oikos Spring Meeting

For more information visit the website.

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oikos International

posted September 30, 2017

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oikos Winter School

More information can be found here: www.oikos-winterschool.org 

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oikos International

posted September 30, 2017

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Open Lecture: Youth and Society – How Youth Work facilitates Active Citizenship for Sustainability

Open Lecture at the University of St. Gallen

Youth and Society – How Youth Work facilitates Active Citizenship for Sustainability

Date: 11th of October, 2017

Time: 10:15 – 12:00

Location: University of St. Gallen, Dufourstrasse 50, 9000 St. Gallen

Room: Main Building, Hörsaal, 01-012

Young leaders in sustainability come together in St. Gallen

– for 30 years and counting

For 30 years, the student organisation oikos has been working towards more sustainable economic practices on and off university campuses. The organisation was founded at the University of St. Gallen in 1987 and has since then grown into an international network of 42 committed chapters, with 1200 active members. To celebrate the milestone of existing for three decades oikos is bringing together members of the community (active ones, as well as alumni and partners) for a series of events in the second week of October. The 30 year celebrations include the FutureLab, the annual international conference of the network (12th October), the oikos Conference on Sustainable Investment, organised by the St. Gallen chapter (13th October) and finally an Alumni Day (14th October).

Before the celebrations kick off a smaller, particularly committed group of oikos members comes together as part of the organisation’s leadership development project. LEAP is a participant-driven personal development program, designed to inspire young leaders to become more responsible in their decision-making and to equip them with the insights, knowledge and tools do so. Using methodologies of exploring, sharing-practicing and reflecting, it consists of five webinars with renown responsible leadership experts, such as Prof. Robert E. Quinn from the University of Michigan, seven peer-to-peer calls, six one-on-one coaching sessions, three written reflections and two on-site meetings over a period of nine months. The first of these two meetings will take place from the 7th to 11th October in Kreuzlingen, as a five day long workshop. Sponsored by Movetia, the LEAP Meeting will support the oikos members to refine the strategy of their chapters and develop essential leadership skills, such as active listening.

The meeting culminates in an open lecture at the University of St. Gallen, entitled Youth and Society – How Youth Work facilitates Active Citizenship for Sustainability. As a network leader in youth engagement for sustainability, oikos brings together organizations with a similar vision, including rootAbility, GRLI and National Union of Students – UK, to open up a conversation about the role of youth work in society at large. oikos formally invites members of the public to attend this lecture and join in in the discussion. It will take place 11th October 2017 at 10.15 at the University of St. Gallen (Main Building, Hörsaal, 01-012).

Moderator & Panelists:


 Chris Taylor Chris Taylor GRLI/Oasis Foundation

 Quinn Runkle Quinn RunkleEducation for sustainable development programme managerNational Union of Students UK

 Tim Strasser Tim StrasserTraining and WorkshopsrooAbility

Sponsored by:

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oikos International

posted September 25, 2017

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The Annual Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Meeting in Baku

The annual Central and Eastern Europe Regional (CEE) Meeting of oikos was organized and executed from the oikos chapter in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2017. It was held from September 7-10, 2017 under the topic of “Leadership in Sustainable Urbanization”, and was visited from members of other regions (for example, Northern Europe, Germany, and Iraq).

The meeting started in the afternoon of September 7th with a tour of Baku to get a feeling of the city’s atmosphere. It was held in a “treasure hunt” game-like fashion to increase the thrill. We saw the İçəri Şəhər, as the old city of Baku is called, the famous flame towers, and finished the tour at a viewing platform. After that, we had a vegetarian dinner—all the meals provided during the meeting were vegetarian—and went to a one-actor theatre performance at the ADO Theatre. The performance was about a human being’s impact in the world, accompanied by both Azerbaijani and international music. The main message of the performance was about plastic waste and the actor presented it in a very impressive and expressive way: the audience was left particularly moved and rendered thoughtful about their own impact on the environment.

On the 8th of September, we started with an opening ceremony, consisting of keynotes from Arzu Ahmadova (project manager of the CEE Meeting), Nurlan Jahangirli (president of oikos Baku), and Levani Pangani (president of oikos International). Three external speakers also presented at the event: Samir Gadirov, founder of the Green Baku initiative, who also likes riding bicycles and organizes respective tours throughout the Baku region; Orkhan Rajabov, leader of the Climate Change and Sustainability Services Department at Ernst&Young Azerbaijan; and Fuad Bagirov, CEO of Green Building Council Azerbaijan. Two parallel workshops were held during the day, intermitted by lunch and coffee breaks. Samir Gadirov talked about sustainable transportation in his workshop, while Fuad Bagirov led a workshop about the necessary harmony of social, economic and environmental development for the transition to a sustainable society. The day was completed by an expert talk about sustainable urbanization by Zulala Abdulazizova and her colleagues from Ernst&Young, also part of the Climate Change and Sustainability Services Department.

The 9th of September in Baku began with presentations and a panel discussion by the following speakers: Dr. Anar Valiyev, associate professor at the ADA University, Fuad Bagirov, who led a workshop on the day previous day, and Muslum Imranli, cofounder of PILLƏ, an architectural organization that works with sustainable architecture. Again, workshops followed; this time held by Dr. Anar Valiyev who addressed topics regarding urban sprawl, and by Fuad Jafarli, head of Urban Initiative Azerbaijan, who presented first a theoretical section, followed by a second, more practical and project-based section. The day finished with a closing and gratitude ceremony, and then a farewell party at night.

On the 10th of September, the grand finale of the 2017 oikos CEE meeting was an excursion to the paper recycling facility of Azersun Holding, the first recycling corporation in Azerbaijan. Besides the unique smell, it was very interesting to see how sustainability actually works in practice. The question of course remains if the amount of paper we use these days can even be sustainable and how recycling can contribute to a transition to a sustainable society.

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oikos International

posted September 15, 2017

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oikos Newsletter September 2017

As most of you know by now, we are very excited to celebrate the oikos 30th Anniversary from the 12th to the 14th of October in St. Gallen, Switzerland! Alumni still have a chance to register until the 30th of September for the Alumni Day. Read more about the Anniversary Celebration on our website.

In this Newsletter you can read about all that we have planned and organized for the 30thAnniversary events and celebration. You can find out how to apply to be a part of the oikos Executive Board 2018 and read about the truly international oikos LEAP Meeting, taking place from October 7th to the 11th in scenic Kreuzlingen, Switzerland. You can also learn about the oikos alumni meet in Paris on October 3rd. Lastly, in our “30 seconds with” section, meet Carlos Vargas and Stefano Ramelli, the two oikos PhD Fellows.

Enjoy the September edition of our newsletter and follow us on Twitter and Facebook to stay updated!

Happy Reading!

Read the whole Newsletter here.

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oikos International

posted September 8, 2017

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