General Meeting DG HochN

12:00 - 14:00    Arrival and registration

14:00 - 14:15    Start of the event and welcome address

Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ (DG HochN, University of Bremen)

Prof. Dr. Ute Clement (President of the University of Kassel)

14:15 - 15:30    General Assembly 2023 of the DG HochN

15:30 - 16:00    Coffee Break and Marketplace

Organized by the Kassel Institute for Sustainability, UniKasselTransfer/ SDGplus Lab and the Green Office of the University of Kassel

16:00 - 17:00    Quo vadis DG HochN? - Board in discussion with the members 

Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ (DG HochN, University of Bremen)

This part of the event is open to those interested/including non-members.

Guided tour & On-site talk (1): "Holländischer Platz" - a campus is developing, Beata Lejman, Architect, Structural Development Planning, Department of Building, Technology and Real Estate

Formerly, today's university campus Holländischer Platz was used as an industrial site by Henschel, Gottschalk and Co. Even today, individual buildings and many a reminiscence amidst modern architectural trends are reminiscent of the former uses. Although the transformation process with a historical perspective is almost complete after 45 years, we are constantly developing.

In the tour, we would also like to address the topics of sustainability and accessibility in planning -  two aspects that are essential for a modern design of the campus.

Regarding accessibility: The on-site tour may not be completely barrier-free due to different floor coverings.

Guided tour & On-site talk (2): "Guided tour on plant use - climate adaptation strategies on the Holländischer Platz campus", Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Körner, Department of Landscape Architecture, Landscape Management and Vegetation Development

In the 1980s, the approach of the so-called Kassel School was followed on the public spaces of the Holländischer Platz campus. This theory of open space planning is essentially based on the idea that vegetation spontaneously establishes and stabilizes itself accompanying its use. However, a lot of work was done with the seeding of local wild plants and ornamental perennials were sown to increase the acceptance of the areas.

Since the early 2000s, the Department of Landscaping, Landscape Management and Vegetation Development has been studying the urban ecological value of the areas to determine which species have asserted themselves in the recording areas.

The guided tour shows the areas around the university, which resemble typical urban open spaces in terms of their conditions and exemplify the dynamic behavior of spontaneous and artificially established urban vegetation. On this basis, indications for a vegetation development adapted to climate change emerge.

Accessibility: The on-site visit may not be barrier-free due to inclines.

Guided tour & On-site talk (3): "In the basements of the university - a look behind the scenes of technical university operations, where energy consumption and energy efficiency meet",Dirk Schnurr, Energy Efficiency Manager, Department of Building, Technology and Real Estate.

In areas otherwise inaccessible to users, numerous aggregates and technical fixtures are installed to enable the university's operations. The guided tour allows you to immerse yourself in an unknown world and invites you to discover endless corridors and elaborate building services. During the tour, you will get to know the activities of the operating technology and gain an insight into the technical efforts that have to be made to ensure the smooth running of the university.

We will also address the topics of energy saving and energy efficiency. After all, the energy consumption of the University of Kassel is comparable to that of a small town and the potential for savings is correspondingly high.

Regarding accessibility: The on-site visit leads to the basements on the south campus, which are mostly reached via stairs; an alternative route (there and back) with an elevator would be possible.

This part of the event is open to interested parties/ also to non-members.

Evening Come Together

This portion of the event is open to those interested/including non-members. Professional exchange and networking in community-building formats

Hub 1

Sustainability communication bubble?

Collegial exchange on action-focused sustainability communication in the university environment

Chair: Eva Schäfer (DG HochN,  h_da Hochschule Darmstadt)

In this hub, we would like to explore the question of how universities can effectively contribute to inspiring people both at our universities and in their respective social environments to take concrete action in the sense of sustainable development. On the one hand, the focus will be on the extent to which a "sustainability communication bubble" needs to be overcome. On the other hand, concrete ideas will be developed on how universities can increasingly address new non-academic target groups directly in order to be more effective outside of academic target groups.

Give and take: Hubs absorb the expertise and creativity of participants and provide guidance and energy.

Hub 2

Sustainable procurement management at universities

Chair: Vivien Führ (agado Society for Sustainable Development).

Eco-social procurement is an effective tool for implementing sustainable development. Universities can make an important contribution with their buying power. Here we want to discuss how sustainable procurement management can work in universities, what opportunities and challenges eco-social procurement holds and what support needs there are on the part of the universities. In the context of a group work, we want to work out how the network wants to approach the area of procurement in the future.

Hub 3

Biodiversity management of universities

Chair: Prof. Dr. Remmer Sassen (DG HochN, Dresden University of Technology)

Universities can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity by turning their campus into a living laboratory for species conservation and climate adaptation in order to prevent environmental damage caused, for example, by urbanization. Therefore, we want to discuss how universities can take a pioneering role and collect good examples of how to bring biodiversity­friendly projects to campus and raise awareness for biodiversity.

Hub 4

Equal opportunities at universities - innovation potential for ESD

Chair: Prof. Dr. Magdalène Lévy-Tödter (DG HochN, KCN Competence Center for Sustainable Development of the FOM University)

In this Hub, we will share innovative teaching and consulting formats that are currently being developed and implemented at universities in the context of diversity projects.

Established by the Kassel Institute for Sustainability, UniKasselTransfer/ SDGplus Lab and the Green Office of the University of Kassel.

Hub 5

Networks Hub: University networks on sustainability at German universities

Chair: Coco Klussmann (Dresden University of Technology)

Here, the networks will exchange information about their current main topics as well as their work. The idea is on the one hand to make the local networks visible, to strengthen them and on the other hand to motivate/initiate further networks, since higher education policy is a matter for the federal states and a bundling of competences and exchange with other stakeholder groups can have strong effects locally.     

After online meetings, we now continue our series in persona here! In the World Café we will gather how the topics of funding, public relations, contact/involvement HS leadership, connection to politics are handled differently and discuss them.

Emergence: In Hubs, the framework is created for new things to emerge co-creatively.

Hub 6

ESD in university teaching

Chair: Prof. (em.) Dr. Ingrid Hemmer (DG HochN)

At the beginning, the structure of a digital advanced training in higher education didactics will be presented in a keynote speech. It will be explained which foundations it builds on, which elements it includes, which competencies it aims to promote and what effect it has had. Subsequently, further experiences with advanced training courses will be exchanged. Afterwards, the new portal "BNE Lehre konkret" will be presented, which can support university teachers in integrating ESD into their teaching.

Hub 7

Walking transformation paths together. The BMBF project traNHSform in exchange with our network.

Chair: Dr. Bror Giesenbauer, Claudia Pietsch, Julia Twachtmann, Carla Wemken (DG HochN).

We are all on the path of transformation pathways to a more sustainable future. In the BMBF project traNHSform , DG HochN, in cooperation with the German Rectors' Conference (HRK) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research Karlsruhe (ISI), is accompanying ten collaborative projects on their transformation paths to more sustainable universities - with an eye to networking, creating synergies, sharing best practices and paving the way for future projects. To open the space to all, we would like to present the traNHSform project in this Hub and discuss with participants where paths cross and can be shared.

Hub 8

Understanding resistance to sustainability in universities - a systemic visualization

Chair: Prof. Dr. Georg Müller-Christ (DG HochN, University of Bremen)

There is a lot of talk about sustainability in higher education institutions, nevertheless the movements towards a more sustainable development in higher education institutions are very slow. Georg Müller-Christ visualizes in a systemic constellation with the participants why it is so difficult in universities to give the topic of sustainability so much importance that substantial changes can be made. Through the systemic visualization, the participants learn to better understand the university system and recognize their own possibilities for action.

Since its foundation in 1971, the University of Kassel has had a historically grown focus on sustainability in research and teaching. In all departments, professorships with close links to sustainability are conducting research; both in the technical and natural sciences as well as in the humanities and social sciences, key aspects of sustainability are being addressed. Since 2022, the broad range of research and teaching related to ecological, economic and social sustainability has been bundled at the Kassel Institute for Sustainability, the new scientific center of the University of Kassel. In addition to the Kassel Institute for Sustainability, a profile-forming transfer laboratory will be established: the SDG+ Lab. The main pillars of the SDG+ Lab are new methods of research and development with society, dialogue, consulting, and the piloting and anchoring of solutions. The Green Office was set up for sustainability development in the University of Kassel's operations. The Green Office acts as a hub for sustainability and links all areas and members of the university and has the task of advancing the sustainable development of operational processes as a cross-departmental and cross-institutional task.