Sustainability research or research for sustainability are hot items in times of rising temperatures and burning conflicts. Sustainability is the focal point of the UAntwerp’s new policy (e.g. climate action plan). At the same time the location of our university in Antwerp and next to the second port of Europe makes it close to the present industry to collaborate with. We will dive into the main question: how sustainable is research and research collaborations with port industries? Which criteria are used, and how do we assess this? With which frameworks and logics? For example, what should universities do with collaborations in particular with the fossil industry? Or the other way around, where is the money, partly coming from research funding, invested in? What do sustainable divestment policies at the University of Antwerp and elsewhere look like, on what grounds? This session invites people from within and outside the university of Antwerp to shine a light on these crucial questions.
Invited speakers
Aaron Pereira is a researcher with Solid Sustainability Research. Together with his colleague Linda Knoester and other researchers from the Mapping Fossil Ties Coalition, he created an online portal to monitor Dutch academic ties with the fossil fuel industry, which they have been uncovering and analysing to understand the influence of the industry on research, students, and society. Currently, he and his colleague are investigating how involvement from the fossil fuel industry has influenced research trends in Europe over the last 40 years using European Commission funding data, together with research partners from Universiteit Twente.
Aaron's interest in the fossil fuel industry's influence on academia was piqued by his study in mechanical engineering at Imperial College London and PhD in industrial robotics at Technical University Munich, where he experienced first hand how (fossil fuel) industry influences research and teaching. Besides research he is passionate about science communication, speaking about his research at outreach events, workshops and lectures.
Mathieu Blondeel is Assistant Professor at the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) and Climate Expertise Centre expert at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
Moderator
Vincent Bellinkx works at the Institute for Environment and Sustainable Development, University of Antwerp. He holds a PhD in the field of human rights and environmental development. His research interests are situated at the intersection of law and transition, mainly focusing on the role of non-state actors in law and governance and public participation. He has been active in public participation initiatives in Brazil, South Africa and Belgium and is engaged in both civil society and policy on topics such as just transition, chemical pollution, agroecology and climate. As a volunteer he co-founded Atopia, a collective that trains citizens for lobbying in the public interest.