CA Online Conference 2019: Innovative format and lots of impressions
3 days, 80 participants, 30 countries, 0 travel carbon: The COPERNICUS Alliance Online Conference 2019 from 9-11 September, entitled “Reaching out for the Stars: Consolidating the HESD Constellation” was a success. The event brought together people and institutions committed to transforming higher education towards sustainable development. Participants from around the world joined the virtual conference rooms and engaged themselves in discussions and interactive sessions.
Videos of our thought provokers are now available!
CA members are invited to send applications for the CA Micro Funds by 30 September 2019. Awards of up to 1,000 EUR are given to projects and initiatives facilitating collaboration between CA members that contribute to building capacity and stimulating change for sustainable development in higher education.
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) announced the paper “Mainstreaming Education for Sustainable Development at a Swiss University: Navigating the Traps of Institutionalization” by author Lilian Trechsel (researcher at the Centre of Development and Environment, University of Bern) as a finalist for the 2019 AASHE Sustainability Awards in the Campus Sustainability Research category for outstanding research in sustainability. 
From 19-21 September 2019 the 2nd European Conference on Service-Learning in Higher Education will take place in Antwerpen, Belgium. The CA members KU Leuven and the Flemish Ministry of Environment, Nature and Energy/Ecocampus are among the organizing institutions. The conference offers over 80 international workshops, panels and presentations and keynotes by Prof. Dr. Seth Pollack and Prof. Dr. Nieves Tapia. 
The Educating Future Change Agents (EFCA) project, a joint research initiative of Leuphana University in Lüneburg, Germany and Arizona State University, USA has been conducting research since 2016 which seeks to collect empirical evidence on how key competencies in sustainability can be effectively developed. A team of researchers has carried out an integrated and innovative multi-case study design at both universities and initial results are beginning to be published.
In the week of 6 May a Sustainability Week was organised at KU Leuven (Belgium). This was an initiative of the Green Office for KU Leuven, in collaboration with the student unions of all faculties, the student council, the Sustainability Office of the vice-rector for Sustainability, and Pangaea (a welcoming place for international students). The goal was to create awareness about sustainability in all its dimensions, by bringing less known dimensions – such as economic and social aspects – into the spotlight.
The Sustainability Office of the University of the Basque Country has launched a new website that includes all the programmes and actions carried out by the university to meet the Agenda 2030. This website presents the university’s specific contributions to 12 of the 17 SDGs. In addition to these 12 SDGs, the University has included its commitment to language and cultural diversity through SDG 17+1.
Ahead of the 
A consortium from nine European countries including University of Maribor is working in the Erasmus+ project “Education for Zero Waste and Circular Economy”. Its aim is to fill a gap in Vocational Education and Training by creating a new training course focusing on waste and circular economy, and by developing interdisciplinary skills needed for new jobs in the area.
The 2nd International Conference on Technologies & Business Models for Circular Economy (TBMCE) will take place from 24-26 October 2019 in Portorož, Slovenia, organized by University of Maribor. TBMCE is devoted to presentations of circular economy concepts, technologies and methodologies that contribute to the shift of business entities and society as a whole to a more responsible, circular management of resources. 
Prof. Michel Ricard, ESD UNESCO Chair at Bordeaux INP (Institut National Polytechnique), France, invited CA President Anne Zimmermann to present the COPERNICUS Alliance at the 3rd International Conference of the chair, entitled “Education for Sustainable Development, a Transition Lever for our Societies”. This was an opportunity to establish contacts with some higher education institutions in France and present to them the COPERNICUS Alliance’s new Vision, Mission, and Action Plan.
Under the title “Skilled migrants in Austria: Needed but unwelcome?”, the WU Vienna Competence Center for Sustainability Transformation and Responsibility (STaR) hosted its first public panel discussion on 10 April. The event owed its inspiration to the ongoing research on migration at WU Vienna, where several groups of researchers across different academic disciplines are working on topics related to this important issue.
In this piece of news, Beatriz Perez-Soto shares her experiences with sustainable education and tourism as Visiting Professor at Universidad Metropolitana of Ecuador (UMET).
Charles University Environment Centre held the launch meeting of the project "Sustainable Local Development – Linking Theory and Practice" on 28 March, in cooperation with the National Network of Local Action Groups for local development and the University of South Bohemia.
Charles University in cooperation with RCE Czechia co-organised an event entitled “Our Common Present” to initiate a dialogue on SDG 12 ("Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns") in the Czech Republic.
