SDGs Symposium 2025 – Tackling Inequalities for Sustainability and Wellbeing

  • Date：
    Sat, Feb 08, 2025
  • Time：
    10:00-13:00(JST) Symposium
    13:10-15:10(JST) Student poster session, Networking event
  • Location：
    Onsite participants : Ichijo Hall, The University of Tokyo, Yayoi 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 Vision Bridge, LLC 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.
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Overview

The 2025 SDGs Symposium will explore how to understand and tackle inequalities to achieve sustainability and wellbeing.
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 sustainability, wellbeing 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

  • 10:00-10:10
    Opening Remarks

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

    Antoine Bocquet
    (Managing Director, Springer Nature Japan)

  • 10:10-10:50
    Keynote

    [Keynote 1]
    Sawako Shirahase
    (Project Professor, The University of Tokyo; Senior Vice-Rector, United Nations University)

    [Keynote 2]
    Magdalena Skipper
    (Editor-in-Chief, Nature, Chief Editorial Advisor, Nature Portfolio)

  • 10:50-11:25

    [Plenary 1]
    Shunsuke Managi
    (Distinguished Professor, Kyushu University)

    [Plenary 2]
    Yasushi Ishihara
    (President, Tsukuba University of Technology)

    [Plenary 3]
    Etsuko Yamaguchi
    (Executive Director, Japanese Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP))

  • 11:25-11:40
    Break
  • 11:40-12:50
    Panel Discussion (with all keynote and plenary speakers)

    Moderator: Takane Ito
    (Director and Project Professor, Center for the Coproduction of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (IncluDE), The University of Tokyo)

  • 12:50-13:00
    Closing Remarks

    Teruo Fujii
    (President, The University of Tokyo)

Networking event

  • 13:10-15:10
    Networking event

    Student poster session　

Contact

Secretariat of SDGs Symposium 2025
E-mail: sdgs2025★supportoffice.jp(★→@)

The University of Tokyo held jointly with Springer Nature a symposium on the interface of Inequality and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 8 February 2025. This was the sixth SDGs Symposium by the University of Tokyo and Springer Nature, following five symposia in 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Based on past decisions, there has been a shift in the SDGs focus for each symposium. The 2025 symposium focused on “Gender Equality” (SDG5), “Reduced Inequalities” (SDG10) and “Partnerships for the Goals” (SDG17), and their intersections with other SDGs. This reflected the consensus between the organizing teams that the pervasive and emerging inequalities observed globally have important ramifications for sustainability and human wellbeing. Income, gender, age, race, ethnicity or disability are only some of the dimensions of inequality that create such risks and must be tackled to ensure that we transition to a truly sustainable future. In this context, there are growing calls to develop and implement inclusive knowledge and actions to reduce inequalities for the benefit of individuals, societies, and the planet as a whole. Transformative actions seeking to reduce inequalities would require transdisciplinary research to shape conversations within academic communities and wider public.

To reflect these realizations, the 2025 SDGs Symposium brought together leading researchers working on different aspects at the interface of inequalities, sustainability and wellbeing. There was special attention to inclusivity among the speakers in terms of disciplines, affiliation, and gender.

378 participants from around the world attended the 2025 SDGs Symposium. A basic breakdown of the participants shows that 110 attended in person, and 268 online from 28 countries. Approximately 70% of the online audience joined from Japan and 30% from other countries. Some of the best represented countries include India (15 participants), Philippines (11 participants), Indonesia (9 participants), Pakistan (6 participants), and United States (5 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)