VIII Glion Colloquium: Global Sustainability and the Role of Universities

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The research proposes to generate knowledge that will allow us to better understand the roles that can be played by the world?s research universities in addressing the various elements of global sustainability (e.g., global climate change and environmental impact, global health and disease, the increasing fragility of economic markets, and rapidly changing demographics). Of particular interest will be discussions of how the imperatives of global sustainability are driving change in higher education around the world. This will include considerations not only of how research universities are adapting to the imperatives of global sustainability (e.g., social diversity, resource management, academic programs, research and scholarship), but also how they can develop new curricula, student experiences, research paradigms, social engagement and international alliances to better address the challenges of global sustainability, while producing globally identified citizens. The Colloquium will also consider a discussion of longer-term possibilities that might pose even greater threats to global sustainability and how universities could prepare graduates for such eventualities. The proposal intends to do this by bringing US participants to the VIII Glion Colloquium. This meeting intends to raise the awareness and understanding of university leaders of the essential role their institutions must play in addressing global sustainability?particularly in the developing world?and to provide assistance in developing appropriate strategies. The unusually broad distribution of publications (papers, books, and digital assets provided through the Glion website (http://www.glion.org) resulting from the papers, discussion, and conclusions of the Colloquium will convey to a global audience both the urgency and guidance in deploying the considerable intellectual assets of the world?s leading universities to address the greatest challenge facing humankind. Funding for this award is provided by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering, NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources, and NSF's Directorate for Geosciences.