Beyond Boundaries Session 1: Sustainability in a COVID-19 world

The 1987 Brundtland Report ‘Our Common Future’ developed guiding principles for sustainable development, providing the basis for the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals and the current 15-year programme of interconnected Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 2015-2030.

Within this, 2020 signals the beginning of the UN SDGs ‘decade of action’ on the 17 goals and 169 ambitious targets set out in 2015. However, as we entered this year, COVID-19 presented a new threat to global civilisation and highlighted the need to focus on interconnected solutions to global inequalities and challenges, particularly beyond boundaries. Our purpose throughout this virtual conference is to strengthen the collective SDG movement and to look to the future, beyond, or living with, COVID-19.

The opening session, focusing on Sustainability in a COVID-19 World, will introduce the conference and set the scene for a two-week series of events. This session will consider in more detail sustainability in the context of COVID-19 and the stark inequalities that have been highlighted and exacerbated by the pandemic.

The conference will be introduced by UCL President & Provost, Professor Michael Arthur, with welcome and introductions from Professor Dame Hazel Genn, UCL Vice-Provost International & Advancement, and Professor David Price, UCL Vice-Provost Research. The session will be co-chaired by Professor Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in Economics of Innovation and Public Value, Director of UCL’s Institute of Innovation & Public Purpose and Professor Anthony Costello, Chair of the UCL Global Health and Sustainable Development, Institute for Global Health. A keynote opening presentation will be given by Professor Jacquie McGlade, Professor of Natural Prosperity, Sustainable Development and Knowledge Systems at UCL’s Institute for Global Prosperity. The Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, will give a live response before going into an extended panel discussion with panel members including Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Town; Dr Sunita Narain, Director of the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi; and Dr David Nabarro, Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London and Special Envoy of WHO Director-General on COVID-19.

Questions to be addressed include:

• How can we build and sustain a just and sustainable planet impacted by a pandemic that has caused individuals and nations to turn away from global connectedness?

• How can the value of gender equality and inclusivity be demonstrated as necessary conditions for sustainable development?

• How can education and strengthening of university institutions in LMICs help the world to achieve the 2030 goals?

• How can expertise and innovation in LMICs lead the way in pathways to SDG success?

• How can national or global mobilization of resources to fight the COVID-19 pandemic inform actions to accelerate SDG progress?

We are excited for you to join us for this important agenda-setting discussion, with a unique assembly of distinguished speakers

Speakers

Co-Chair: Professor Mariana Mazzucato

Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value, UCL

Professor Mariana Mazzucato is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at UCL, where she is Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP). She is author of The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths (2013) and The Value of Everything: making and taking in the global economy (2018).

Co-Chair: Professor Anthony Costello

Chair of Global Health and Sustainable Development, Institute for Global Health, UCL

Anthony has worked as an NHS doctor, as Director of the Institute for Global Health at UCL, and as Director of the department of maternal, child and adolescent health at the World Health Organisation. He is a co-chair of the Lancet Countdown for Climate Action and Health, and author of The Social Edge: The Science of Sympathy Groups for Health, Wealth and a Sustainable Future.

Keynote: Professor Jacqueline McGlade

Professor of Resilience and Sustainable Development, UCL

Professor Jacqueline McGlade is Professor of Natural Prosperity, Sustainable Development and Knowledge Systems at the Institute for Global Prosperity, UCL, Frank Jackson Professor of the Environment at Gresham College, Professor of Public Policy and Governance at Strathmore University Business School, Kenya, and Lead Scientist at the British Institute in Eastern Africa, Kenya. Previously she was UN Environment’s Chief Scientist, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency and Director of the UK Centre for Coastal and Marine Sciences.

Rt Hon. Helen Clark

Former New Zealand Prime Minister and a former UNDP Administrator

Rt Hon. Helen Clark is a former New Zealand Prime Minister and a Former UNDP Administrator. She currently Chairs the Boards of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health. Helen also serves on other public good Advisory Boards. Helen is a frequent contributor to Conferences, and events, on issues related to Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Women’s Leadership.

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng

Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town

Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng PhD(Wits), Hon DSc (Bristol), MASSAf, GCOB, FAAS, is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town and former deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation, and holds a PhD in Mathematics Education (Wits). She is the winner of the Order of the Baobab (Silver, 2016), named most influential woman academic in Africa (CEO Magazine, 2014), member of the board of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls and founder of Adopt-a-learner Foundation.

Dr Sunita Narain

Director General of the Center for Science and Environment

Dr Sunita Narain is a Delhi-based environmentalist and author. She is currently the Director General of Center for Science and Environment, and Editor of the magazine Down To Earth. Dr Narain was a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change and still plays an active role in policy formulation on issues of environment and development in India and globally.

Dr David Nabarro

Co-Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation, Imperial College London

David Nabarro is Co-Director and Chair of Global Health at Imperial’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, Strategic Director of the Swiss-based social enterprise 4SD and Special Envoy of WHO Director-General on COVID-19. In 2015, he was appointed by the Director-General of WHO as Chair of the expert group on the reform of the WHO’s work on outbreaks and emergencies.

Joining instructions

· Click on the link: https://app.sli.do/event/pjmqdo73

· Alternatively, go to sli.do (https://www.sli.do/) and enter the event code BBSession1.

You can also join the discussion on Twitter @UCL_SDGs and follow for updates.

All sessions will include subtitles or closed-captioning in English. All video recordings and presentation materials will be made available after the event. If you have any accessibility requirements, please do not hesitate to contact beyondboundaries@ucl.ac.uk