The inaugural Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress (SRI2021) will be held from 12-15 June 2021 in Brisbane, Australia.

This congress was originally planned for 14-17 June 2020 in Brisbane, Australia.

*Update 15 April 2020*

Organizers are pleased to announce the confirmed dates for the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2021 (SRI2021). SRI2021 will build on the rich program of SRI2020, which, due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, was postponed to 2021.

SRI2021 will bring together an even larger and more dynamic group of global change-makers in sustainability.

Did you submit a session proposal to SRI2020? All accepted sessions will be automatically rolled over into the new Congress program, so you will not need to submit a new proposal. For those of you who have submitted applications for Popcorn Sessions and Demonstrations, we will invite you to re-submit your proposal in the near future. Go to the official website for all details.

Venue

Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Center.

Description

Future Earth, which supports the largest global community of systems-focused sustainability researchers and innovators, and the Belmont Forum, the world’s largest consortium of transdisciplinary global change and sustainability research funders, are joining forces to establish a marquis congress in which the world’s foremost research and innovation communities come together to share successes, exchange views, and work across disciplines and sectors to support a global transformation to sustainability.

SRI2021 will be the first in a congress series that will serve as a focal point in the sustainability science and innovation calendar, and will be a venue for networking, training, partnership building, and knowledge exchange opportunities. As such, the meeting series is being designed as an umbrella under which side events, special sessions, mentoring, valorization, capacity-building and town hall activities will take place to support a vibrant, diverse, and growing community.

The SRI2021 congress will gather leads in sustainability science, innovation, funding, communication, and implementation, providing opportunities for career development, engagement, and active participation not possible in the sector or discipline-specific meetings.

Program

The first convening will bring together a global community of transdisciplinary research and innovation in an engaging, interactive format, allowing leaders in sustainability innovation to work alongside the world’s leading sustainability scientists, and to engage policy leaders working to support the major international policy processes supporting this transition (Agenda 2030, the UN SDGs, Paris Agreement on climate change, Sendai Framework for Disaster and Risk, Aichi targets).

Abstracts

More details will be provided as soon as possible.

Registration

More details will be provided as soon as possible.

Supported by

SRI2021 is supported by a consortium including: Future Earth Australia (hosted by the Australian Academy of Science), CSIRO, the University of Queensland, Queensland University of Technology, Griffith University, and the University of the Sunshine Coast.

Further information

More information will be provided as soon as possible.

Go to the official website: https://sri2021.org/

Sessions involving PAGES

Popcorn session

Past global changes as indicators for future changes and strategies for sustainability
Conveners: Marie-France Loutre, PAGES IPO; Peter Gell, Federation University Australia; Katrin Meissner, Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC), University of New South Wales, Australia; Boris Vannière, Chrono-environnement, CNRS - Université de Franche-Comté, France.

International reports on climate (e.g. IPCC) and Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) describe the unprecedented changes that occurred over the last few decades to the Earth system. However, climate and living conditions have changed in Earth’s history. Therefore it is important to identify the correct reference point or at least to be aware of how humans are shaping climate and ecosystems.

Paleoclimate research is interested since many decades in identifying baseline of changes, thresholds, and upper limits to reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. A similar approach is used in palaeoecology and palaeogeography about e.g. fire, waterway condition, ocean productivity, coastal stability, terrestrial biodiversity.

Although the multiple impacts of climate and human activities make projection of changes difficult, long-term reconstructions of past changes can disentangle natural and anthropic causes. Studying past changes and their impacts on ecosystems and human societies can provide insights into potential future changes and their impacts on living conditions, give some clues on the resilience and transformations of systems under changing boundary conditions, and facilitate identification of thresholds of potential concern and safe operating space (away from threshold value or dangerous level).

Past flood or fire conditions; impact of fire, droughts, floods, and volcanic activity on societies in the past; consequences of volcanic eruption as an analogue to geoengineering, are a few amongst the many examples showing how information from the past can be used for future projections and sustainability.

We welcome contributions presenting concrete examples of past changes that can shed light on future changes. The session will be organized around key questions:

1. Which paleo-information can inform on risk for ecosystems and societies?
2. How can we transform paleo-data into understandable products for partners, practitioners and policy makers?
3. What insights from paleo-perspectives can we use to support decision-making?

Workshop

How can global research networks effectively contribute to implementation of the SDGs​
Conveners: Flurina Schneider, Theresa Tribaldos, Cornelia Krug, Davnah Payne, Ariane de Bremond, Peter Messerli, Marie-France Loutre, Katsia Paulavets, Sarah Moore, Tobias Buser.

Forum

The Changing Face of Wildfires and Effects on Human Health
Conveners: Hannah Liddy, Megan Melamed, Ben Poulter, ILEAPS, Garry Hayman, Boris Vannière, Marie-France Loutre, Pep Canadell.