From the 7th to the 9th of March 2023, the World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS) in partnership with the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), the World University Consortium (WUC), UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Black Sea Universities Network (BSEC) are organising an international conference in an online format whose central focus will fall on Education for Human Security (E4HS).
Today, the concept of “security” can no longer strictly refer to national or military security; it must encompass all aspects of human well-being: health, nutrition, jobs, living standards, education, public trust and social tolerance. “Human security” is a broad conceptual approach that can be applied to development policies in all areas; one which, critically, involves placing people at the centre of any development project. With the potential to become a universal reference point for effective future development strategies, such an integrated approach – a unifying theme and force that serves as a central frame of reference to enhance the effectiveness of a wide range of high-priority social objectives – can accelerate positive action to address future threats such as pandemics and climate change, to coordinate and accelerate the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and to strengthen multilateral cooperation.
Building upon the finding that human security concepts are insufficiently addressed across the existing system of university education, the international conference on “Education for Human Security” will debate reconceptualizing the structure of higher education to better address current challenges to human security around the world. Featuring presentations from a range of world-renowned actors in supranational and non-governmental organisations, academia and business, the conference’s twenty thematic panels, running in parallel over the three days of the event, will each address the educational specificities of the most important university majors today. Interventions on tertiary education in the pure sciences, in the humanities, economics, law, health, arts and geoclimate (among others) will give rise to a series of recommendations (expected to be later collected in a volume of proceedings) whose common denominators will delineate a new paradigm for the changes needed to arrive at an academic pathway predicated upon the foundations of human security – a pathway that also responds to the demands of a labour market in constant flux as a result of technological developments and the climatic imperatives facing not only the world of today, but also the world of the future. In the view of the conference organisers, effective education must include the principles of Human Security, so necessary for the survival and sustainable development of each individual, and of global society as a whole.
The conference is the sixth high-level meeting organised by the World Academy of Art & Science on the Future of Education, following those held at the University of California (2013), Rome (2015), Rio de Janeiro (2017), Belgrade (2019) and online (in 2021). This time, it comes in support of the global Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign spearheaded by the World Academy of Art & Science alongside the UN Human Security Fund and other international partners.
Access to the event will be subject to completion of the registration form, available here.
