Sustainable University Day 2014

The Sustainable University Day, a collaborative venture between the University of Bern and the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, took place on March 28, 2014. This event saw the first annual meeting of the "Sustainable Development at Universities Programme 2013-2016" (sd-universities programme). This program, an initiative of the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences, aims to consolidate and strengthen the expertise of Swiss universities with regard to sustainable development. The Sustainable University Day 2014 also served as a prelude to the University of Bern's periodic Sustainability Days.

The motto for the 2014 event was "Setting standards for the future: Swiss universities and their contribution to sustainable development". During the morning of the event, researchers, teachers and students from a number of Swiss universities held workshops on the topics that they deal with in their day-to-day scientific work. And the University of Bern was the perfect host for the afternoon's activities. A researchers' market saw a number of presentations on selected projects currently under way in the field of sustainable development, showing the variety of different ways in which this topic is being approached in different faculties. This was followed by two talks that looked at some of the latest research and education developments and their importance for sustainable development. Councilor Bernhard Pulver then took to the podium to discuss the strategic implementation of sustainability measures and the political expectations surrounding the issue. The event was rounded off by George Steinmann's creative closing speech, giving a memorable spin on the day's events.