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Bergen International Student Conference 2020

The third edition of the Bergen International Student Conference will take place in Bergen March 23-24, 2020 on the theme “Beyond Sustainable Development”. We invite students from all disciplines and all countries to participate at the conference.

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BISC 2020 POSTPONED!!

Due to new regulations and recommendations from the University of Bergen and health authorities, all meetings and activities that are not essential for either society or the institution have to be cancelled or postponed. We are so sorry to announce that Bergen International Student Conference on the 23rd and 24th of March has to be cancelled for now and postponed until the autumn 2020. The BISC team has put a lot of effort in making a high quality conference program, and the aim is of course to carry out the conference, but we will have to pick up the thread at a later date. Although we had very much looked forward to spending two days together discussing the biggest challenges of our time (even the coronavirus), we have to take a collective responsibility for reducing and limiting the spread of the virus.

Thank you all for showing your interest! We really hope to see you on a later occasion when the situation is back to normal!

We are very sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

All the best,

Ronya Reitan Solberg and Synnøve BeitnesCoordinators BISC 2020

Beyond sustainable development

Climate change and sustainability has been on the agenda for half a century. Yet, the emissions are increasing and the effects of global warming are affecting everything. Avoiding change is no longer an option, but we can still shape the nature of that change. There is wide agreement on the urgent need for deep and rapid change at all levels of society in order to avoid the worst outcomes. However, we are acting too slow, and the window of opportunity is rapidly closing. What is stopping us from taking action when “everyone” is talking about sustainability? Deep change requires collaboration and knowledge-sharing that crosses disciplines and borders. We therefore invite undergraduate and postgraduate students from all countries and academic disciplines to participate in this important dialogue at the third Bergen International Student Conference in March 2020.

With this conference we want to explore the risks, blindspots and conflicts that are inherent on our way towards a more sustainable future. By doing so, new answers and solutions can be revealed in order to deal with the challenges we are facing. 

Monday March 23

08.30 Registration and morning coffee

09.00 Opening

09.20 Keynote: Inger Elisabeth Måren

09.40 Parallel sessions:1) Follow the money 2) Reduce, reuse, recyle

11.00 Workshop "Risks, blindspots and conflicts"

11.40 LUNCH

12.40 Parallel sessions:

         3) Future of mobility

         4) Reconstructing social categories

14.00 Coffeebreak with snacks

14.30 Workshop "Century of climate action? Future horizons"

15.30 Concluding words

18.00 Guidet tour at Bryggen 

19.00 Dinner at Kvarteret

          Party!

Tuesday March 24

09.00 Registration and morning coffee

09.30 Opening

09.40 Panel debate: Kevin Andersson, Håvard Haarstad and Vibeke Koehler 

          "How change happens"

10.20 Parallell sessions:

         5) The value of traditional knowledge

         6) Learning from nature

11.15 LUNCH

12.15 Parallell sessions:

         7) Knowledge production

         8) Political organization matters

13.30 Coffee break & snack

14.00 Workshop "Towards sustainability: Overcoming the obstacles"

15.00 Wrapping-up debate

15.45 Concluding words