CIH and UiB’s SDG Conference 2021

Researchers at the Centre for International Health (CIH), the Centre for Intervention Science in Maternal and Child Health (CISMAC) and Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS) involve the SDGs in most of their activity. 

The SDG conference will involve three packed days filled with keynotes and parallel sessions. These will address, according to the conference website:

• How do we meet the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How do we meet the increasing inequalities caused by this crisis?
• And, how will the crisis impact on the SDGs?

Find more information on the programme and how to register for the national 2021 SDG Conference Bergen – 10-12 February.

The official hashtag for the conference is #SDGbergen21

There are three keynotes and a greeting from the UN:

• Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake, United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth
• Professor Kate Raworth, the author of the groundbreaking Doughnut Economics book, providing a visual framework for sustainable development
• President Daya Reddy of the International Science Council
• Director of the African Centre for Cities, Dr. Edgar Pieterse

Read more in the Conference Programme.

CIH and CISMAC have limited participation this year, but BCEPS has two presentations.

DAY ZERO

11:00 - 12:30 Parallel Session Decarbonising healthcare

Anand Bhopal, Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS)

Type of event: Physical and digital event

In 2009 the Lancet Commission on Climate Change and Health described climate change as the "biggest global health threat of the 21st century". Yet, in the midst of societal efforts to rapidly decarbonize, health has been largely adrift of wider discussions. Given healthcare emissions constitute around 5% of global emissions this cannot continue.

In October 2020, the National Health Service in England became the first healthcare system in the world to commit to becoming carbon neutral. In Norway, our healthcare-related carbon emissions are similar to those in England. It is time that we got our house in order too!

In this action orientated session we invite participants to join us in exploring how to decarbonise the Norwegian healthcare system. We will also discuss healthcare-related emissions and decarbonisation in relation to healthcare systems in low- and middle-income countries. The main focus will be on exchanging ideas to build an effective campaign to decarbonise the Norwegian healthcare system and inspire others around the world to do the same.

All are welcome to join this session - we strongly believe it will be strengthened through multidisciplinary contributions.

11:00-12:30 Equitable partnerships in international higher education and research collaboration?

https://www.uib.no/en/sdgconference/138845/day-zero-wednesday-10-february#decarbonising-healthcare

Contact person: Jeanette da Silva, Norad

Type of event: Digital event ONLY

While development collaboration programmes such as NORHED are designed to stimulate long-lasting mutual North-South academic collaboration, we see a key challenge in ensuring fair and equitable partnerships, and moreover, that the collaboration supported allows for mutual and reciprocal learning and exchange of knowledge across the North-South divide. 

Key questions to be considered in this panel discussion include: What are the key indicators for a fair and equitable partnership? What are the risks involved of unequitable partnerships? What is at stake when partnerships are unequal? What management regimes/administrative modalities promote vs. constrain equitable partnerships? What aspects of “mainstream partnership practices” need to change in order to make these more equitable? And also - how has the Covid-19 pandemic impacted on the possibilities for equitable partnership?

DAY 1

11:00-12:15 Keynote lecture 1: It's time to create regenerative and distributive economies

• Dr. Kate Raworth, Professor at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

13:00-14:30 Parallel session 1: COVID-19 and Health Inequalities

13:15-13:25  “COVID-19 and Health Inequalities: The Case for Transparent and Inclusive Decision-Making”

Prof. Ole Frithjof Norheim, Director, Bergen Centre for Ethics and Priority Setting (BCEPS), University of Bergen

14:15-14:30 Discussant following session:

Ingvild Fossgard Sandøy, Professor, Centre for International Health; Deputy director CISMAC, University of Bergen

DAY 2

9:30-10:30 Keynote lecture 2: Public engagement, scientific literacy and the science-society nexus

• Dr. Daya Reddy, President of the International Science Council and Professor at the University of Cape Town

12:00-13:00 The Rector Debate: How are universities mitigating inequalities in access to knowledge?