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About us
Swissnex
The Swiss global network for education, research and innovation
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Discover
Swissnex
The Swiss global network for education, research and innovation
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Our work
Swissnex
The Swiss global network for education, research and innovation
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Our impact
Swissnex
The Swiss global network for education, research and innovation
- Global Reach
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Swissnex
The Swiss global network for education, research and innovation
We have reached a breaking point. As the climate crisis worsens and the latest science on planetary boundaries sheds light on the fundamental limits of the Earth system, the intellectual world is on the edge of a paradigm shift. A growing body of researchers, innovators, and artists are tearing down established ideas to make space for new ways of thinking about our relationship with the planet. These perspectives challenge the human-centric ethos of progress that has characterized modernity, emphasizing instead our interdependence with Earth’s myriad other beings and processes, from aquatic ecosystems to soil-dwelling microbes to atmospheric aerosols.
In 2024, Swissnex Day, Swissnex’s signature annual event, puts the spotlight on these emerging forms of planetary thinking. Bringing Swissnex representatives from around the world to Bern on 24 April, it features speakers from a wide range of sectors and disciplines, all working towards a future in which humans and their non-human neighbors can thrive together within planetary boundaries.
Program
- 1:30pm – Registration
- 2:00pm – Welcome remarks
- 2:05pm – Keynote
- 2:15pm – Panel discussion
- 2:45pm – Lightning talks
- 3:10pm – Closing remarks
- 3:20pm – Networking apéro
- 6:00pm – Event ends
iCal / Outlook
Event start time
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India
5:00PM -
Japan
8:30PM -
Boston
7:30AM -
Brazil
8:30AM -
China
7:30PM -
San Francisco
4:30AM -
Switzerland
1:30PM
Keynote Speaker
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Bio
Thomas Stocker
University of BernThomas Stocker is President of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and Professor of Climate and Environmental Physics at the University of Bern. He has authored or co-authored more than 260 peer-reviewed papers in the areas of climate dynamics and paleoclimate modeling and reconstruction. After more than 10 years of service in the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) he was elected Co-Chair of its Working Group I for the period 2008 to 2015. Produced during this time, IPCC’s report “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis” provided the scientific foundation for the Paris Agreement. Thomas Stocker received numerous awards for his work, including two honorary doctorates from ETH Zurich and the University of Versailles, as well as the Swiss Science Prize Marcel Benoist. He is a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the German Academy Leopoldina, and the Italian Accademia dei Lincei.
Virtual Remarks
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Bio
Adil Najam
WWF & Boston UniversityAdil Najam is the President of WWF International and a global public policy scholar whose teaching, research and public engagement focuses on international environment and conservation policy, with a particular emphasis on climate change, global governance, and international and human development. He was the founding Dean of the Boston University’s Pardee School of Global Studies (2014-2022) and continues as Dean Emeritus and Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at Boston University. Earlier, he served as Vice Chancellor of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in Lahore, Pakistan, and as the Director of the Boston University Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. In addition to Boston University, Professor Najam has taught at MIT and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He was a Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Wolfson College in 2022-23 and was named the first De Janosi Fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria for 2023-24. He is also the Mahathir Mohamad Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) where he leads research on Islam and Environment. Professor Najam was a co-author for the Third and Fourth Assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2008 he was invited by the United Nations Secretary-General to serve on the UN Committee for Development Policy (CDP). He is a past winner of MIT’s Goodwin Medal for Effective Teaching, the Fletcher School Paddock Teaching Award, and the Stein Rokan Award of the International Political Science Association. The government of Pakistan has conferred on him two of the highest civil awards for his global contributions to education and climate change research: in 2010, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence); and in 2023, the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Crescent of Excellence), both awarded by the then President(s) of Pakistan.
Lightning Talks
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Bio
Josephine Graf
rrreefsJosephine Graf is the Co-CEO and one of the four female Co-Founders of rrreefs, a startup that regenerates coral reefs. With a background in business and political science, she is passionate about advancing climate action and sustainable development.
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Bio
Cameron Dowd
Inverto EarthCameron Dowd is the Co-Founder and CTO of Inverto Earth, a startup enabling the restoration and conservation of coastal ecosystems, such as the mangrove forests by local communities with innovative technology. Born and raised in sub-tropical Australia, he brings his background in humanitarian robotics to Inverto’s mission of turning around the collapse of the planet’s biodiversity.
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Bio
Chinwe Ifejika Speranza
University of BernChinwe Ifejika Speranza is Professor of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of Bern. She heads the research group Land Systems and Sustainable Land Management at the Institute of Geography. Her teaching and research focuses on land systems and sustainable land management including forests and agricultural land use dynamics, social-ecological dimensions of land, resilience of food production, protected areas, and related environmental governance and policies at international and national levels.
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Bio
Christine Brombach
ZHAWChristine Brombach is Professor at the School of Life Sciences and Facility Management of the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). She studied Nutritional and Household Sciences in Giessen (Germany) and Knoxville, TN (USA). After completing her diploma in Giessen, she obtained a Master of Science in Nutrition with a focus on Gerontology in Manhattan, KS (USA). She earned her doctorate at the University of Giessen on the topic of “Nutritional Behavior of Women over 65 Years of Age.” For four years, she served as the project coordinator for Germany’s National Consumption Study II at the Max Rubner Institute in Karlsruhe.
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Bio
Khalil Berro
ArtistKhalil Berro is a Swiss-Lebanese artist challenging human perception and the concept of “nature”, addressing humanity’s impact on the natural world through the combination of scientific research and artistic interpretation. His work spans from making interconnectedness tangible through air probes to inducing rainfall by altering cloud structures with rockets.
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Bio
Lithic Alliance
ArtistLithic Alliance is a more-than human collective predominantly working with the lithological realm and the energies and vibrations that emerge in this mineralized entanglement. Their research digs into the ecological and geopolitical foundation of co-existence, animisms and the rights of nature resulting in multifaceted projects that investigates connections spanning over vast temporalities to identify phenomenological correspondence and queer kinship.
More speakers to be announced soon.