Green Talents visit the IÖW
On 28th October 2013 the IÖW hosted the Green Talents 2013 – a group of 25 international scientists who won the BMBF-competition ‘Green Talents – International Forum for High Potentials in Sustainable Development’. As one of the jury members, IÖW-Director Thomas Korbun was involved in assessing over 430 applications from 80 countries. The young scientists were distinguished for the interdisciplinary character of their work as well as their engagement with sustainability. State Secretary, Dr. Georg Schütte, honoured the prize winners on 8th November 2013 with a festive award ceremony at the BMBF in Berlin.
"Discovering young creative talents and bringing them together to discuss the social-ecological problems of tomorrow and helping them to transcend the boundaries of individual disciplines and broaden their perspectives - the Green Talent competition contributes to this in a significant way”, said Thomas Korbun. “It helps to increase the visibility of sustainability research in the scientific community. The competition may also contribute to realizing more sustainability in research activities. I am delighted to take part in it.”
Green Talents visit sustainability think tanks in Germany
The Green Talents got the chance during a two-week tour to have a look at the German science sector and visit selected sustainability think tanks in Germany. The IÖW was the first stop; others included the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam and the Bauhaus University in Weimar.
During their visit Thomas Korbun introduced the work of the IÖW, its history and research topics, its methodological focus and the institute’s own environmental impact reduction plans. Dr Esther Hoffmann, head of the research field ‘Sustainable Corporate Management’, presented results from research on adaptation to climate change. Since 2009 the IÖW has realized stakeholder participation processes on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency and has recently published the study ‘Stakeholder Participation in Adaptation to Climate Change’. Finally, Dr Gerd Scholl, head of the research field ‘Ecological Consumption’, provided the visitors with an insight into the topic ‘Share economy: Media hype or mainstream?’
The joint lunch gave the Green Talents the opportunity to exchange ideas with IÖW-scientists. The ‘Walk for Sustainability in Science’ through a park in Berlin marked the end of the day and gave the group the chance to discuss different aspects of sustainability in science.
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