natural resources
7. Challenges of urban futures to business and politics
8. Energy and mobility in urban areas
9. Visions of future cities
Over-arching area
10. Student activities for sustainability
Submission requirements
Posters can be submitted to topic number 1-10, papers only for numbers 1-3 since they will be presented only at the S3 conference. Poster authors are requested to be present during the special sessions for poster viewing and presentation on Tuesday, 27 January lunch and evening. Paper authors are requested to present their paper (20 minutes presentation followed by 10 minutes discussion) either on Friday, 30 January or Saturday, 31 January).
Abstract of the poster or paper presentation must include title, name of author(s), institution and contact information, tables and bibliography (if applicable) and the reason for research (such as master, doctoral thesis, etc.). The abstract must not exceed 500 words.
Submission deadline is 31 October 2008 and notification date is 10 November 2008.
Please send the above as a PDF document to s3zurich@project21.ch.
Please note that the whole conference will be held in English.
Student Support
Limited funding is avaiable for exceptional applicants who require financial support in order to attend. Students who will require funding must please submit the following application documentation to the Organizing Committee (s3zurich@project21.ch) by 31 October 2008:
- Personal Contact Details
- Copy of Passport / Identification Document
- Motivation for student support (minimum 250 words)
- Whether you require Full Funding (conference fee of 700 CHF plus travel costs) or only Conference Waiver Fee (700 CHF).
Please note: all students applying for student support must be registered at a tertiary institution and must be submitting a paper or poster abstract in order to be considered. Students are encouraged to apply for funding from their own universities and organisations as well.
