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RCE Bulletin

Issue 131: July 2022
MESSAGE FROM THE GLOBAL RCE SERVICE CENTRE:

Dear Colleagues and Friends, 

Greetings from the Global RCE Service Centre! This month the 14th Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting was held in Kuala Lumpur, the first RCE Regional Meeting to be held in-person in the last three years. It was great to see many of you and connect in-person once again! Stay tuned for a report of the event. The next RCE Regional Meetings to be held - the 11th Americas Regional Meeting and Europe Regional Meeting 2022 (Part II) - both in October, are now open for registrations, as well as the call for case study presentations and financial support applications. See below for details.

We are also excited to announce the RCE Awards 2022 are now open for submissions - nominate your project(s) now! The Awards celebrate outstanding ESD projects and programmes conducted by the Global RCE Network.

Finally, we will be holding our annual RCE Youth Webinar next month, on 12 August, 2022 to celebrate International Youth Day 2022. Registrations are now open and we look forward to seeing many of you there!

If you would like to share any news, upcoming events, open calls, or publications for an upcoming bulletin, please complete this form and email your submission to the Global RCE Service Centre at rceservicecentre@unu.edu (submissions close on the 15th of each month).

Sincerely,
The Global RCE Service Centre

Registrations Open and Call for Applications: 11th Americas Regional Meeting

The 11th Americas RCE Regional Meeting will be held in Salisbury, Maryland (USA) from 3-5 October, 2022, under the theme 'Now, More than Ever! The RCE Network as a Peace Leader!'.

Registrations are now open, with different deadlines for in-person and online participation (see the event page).

The call for case study presentations and financial support is also open, closing on 31 July, 2022.

See the event page for further details.

(Photo credit: Dr. Heather McCarty)

Registrations Open and Call for Applications: Europe Regional Meeting 2022 (Part II)

The Europe Regional Meeting 2022 (Part II) will be hosted by RCE Fryslan, to be held in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands from 10-13 October, 2022, under the theme 'Greater than the Sum of the Parts; Strengthening the European RCE Network for ESD'.

Registrations are now open, with a deadline of 1 October, 2022 (please note that spaces for in-person participation are limited to 85 places, so early registration is recommended).

The call for case study presentations and financial support is also open, closing on 14 August, 2022.

See the event page for further details.

(Photo credit: Frank van der Velde)

RCE Youth Webinar: Art, Actions, and Perspectives for Biodiversity Conservation
12 August, 2022, 2pm-4pm (JST), online

Organised by the Global RCE Service Centre, the RCE Youth Webinar 'Art, Actions, and Perspectives for Biodiversity Conservation' will be held virtually (online) on 12 August, 2022 to celebrate International Youth Day 2022.

The webinar will highlight youth-led activities addressing issues on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, and feature youth artists promoting biodiversity conservation through art. There will also be an interactive workshop to inspire more young people and other stakeholders in the Global RCE Network and beyond to accelerate efforts in these areas. 

Both youth and all those interested in empowering and engaging with youth are encouraged to attend. To register, please complete the online form here.

Applications Open: RCE Awards 2022

The Global RCE Service Centre at the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) announces a call for nominations for the 11th annual RCE Awards! RCEs are encouraged to nominate their most outstanding ESD project(s) for the award; ESD projects are to illustrate how RCEs address local sustainable development challenges, and therefore provide an example of how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be implemented at the local level through quality education. They should also demonstrate how an RCE is promoting multi-stakeholder learning processes through policy dialogue, research and collaborative partnerships. Award recipients will be announced and featured on the RCE Portal this December.
 
To apply:

  • Submit an RCE Project (video tutorial available here), and at the bottom of the form, please tick the box underneath the heading 'RCE Award 2022' before saving (Please note: projects submitted since November 2021 are also eligible to be nominated for the award. Please go into your existing project, go into 'edit' mode and tick the same box at the bottom of the form).
  • You will then be redirected to the RCE Award form on a new page. Complete the form and click submit.

Details on categories for the awards, eligibility, criteria, and the format for submission can be found here. Submission must be done online via the RCE Portal by 11:59pm, 9 September, 2022 (JST).

Upcoming Events

Registrations Open: Higher Education Summit 2022 'Daring to Transform Learning for a Future-proof Economy'
6-8 September, 2022, Hasselt, Belgium

From 6-8 September, 2022 the Higher Education Summit 2022 will open its doors in Hasselt, Belgium. Under the theme 'Daring to transform learning for a future-proof economy', the summit will bring together those who wish to transform higher education for the benefit of a 'safe and just space for humanity': people who study, teach, research, and contribute to governance at higher education institutions, and representatives of the business world, government, and civil society.
 
Be prepared for a summit full of interactive workshops, an exciting social program with onsite excursions, lots of networking opportunities and inspiring keynotes. Find all details and reserve your seat by 14 August, 2022 here.

International STEM Green Innovative Competition 2022

Co-organised by RCE Penang, CGSS in collaboration with Green Educators' Workgroup (GREW) Penang, the International STEM Green Innovative Competition 2022 (ISGIC 2022) is being held virtually from 15 May - 30 September 2022.

ISGIC 2022 is a virtual innovation competition that highlights green and sustainable innovations that are able to solve environmental issues happening in schools. This year's theme will be STEM Innovation in Urban Farming. The organisers aspire for schools across Malaysia & abroad to participate in this event to exchange new ideas and knowledge. The competition is sponsored by Penang Education Council, Malaysia and fully supported by the Ministry of Education Malaysia. Read more

Open Calls

Calling All Young Learners – Have Your Say

To ensure all learners acquire knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to tackle climate change, UNESCO plans to co-develop some guidelines with young people to support policymakers integrate climate education into education policies and curricula.

UNESCO wants to hear from youth aged between 12-25 years old, on what climate change curricula should look like. The result of this process will be published at COP 27 in Egypt in November this year, and will contribute to the development of the UNESCO greening curriculum guideline to be launched for COP28 in 2023.

The survey is open until 8 August, 2022 and is available in English, French, and Spanish.

Call for Papers: ASEAN Education Cities Conference 2022
5-6 November, 2022, Sunway City, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The ASEAN Education Cities Conference 2022 will serve as a platform for researchers and scholars from academia, industry, organisations and other stakeholders, to share their ideas, best practices or research findings on smart and sustainable cities, and to work together towards developing and exploring new ways of educating the next generations of planetary-health caretakers.

The Organising Committee of the AECC 2022 invites submissions of proposals (300 to 400 words) for 15-minute papers. All submitted proposals will be reviewed by the conference Scientific Committee. The submission deadline is 30 July, 2022.

For more details, view the event flyer here.

Latest News

HLPF Side Event Examines Gaps and Synergies Between Climate Action and the SDGs

On 7 July, 2022, UNU-IAS co-organised a side event of the 2022 UN High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which discussed challenges and opportunities in scaling up climate action while advancing sustainable development. The online event brought together diverse perspectives from the UN system, academia, and civil society on critical gaps and how they can be closed by realising synergies between the two agendas. Read more

UCSI University and RCE Kuching Win 2022 International Green Gown Award

UCSI University has been selected as a winner of the '2022 International Green Gown Awards'. The winners were announced on 6 July, 2022 as part of the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The International Green Gown Awards are endorsed by United Nations Environment Programme and are supported by The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), L'Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and International Association of Universities (IAU).

The Award acknowledged RCE Kuching, RCE Kuching Youth Ambassadors, UCSI University, and partnering RCE stakeholders' team effort and dedication that led to gaining recognition internationally. Awarded in the category of 'Student Engagement', the project 'Youth Ambassadors 'Our River, Our Life'' empowered students to engage with environmental issues concentrated in and around the main water source for Kuching - the Sarawak River Kiri.

Please join us in congratulating RCE Kuching! View their submission here or read their full report here.

ESD BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER

Protecting Biodiversity Starts in the Community

On 29 June 2022, SWI swissinfo.ch, published an opinion piece by Philip Vaughter (Consultant, UNU-IAS) focusing on the potential of local initiatives to protect biodiversity, highlighting the work of the Global RCE Network in this area. Read more

Subscribe to the New UNU-IAS CONNECT E-Newsletter

We are excited to announce the launch of UNU-IAS CONNECT, a monthly e-newsletter on sustainability issues like governance, biodiversity, water, and education. CONNECT will feature the latest research, news, courses, vacancies, and other opportunities from UNU-IAS, which hosts the Global RCE Service Centre. Sign up here.

Book Series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Prof. Walter Leal, the Head of the Research and Transfer Centre, 'Sustainable Development and Climate Change Management' in Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, and Chair of RCE Hamburg, during 2021 and 2022 has published the Book Series: Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
 
Encompassing 17 volumes (each devoted to one of the 17 SDGs), the mandate of the series is to clarify and explain a wide range of terms associated with each SDG. It does so by gathering and presenting inputs provided by experts globally, who explain each term and their implications, drawing also from the latest literature. Read more