CALL FOR SESSION PROPOSALS for Sustainability Science Days 2019 (9-10 May, 2019)

The Sustainability Science Days is a conference organized jointly by Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and Aalto Sustainability Hub (ASH). The next Sustainability Science Days during Thu 9th – Fri 10th May, 2019 focus on the usefulness of sustainability science for decision making on various arenas – the political sphere, companies, institutions of higher education and beyond. The overarching title is of the Days is ”Making and taking use of sustainability science”.

The thematic focus of the Days is on sustainable production and consumption, which is the Sustainable Development Goal # 12 (SDG) where Finland’s performance according to the SDG indicators is poor. In anticipation of the elections for the European Parliament (May 26th, 2019) and of the Finnish chairmanship of the European Union starting in summer 2019, the Sustainability Science Days will address the questions of science-based decision making and the practical uses of insights from sustainability science in relation to production and consumption especially in the European contexts.

As part of the academic program, the Sustainability Science Days 2019 will host a science track with 4-6 parallel sessions on Thursday afternoon, 9th May, at 12:30–15:30. The sessions include scientific presentations from researchers, commentaries from extra-academic stakeholders, followed by scholarly debate with the audience. The presenters of the sessions are invited through an open Call for Papers/presentations that will be opened in December 2018.

The sessions are to be convened by pairs of scientific leaders, with one from Aalto University, and one from the University of Helsinki. The conveners of the session will decide independently on the acceptance of presentations to their session. There will be a meeting of conveners to discuss on their choices and possibility to allocate papers form one session to another if needed. This gives also a possibility for conveners to share ideas and give peer-support on ways to organize the sessions.

The session proposals can, but are not restricted to, be linked to following broader thematic areas and with a focus on the role of sustainability science in decision-making. Interested conveners are also encouraged to propose other themes with connection to the overall thematic of the conference:

• Circular economy

• Bio-economy

• Food systems

• Forest & wood systems

• Aims of contemporary economies and the role of sustainability science

• Transitioning towards carbon free society

• Behavioural change towards sustainability at the individual level

We now invite interested scientific leaders to propose parallel sessions including:

• a brief description (max. 200 words) of the more specific theme of the session within the overall thematic focus of the Days

• the name of at least one of the convenors (HELSUS and ASH will provide assistance in seeking a partner, if needed)

Please send your proposal by email to both [email protected] HELSUS and [email protected] ASH by Fri 16th November.