Clear your calender for two full days of streamed and live sessions on the SDG Conference 2026 February 2 and 3. The program will be updated, more speakers to be announced.
Program Oslo City Hall Monday February 2
Streamed sessions from 10 am to 4.30 pm (check out speakers)
10 am Opening by Governing Mayor of Oslo Eirik Lae Solberg
Welcome talks by OsloMet rector Christen Krogh, leader of The National Union of Students in Norway (NSO) Sigve Næss Rødvold
Session 1 Futures: What is at stake?
The world is presently facing many critical cross-roads and diverse future scenarios. Some of these scenarios might lead to disastrous consequences and others might lead to major societal transformations that help to secure more sustainable futures. The future scenarios will be driven by current trends, and there are currently many diverse trends that could either facilitate us or derail us in taking a more transformative trajectory. How do we become proactive towards the futures we want/need?
Keynote by Future Literacy scholar Riel Miller, followed by a conversation between Ammal Haj Ahmed Mohamed (PEN Norway) and Thais Alfaro Sandoval from Students at Risk/The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund (SAIH).
Session 2 Education: What are the consequences?
What are the roles and relationship of education in these uncertain paths to more sustainable and more desirable future(s)? What has been education’s impacts on international development and has it previously been complicit in replicating business-as-usual approaches? And how could we reorient education into provide more transformative roles where learning becomes a mechanism for business-as-unusual. Quality education and education for sustainable development are intricately linked together in the context of education that is meaningful and relevant within the contexts and challenges of the 21st Century. How do education systems and higher education institutions specifically support a process in which we learn, think, understand and act differently?
Keynote 1 by Professor Karen Mundy, followed by a conversation with Professor in Education Halla Holmarsdottir and Professor Daniella Tilbury.
Keynote 2 by Daniella Tilbury.
Session 3 Solidarity: Why, how and with who are we engaging in partnerships?
What are challenges in solidarity/partnerships and how to overcome them? What is needed for partnerships to change institutional practices? What does it take for partnerships to have an impact on / transformative change in institutional practices? How to go beyond outdated models of development – and how can we secure reciprocity in north-south partnerships?
Speakers Alasdair Sinclair, Nadia Rathje, leader of SAIH Henriette Reierson Johnstone.
Session 4 Collaborative Transformation: Sustainability beyond 2030?
As a result of eroding trust in multilateral collaboration and increased geo-political tension, the world is at a very different place than when the SDGs were adopted in 2015. In this session we ask what role the higher education sector can play in the post-2030 agenda and how universities can successfully integrate long-term sustainability concerns in a society where other topics are competing for public attention and political priority. Even though Norway has a self-image of being a sustainability leader and a much stronger economy than most countries in the world, we see that young people are less concerned about global warming and nature loss than just a few years ago. What can we do to turn these trends into a renewed collective effort for a just and sustainable world?
Keynotes Noah Sobe (Unesco) and Professor Arjen Wals (Wageningen University), in conversation with Pro-Rector for Outreach and Social Responsibility Monica Rolfsen (NTNU), followed by a panel discussion between rector NMBU Solve Sæbø, rector OsloMet Christen Krogh, rector Kristiania University of Applied Sciences Trine Johansen Meza, student representative Cinta Asmara Hondsmerk (OsloMet), leader of NSO Sigve Næss Røtvold and member of Parliament in The Standing Comittee on Energy and the Environment Frøya Skjold Sjursæther (Green Party).
5 pm Reception in the City Hall (by invitation only, no streaming), welcome by Mayor of Oslo Anne Lindboe
7 pm End of official program Day 1
8 pm Student Nach – panel debate organised by NSO, at Oslo Metropolitan University
Program Deichman Bjørvika Tuesday February 3
This day will be future-oriented, with an emphasis on how we can meet the global polycrisis through partnerships, place-based engagement and future literacy. Register for day 2 here.
8.30 am Registration and coffee
9 am Part I The future is here! The significance of place-based partnership for sustainability and social transformation in education and lifelong learning (streamed session, open for public).
Speakers: Mariann Youmans (Deichman Bjørvika), Deichman Bjørvika Ungråd, Minttu Jaakkola (House of Science and Hope).
Conversation between Green Office University of Oslo, Green Office NTNU, and President of the Student Parliament OsloMet Victoria Skogsletten Dalen (more speakers tbc). Moderated by Josef Igabo, Student Parliament OsloMet.
11 am Part II The future is sustainable! Civil society organisations, teacher and student unions, neighbourhood incubators, university “satellites” and many more is encouraged to explore and share insights on the mighty power of joining forces. Parallel self-organised sessions at Deichmann Bjørvika, in Oslo and other university cities in Norway (see call). Detailed program will be announced in January.
4.30 pm Part III The future is now! Closing event (open for public, registration tba)
Panel discussion «AI and Caring Futures: Creativity, Learning and Empowerment» (working title) with future literacy expert Riel Miller, Professor Barbara Wasson (University of Bergen, member of the committee on artificial intelligence in higher education, head of the AI centre ‘Empowerment for Human Learning’, 2025-2030), Dr. Adio-Adet Dinika (DAIR Institute) and Professor Alexander Refsum Jensenius (UiO, head of “Center for AI & Creativity”, 2025-2030). More speakers to be announced.
The learning points from the conference and the Future Literacy Lab will be discussed and summarized, before the announcement of the topic and host of SDG Conference 2027.
7.00 pm The official program of the SDG Conference 2026 is over, but the engagement continues – check out the conference resources (coming)