Programme
View the updated full programme and agenda.
Wednesday, 9 May
Opening plenary
8:30-10:30
- The UN Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR): knowledge for transformations between global challenges and local realities
- How will Africa meet the SDGs – what are key challenges and opportunities?
- The SDGs in Africa: important tensions, contradictions and opportunities
Refreshment break
10:30-11:00
Parallel Session: Digital futures in Africa: science, policy and action
11:00-12:30
- Harnessing the 4th Industrial revolution to advance the SDGs in Africa (Plenary room)
- Data governance in SDGs in Africa: Principles and steward-ship (Breakout room D1)
- Evidence-informed implementation of the SDGs: Challenges and opportunities (Breakout room D2)
Lunch, Featuring a panel discussion on SDGs and the private sector
12:30-14:00 (Plenary room)
Parallel Session: Seeding sustainability I: pathways for change
14:00-15:30
- Pathways to sustainable land systems: land as the nexus for optimising co-benefits of SDG interactions (Wood room)
- A call for ethically grounded transdisciplinary approach for aquatic ecosystem health research and management (Breakout room D1)
- Transforming African food systems to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security (Breakout room D2)
- Shaping sustainable urban futures in Africa through a proactive science-practice- policy interface (Plenary room)
Refreshment break, Featuring Art in the Seedbeds conference
15:30-16:00
Plenary
16:00-17:00
- Transformations towards a more sustainable future in Africa: Perspectives from UNECA ‘Road map’, from Day 1 to Day 2 of Seedbeds
- Introducing the SDG labs concept (Lunch venue C1)
Panel
17:00-18:00
Global Sustainable Development Report 2019: the role of science in translating global governance into regional policy (Lunch venue C1)
Conference dinner; Featuring FameLab National Finals
18:30-21:00 (Plenary room)
Thursday, 10 May
Plenary
8:30-9:30
Recent IPBES Assessments: a report from the front lines
Parallel Session: Seeding sustainability II: Pathways for change
9:30-11:00
- The potential of ecosystem-based adaptation approaches in supporting transformational change (Wood room)
- Supporting regional ocean planning in the Northern Mozambique Channel (Breakout room D2)
- Methods-lab on knowledge co-production: learning from African cases (Breakout room D1)
- Regime shifts: how changes in the structure and function of social-ecological systems could undermine the potential for achieving the SDGs (Plenary room)
Refreshment break
11:00-11:30
Parallel Session: Power and equity dimensions of the SDGs
11:30-13:00
- How power relations affect vulnerable groups, understanding critical intersections in cities (Wood room)
- Innovations in transgressive social learning for social ecological sustainability in times of climate change (TLearning) (Breakout room D1)
- Poverty discourse, policy, practice, and development in Africa: Traversing critical challenges (Breakout room D2)
- Things are not as they seem: Exploring tense links between SDGs (Plenary room)
Lunch
13:00-14:15
Plenary
14:15-15:45
An African perspective on ‘dancing’ with tensions, contradictions and opportunities in the implementation of the SDGs. Part 1 – Exploring and mapping the space (Plenary, Breakout rooms D1 and D2, and Wood room)
Refreshment break
15:45-16:15
Plenary
16:15-17:30
An African perspective, Part 1 continued.
Evening cocktail mixer – Reflections from early career change makers
17:45-19:00
Friday, 11 May
Plenary
8:30-9:00
Introducing the Transformations Forum ‘Road map’, from Day 2 to Day 3
Parallel Session: Seeding sustainability III: pathways for change
9:00-10:30
- Exploring futures methods for creating transformative spaces: visions of a good Anthropocene in southern Africa (Plenary room)
- Collaborative long-term research at the interface: a catalyst for transformational change towards sustainability in Africa (Breakout room D1)
- Exploring the potential of renewable energy technologies to avoid conventional (centralized- utility) energy development models in Africa and its implications for the SDGs (Breakout room D2)
Refreshment break
10:30-11:00
Parallel Session: Joining the dots – connecting and collaborating
11:00-12:30
- How can research networks of the Future Earth framework effectively contribute to implementation of the SDGs in Africa? (Breakout room D1)
- SDG Labs: Applying innovative approaches to addressing sustainability challenges (Breakout room D2)
- Art and imagination in transformational processes (Plenary room)
Lunch
12:30-13:45
Plenary
13:45-15:30
An African perspective on ‘dancing’ with tensions, contradictions and opportunities in the implementation of the SDGs. Part 2 – From mapping to reflections and action Sense-making: Hearing and responding to tensions, contradictions and opportunities (Plenary, Breakout rooms D1 and D2, and Wood room)
Refreshment break
15:30-16:00
Plenary
16:00-16:30
An African perspective, Part 2 continued.
Closing session: Art and transformations
16:30-17:45 (Plenary room)
Saturday, 12 May
Global Sustainable Development Report Consultations of Multi-stakeholders in Africa
(by invitation only)