Bridging sustainability

On 11th April the NFGL community in Lund arranged the all-day super intensive interdisciplinary training on the topic of sustainable development and related issues. We had three lectures and workshop at the end.

“HEAT: Understanding and acting upon climate change induced heat at the local level to meet environmental, economic, and social sustainability challenges” (by Marcella Samuels)

 Climate change is already affecting our living environments and our societies in multiple ways.  It touches on a wide range of societal issues such as, food and water security, human health, housing and urban environments, human rights, gender equality, attitudes and behavior. Heat stress has severe effects on human society, people’s health, animals and ecosystems.  Existing policies and social protection systems are inadequate to both enhance adaptive capacity and to mitigate negative climate change impacts.  New technical, policy, and behavioral solutions are needed, particularly in relation to how we plan and develop our societies. This talk discussed the work of the Heat Research Collaboration at Lund University, which is a multi- and cross-disciplinary research platform to better understand and act upon heat challenges at the local level.  

 “How our monetary system poisons everything” (by Henrik Davidsson)

Our financial system demands a continuously increased debt and thus increased productivity and production of goods. This lead us closer to peak oil and to an economy that no longer can grow. If you think that a collapsing stock market is the worst case, think again.

“Stay cool without fossil fuel” (by Marwa Dabieh)

                                                                          

Our current heating and cooling conventional methods are the most energy consuming systems in building operation. If we depend mainly on fossil fuel in running our buildings that means an annual increase of CO2 emission which increase the greenhouse gas effect. Not only this, it is considered a financial burden as well. The presentation tackled the importance of adopting passive cooling and heating techniques and showed examples on how to reach indoor thermal comfort with minimal or no cost and with least impact on our environment.

And, of course, lectures worth nothing without practice. Thus, our very practice-oriented workshop helped us to see how sustainable development works, to contribute our own knowledge into the team work and to get new friends.

Many thanks to participants and special thanks to Maha Shalaby, NFGL coordinator of this event.

More pictures here.

General Assembly of the SI NFGL students

On 23-27 March 16 NFGL students from Lund University, universities in Gothenburg, Dalarna and Jönköping visited the Human Rights and Global Politics capital - Geneva.

“There we had a meeting with the Senior Legal Adviser & UN Representative of the International Commission of Jurists Livio Zilli and his colleagues Sandra Ratjen and Carlos Lopez, who provided a general presentation of the International Commission of Jurists and its work, followed by a presentation of the work of the UN program, on their programs on economic, social and cultural rights, and on human rights in business” – the organizer of this study tour, the Head of the SI Network for Future Global Leaders in Lund Galyna Paliychuk says.

“Also, we had a meeting with the President of the Geneva for Human Rights and founder of International Service for Human Rights Mr. Adrien-Claude Zoller, who arranged for us a unique 3 hours training on global politics and human rights. It was quite funny and we definitely liked it! We also visited Human Rights House and Association for the Prevention of Torture. Apart from that we visited three UN sessions: the 113th session of the Human Rights Committee, the 28th session of the Human Rights Council and the 13th session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Moreover, we had a general tour to the Palais des Nation. And finally, we were invited to the coctail mingle with students of Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, which means... that we were really networking!” – Galyna resumes.

“It was an amazing tour and I loved every bit of it. It was a great learning experience with the visit to United Nations. The meeting with the heads of Geneva for Human Rights and ICJ gave a lot of insights about the United Nations and their work. Although, the meetings were not related to my field of study, it was a good exposure to the other fields and the knowledge gained from this trip will stay with me forever. The session on Monaco at HRC gave a practical understanding of how the issues are handled at the UN and the mingle organized with the Geneva Academy students was very useful as it was helpful in networking with students from other countries. Overall, the tour was a worthwhile learning experience and gave me a lot of good memories to take home and I hope the contacts I made during the trip will be helpful for me in the future. If it had not been for the trip, I would never have had the opportunity of visiting the United Nations. It was a pleasure meeting you all and I really hope we stay in touch with each other. I hope we make more tours like this again.” – Monisha Pradeep, studies Food Technology and Nutrition at Lund University.

"A visit to the United Nations offices was one of the most memorable trips I have made. Not only did I get an opportunity to interact with the UN officials, it was also great  interacting with fellow SI scholars. Blending with SI members was my best as we collaborated, shared ideas, discussed and mingled up. In fact, we mixed as one family and everyone was concern about each other. Being an outgoing SI scholar, my network stretched backwards and forward to the current and outgoing SI members drawn from nine countries. As an engineer, my brain kept challenged as we sustained human right discussions, global politics and world leadership which was exciting. The sun is already setting for me however to those in their morning hours; I highly recommend trying this networking trips. It doesn't mean moving far; there are many places in Sweden. Remember that time flies so make sure to utilize your time in Sweden well. If you would like to work in Sweden, there is no fastest shortcut than learning the language, learn Swedish as early as possible. Above all, keep trying jobs and please network, network, and network!"  - Ben Owilli, studies Structural Engineering and Building Technology at Chalmers University.

“It was really an amazing tour for me. I learned more about UN, especially UN session and 113st session of HRC .Training regarding human rights and global politics was that I never forget .Knowledge from ICJ and Geneva Academy gave us a chance to know about future opportunities. Mingle with students of Geneva Academy will work for us as a good networking. Walking tour with you all and visiting theater in Geneva was really a new experience for me. Thanks for planning a nice journey.” - Urmi Acharjee, studies International Human Rights Law at Lund University.

“Probably some of us might think that in order for you to be working in UN requires a lot of intelligence and great abilities, but let me encourage you by saying this, being a part of this network of NFGL and also being a student in the Swedish universities is good enough to make an IMPACT in UN that will bring a positive change to your country and the world as whole. The world is facing a lot of challenges and UN needs people like us, people who really dedicate their lifetime in understanding the world and the challenges its facing” - a respondent preferred to remain anonymous.

“The meetings with the UN representatives were very interesting, the participants had the opportunity to ask questions and exchange opinions on a global platform which was very educational.  Geneva is an educational and historical city and holds many things to experience from its treasures.” – Nabila Zaman, studies Economics at Lund University.

«It was a pleasure to visit Geneva with a team of people I did not know. I made new friends, loved networking and new connections. The networking between students from different universities in Sweden and with other people cannot go unnoticed. The introductory ICJ Session was a good and informative discussion, quite in-depth but open enough to be understood by everyone. My most interesting and memorable session was one with Mr. Adrien-Claude Zoller about the UN. I can say this is the most elaborate 3hr session one can ever get about the organization. Fun, content, dialogue, invaluable information, networking all put in 3hrs. Attending a UN session and a tour around the UN premises was fascinating.” - Joseph Mukama, studies Computer systems and networks at Chalmers University.

“I am very glad that thanks to this trip I improved my organizational and leadership skills, built a network with our NFGL students from different universities in Sweden as well as with students in Geneva. Participants had a chance not only to be acquainted with UN system and related issues, but also to improve their time-management skills and discover a cultural side of the city. E.g., some of us visited local theatre and jazz festival.” – Galyna concluded.

More photos here.