Sustainability Think Tank Third Plenary Session of Heidelberg University's Sustainability Think Tank

On 23 July 2024, the third plenary session of our Sustainability Think Tank (STT) took place. At this important event, members of the various STT working groups (WGs) gathered to engage in intensive discussions about the sustainable development of our university and to present their proposals for a sustainability strategy.

At the beginning of the session, Prof. Dr. Karin Schumacher, Vice-Rector for Quality Development and Sustainability, welcomed the participants and emphasized the importance of sustainability for the future development of our university. She praised the collaboration and dedication of the AGs and reported on the sustainability measures undertaken by the rectorate in the past six months.

Subsequently, Irina Merz provided a brief introduction to the work accomplished by the WGs. She explained that the proposals were developed through several AG meetings held between November 2023 and July 2024. Following this, the members presented the diverse sustainability ideas from the fields of research, research operations, teaching, transfer/communication, as well as campus operations.

In the following discussion round, moderated by Maximilian Jungmann, the WGs exchanged views vigorously. Synergy potentials were explored, prioritization criteria were established, and open questions were discussed.

Maximilian Jungmann presented the plan for the next steps: Between August and October 2024, the HCE will develop an integrated draft document for a university sustainability strategy. This will be presented to the WGs in October to gather their feedback, before the final version of the proposals for the sustainability strategy paper is submitted to the rectorate for approval in November.

This plenary session has once again shown us how important mutual exchange and collaboration among all stakeholders are. We look forward to the next steps and the implementation of the developed ideas. The complete minutes of the plenary session will be available for review upon completion to members of the University on the STT-Plenum page (access with Uni-ID).