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. The opening and closing events of day 2 is now full. Stream the morning session here (vimeo.com) from 9.15 am. The parallell sessions in part II generally do not require registration – please check details under each event. The official hashtag of the conference is #sdgconference2026
Part I The future is here!
The significance of place-based and inter-generational partnership for sustainability and social transformation in education and lifelong learning (streamed session, open for public. Please note: Physical attendance for Part I is now closed). Stream the morning session here (vimeo.com) from 9.15 am.
8.30 am Registration and coffee in Vrimle, Deichman Bjørvika.
9.15 am Opening by dance crew Subsdans.
Part 1 From frustration to passion: Opening by master of ceremony Christian Landbo Olesen (OsloMet).
9.30 am Talk by Mariann Youmans (Deichman): «Shaping the Future: Transformation Through Youth Initiative, Engagement, and Empowerment»
9.40 am Talk by Minttu Jaakkola (House of Hope and Science, Helsinki): «Puistokatu 4- Where Science and Hope Drive Cultural Change».
9.55 am Dialogue between Mariann Youmans, Minttu Jaakkola, and Joseph Sinamenye, Åse Tverre, Daniela Blum-Miljanic from Deichman Urådand, Nawail Butt (Uråd alumni), with interaction by audience. Moderated by Sigurd Klev from Deichman Uråd.
10.15 am Break
10.30 am Part 2: Cross-generational engagement and collaboration for transformative change, intro by master of ceremony Christian Landbo Olesen (OsloMet).
10.35 am Talk by Darren Axe (Students Organizing for Sustainability International): «Mobilizing collaborative structures in higher education for sustainable development».
10.40 am Talk by Julia Giæver (Den grønne studentbevegelsen/The green student movement): «Mobilizing students towards climate action – and the importance of having fun doing so»
10.45 Discussion by students and employees engaged in sustainability work at and beyond campus: Fanny Blindern Myhre (Green office UiO), Katrina Hjermann (Green Office NTNU), Hedda Olsen (Sustainability Pilot UiB), Ingeli Engebretsen Mortensen (former Sustainability officer for NMBUs student board), Victoria Skogsletten Dalen (President of Student Parliament OsloMet), moderated by Yosef Ihdego (Student Parliament OsloMet). Followed by Q&A with the audience.
11.15 am Lunch and end of streaming.
Part II The future is sustainable!
11.45 am-16.30 pm Parallel self-organised sessions at Deichmann Bjørvika, in Oslo and other university cities in Norway:
Civil society organisations, teacher and student unions, neighbourhood incubators, university “satellites” and many more explore and share insights on the mighty power of joining forces.
Part III The future is now!
Closing event (physical attendance, no streaming, registration closed). The event is on the top floor (5. etasje) of the Deichman Bjørvika library, in the area called Kringsjå. Welcome!
4.30 pm Registration, finger food and (non-alcoholic) welcome drinks in Kringsjå, on the 5. floor of Deichman Bjørvika.
5 pm Welcome by Master of Ceremony Carl Christian Thodesen, prorector for social impact and collaboration (OsloMet)
Dance performance and talk by:
Diego Antonio Marin Bucio, Doctoral Research Fellow, RITMO Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Rhythm, Time and Motion, University of Oslo.
Dancing Embryo is a dance duet between a human and an AI. The dancer moves alongside the avatar, while the AI generates its own movements influenced by the human performance, forming a kinematic relationship that exists only in the act of dancing. The work embraces the fragility of technology, showcasing the tense and unpredictable entrainment between human and AI motion rhythms. It invites us to question what it means to dance with someone, to reconsider the concept of the body, and to examine how shared creation emerges between a sentient and a non-sentient dancer. Concept and performance by Diego Marín, AI development by Benedikte Wallace, Sound supervision by Pedro Lucas-Bravo.
Premiered 8 October 2022 at Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (Cambridge University). One Dance UK Awards 2022 shortlisted nominee.
5.25 pm Panel discussion «AI and Caring Futures: Creativity, Learning and Empowerment with:
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 (Distributed AI Research Institute) and Professor Alexander Refsum Jensenius (University of Oslo, Professor and Director of MishMash Centre for AI and Creativity). Moderated by Birgitte Aga, Head of innovation & research at MUNCH.
6.05 pm Break
6.15 pm Presentation of results from the Futures Literacy Lab.
6.35 pm Conversation between Future Literacy expert Riel Miller and producer and curator of Future Library (2014–2114) Anne Beate Hovind.
We end the evening with the announcement of the topic and host of SDG Conference 2027.
7 pm The official program of the SDG Conference 2026 is over, but the engagement continues – check out the conference resources (coming).
22 pm Deichman Bjørvika Library closes.