Professors from the world's leading universities gave plenary presentations at the international conference organised for the first time by Széchenyi István University, covering the full spectrum of sustainability. At the scientific event, the institution's academics and researchers presented their research in several sessions.

Today it is clear that sustainability is a key issue of our time - and one of the strategic goals of Széchenyi István University is to promote this through its education and research. The English-language conference organised by the institution's Sustainability Competence Centre, with the participation of renowned international professors, was part of this process. Through this prestigious scientific event, the University encouraged researchers from different disciplines to share their knowledge, experience and innovative solutions to address the challenges of sustainability.

The conference was held at the Management Campus of Széchenyi István University with great attendance (Photo: András Adorján)

At the opening ceremony of the event, Prof. Dr. Ferenc Friedler, Rector and Vice President for Academic Research at Széchenyi University, said:

"in today's world, sustainability is one of the most important aspects to consider for our future.

"From a research perspective, sustainability is highly interdisciplinary. The title of the conference is therefore simply 'Conference on Sustainability', without any restriction on the subject matter," he stressed.

Prof. Dr. Ferenc Friedler, Rector of the Széchenyi István University, Vice President for Academic Research (Photo: András Adorján)

Rafiqul Gani, research professor at Széchenyi University, said: humanity must find solutions that will allow  the long-term sustainability of human existence. Questions such as what energy sources we use, what products we produce, how we produce them and how they affect our environment need to be answered. He stressed the diversity of the event, as the programme touches on all aspects of sustainability, from legal, economic and social issues to health, IT, agriculture, engineering and architecture.

He added that the plenary sessions could launch a joint dialogue on the establishment of an international sustainability think tank.

Rafiqul Gani, Research Professor at Széchenyi Idtván University (Photo: András Adorján)

Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations of the institution, pointed out in her speech that most of the 168 papers submitted to the conference were submitted by the staff of the eight faculties of Széchenyi University.

"These publications are important not only for the development of scientific processes and research, but also for the benefit of society," she said.

She added: Széchenyi University considers internationalisation a strategic goal, as a result of which it now has almost a thousand international students from 77 countries, who can choose from forty English-language programmes.. She said that the institution has been ranked in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) world ranking for the third year running, while in the European ranking it is in the top 10% of the continent. In September this year, it was also included in the Times Higher Education (THE) world ranking, and its list of sustainability goals ranked it among the world's top 400 universities in several categories.

Dr Eszter Lukács, Vice President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations at Széchenyi István University (Photo: Máté Dudás)

The opening session was closed with a presentation by Venkat Venkatasubramanian, Professor of Economic Inequality and Sustainable Capitalism at Columbia University in New York. In addition, world-renowned professors from around the world shared their research with conference participants over the three days, including Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado (US Environmental Protection Agency), Seyed Soheil Mansouri (Technical University of Denmark) and Gonzalo Guillén Gosálbez (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich). As part of the programme, scientific discussions took place in eight sessions, with the participation of academics and researchers from the Széchenyi István University, among others.

Venkat Venkatasubramanian, Professor at Columbia University in New York (Photo: András Adorján)

The conference included a panel discussion on the conference (Photo: Máté Dudás)

Gonzalo Guillén Gosálbez (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and Rafiqul Gani, Research Professor at Széchenyi István University (Photo: András Adorján)

Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado (US Environmental Protection Agency) (Photo: András Adorján)

Seyed Soheil Mansouri, Professor at the Technical University of Denmark (Photo: Máté Dudás)