Sustainability festival at Jönköping University
Throughout Week 40, Shaping our Future - JU Sustainability Festival has taken place on campus, with various activities, exhibitions and an award ceremony.
It was a week packed with activities focused on sustainability at Jönköping University. Visitors could take a guided tour of the university’s urban farm on the roof of the School of Education and Communication, where everything from grapes to spinach is grown.
A film screening was arranged of the Steven Spielberg-produced documentary Finding Oscar, in collaboration with SIDA and the Swedish UN Association, followed by a discussion.
Students for Sustainable Action organized Green Day, a day of workshops, games and discussions on the theme of sustainable cities and communities.
Together with Science Park Jönköping and Almi, a 24 hour Sustainable Innovation Race was organized in which around 150 students from Jönköping University competed in groups to help local small and medium-sized companies create ideas for impactful sustainable solutions connected to new customer values and business outcome.
Throughout Thursday, October 3, Jönköping University's own sustainability and diversity day took place. With lectures, workshops, networking and round table discussions, finishing up with Jönköping County's first Sustainability & Diversity Award Ceremony in the afternoon.
Sustainability & Diversity Award Ceremony
During the afternoon and early evening on Thursday, several awards on the theme of sustainability and diversity were distributed to students, researchers, companies and associations. The award ceremony was organized by Jönköping University's Sustainability and Diversity Network together with Science Park. The winners in the various categories are:
JU Change Agent
Susanne Merkler from Students for Sustainable Action was praised for her commitment to sustainability.
Best candidate thesis
Martina Leoneli, Emma Kurvits and Kajsa Kronkvist, Jönköping International Business School, were awarded for their thesis Mind the Gap: The unexplored linkage between Corporate Mindfulness and Sustainability Adoption
Best Master's thesis
Jana Schwartz and Lea Pegels, Jönköping International Business School, were awarded for their thesis Earth3 measures in sustainability reporting: Reinforcing transformational change through indicator and target setting
Best research publication
Maria Hammarsten, Per Askerlund, Ellen Almers, Helen Avery and Tobias Samuelsson from the School of Education and Communication, were awarded for their research article Developing ecological literacy in a forest garden: children's perspectives in the Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning.
Best Start-up
Green Matters
Best business
Reko Shop
Best association
Students for Sustainable Action
The winners of the 24H Innovation Race for Sustainability
Team Nordisk Plast
A successful week
“It is so amazing to see the collaboration between all the schools at Jönköping University and how we can collaborate long-term for the goals of sustainable development together with Jönköping Science Park, Jönköping Municipality, business partners and non-governmental organizations. Together we delivered a lively first Shaping our Future festival on sustainability and diversity, to celebrate Jönköping's change creators and their work,” says Guénola Nonet, associate professor in business administration and project manager for the festival.
The work on sustainability and diversity at Jönköping University obviously does not end with the festival. For example, several employees at the university were given training in carbon literacy and they have committed to train their colleagues.
Together with Science Park, it was also commited to make both the 24H Innovation Race and the sustainability and diversity awards an annual recurring event.
“This is just the beginning - we can do so much more,” concludes Guénola Nonet.
