SDGs Symposium 2024 – Planetary health for Sustainability: Towards transformative solutions for a Healthy Planet

  • Date：
    Tue, Feb 27, 2024
  • Time：
    14:30-17:40(JST) Symposium
    17:50-19:30(JST) Student poster session, Networking event
  • Location：
    Onsite participants : Sanjo Conference Hall Main Conference Room, The university of Tokyo, Hongo campus
    Online participants : Zoom webinar
  • Co-sponsor：

    Springer Nature
    The University of Tokyo

  • Language：

    English
    (simultaneous Japanese translation)

  • Application：

    Registration free
    Pre-registration required. Click on the link below to register.

    Springer Nature Website
    (External Link)

    Privacy Policy
    The information collected through this registration will be managed by Institute for Future Initiatives,the University of Tokyo and Springer Nature Japan K.K. as symposium organizers and Prime International Co.,Ltd. as the symposium’s secretariat.
    This information will be used to send and disseminate invitations for future events and information. It will also be used to promote and improve the symposium activities.
    This data will not be disclosed to any third parties except when required by law to disclose information.

Overview

The 2024 SDGs Symposium will explore these intersections between planetary health and sustainability.
We wish to take this opportunity to invite renowned researchers from Japan and abroad, as well as students and early career researchers, working at this interface of planetary health and SDGs.
Our aim is to actively discuss how this research can explain these multifaceted phenomena and develop equitable solutions with high societal relevance and impact.

Program

SDGs Symposium

  • 14:30-14:40
    Opening Remarks

    Kensuke Fukushi
    (Director and Professor, Institute for Future Initiatives (IFI), The University of Tokyo)

    Antoine Bocquet
    (Managing Director, Springer Nature Japan)

  • 14:40-15:20
    Keynote

    【Keynote 1】
    Chiho Watanabe
    (Professor and Executive Advisor to the President (Planetary Health), Nagasaki University)

    【Keynote 2】
    Magdalena Skipper
    (Editor-in-Chief, Nature, Chief Editorial Advisor, Nature Portfolio)

  • 15:20-16:05

    【Plenary 1】
    Yoonhee Kim
    (Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo)

    【Plenary 2】
    Nobuo Nishi
    (Dean and Professor, St. Luke’s International University)

    【Plenary 3】
    Saori Kashima
    (Associate Professor, Hiroshima University)

    【Plenary 4】
    Emiko Nishimura
    (Director, Global Health Team, Japan International Cooperation Agency(JICA))

  • 16:05-16:20
    Break
  • 16:20-17:30
    Panel Discussion (with all keynote and plenary speakers)

    Moderator:
    Fumiko Kasuga (Professor, Nagasaki University)

  • 17:30-17:40
    Closing Remarks

    Teruo Fujii
    (President, The University of Tokyo)

Networking event

  • 17:50-19:30
    Networking event

    Student poster session　

Contact

Secretariat of SDGs Symposium 2024
E-mail: sdg_sympo2024★pco-prime.com(★→@)

The University of Tokyo held jointly with Springer Nature a symposium on the interface of Planetary Health and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 27 February 2024. This was the fifth SDGs Symposium by the University of Tokyo and Springer Nature, following four symposia in 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Based on past decisions, there has been a shift in the SDGs focus for each symposium. The 2024 symposium focused on “Good Health and Wellbeing” (SDG3) and its intersections with other SDGs. This reflected the consensus between the organizing teams that rapid environmental change observed globally has important ramifications for human and ecosystem health and sustainability. In this context, there are growing calls to develop and implement inclusive actions to transform human activities for the benefit of human and ecosystem health. Such examples include dietary change and food system transformation to achieve healthy diets, but also mitigate climate change, reduce pollution and curb biodiversity loss. Such transformative actions require transdisciplinary research to shape conversations within academic communities and the wider public.

To reflect these realizations, the 2024 SDGs Symposium brought together leading researchers in Japan working on different aspects at the interface of environmental change, public health, and sustainability. There was special attention to inclusivity among the speakers in terms of disciplines, affiliation, gender, and stage of the career.

Of the 1134 registered participants, 591 participants from around the world attended the 2024 SDGs Symposium. A basic breakdown of the participants shows that 71 attended in person, and 520 attended online from 49 countries. Approximately 70% of the online audience joined from Japan and 30% from other countries. Some of the best represented countries include India (34 participants), Nigeria (12 participants), Pakistan (8 participants), and China and Malaysia (each 7 participants). Beyond academic and research institutions, many participants were affiliated with the private sector, government agencies, and civil society, suggesting the transdisciplinary appeal of the event. A large number of registrants were students and early career researchers, though the actual numbers that attended cannot be estimated accurately with the information tracked during the event.
*For the full report, please see below.

Event report / UTokyo FOCUS
(external link)