40 scientists and representatives of ministries and other relevant organisations from the CEE countries (Central and Eastern Europe) Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, as well as Germany and Austria discussed the issue of sustainability science from 11-12 September 2015 in Warsaw, Poland.

The workshop was organised by the Polish, German and Austrian National Commissions for UNESCO and followed up on the results of a previous workshop in Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2014. Characteristics, challenges and good practices of national sustainable development policies and science policies were exchanged and opportunities to raise greater awareness for sustainable development and the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were discussed. Furthermore concrete ideas for a joint project proposal were formulated, which will aim at developing a conceptual framework of indicators for sustainability science to be applied to the respective national science systems of the CEE countries. The indicators should be used to raise awareness about sustainable development and to establish better contacts with society, to include non-academics into academic research, into peer-review processes and into funding decisions. The Austrian RCEs Graz-Styria and Vienna look forward to contributing both their scientific expertise as well as their bridging function between research, practice and policy.

For further information please contact office@rce-graz.at.