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ScicultureD Final Conference

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FINAL CONFERENCE 2024

How do we embed a transdisciplinary approach to education focussed on social impacts?

As we approach the end of the ScicultureD journey, we gathered educators, ministry members, innovators, and artists at the SciCultureD Final Conference in Valletta on Tuesday 29th October, for a joint discussion on how to drive change in universities and communities through open education, creativity, and by bursting disciplinary bubbles!

This event was a celebration of four years of collaboration between University of Malta, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, ScienceView in Greece, and city2science in Germany. Together, we explored the potential of transdisciplinary learning and social entrepreneurship to address key challenges such as climate change or sustainable urban development.

A heartfelt thanks goes to:
…and course to ALL PARTICIPANTS who actively contributed to the workshops and discussions!
 
After the conference, the project will finalize its research & application tasks in investigating how transdisciplinary collaboration can tackle critical societal challenges — such as climate change, urban development or the preservation of green spaces — by empowering people with creativity, skills and a commitment to change.

Keynote speakers

Theatre as a Catalyst for Social Change: How Can Non-Formal Education Through Community-Based Theatre Transform Lives for a community?
Isabelle Gatt is an educator and theatre practitioner with roots in a theatre lab company where she trained with John Schranz in Malta. She has also produced children’s edutainment TV series. Isabelle is a resident professor at the University of Malta, where she set up and runs the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) in Drama Education besides lecturing in Youth Studies and Adult Education. Beyond the university, Isabelle contributes to the academic landscape by delivering masterclasses and seminars in creative processes, theatre for social change and process drama at various Europeanuniversities. Her research spans applied theatre initiatives in schools, youth centers, rehab centers, and Active Aging Centers, exploring the transformative potential of drama across diverse age groups and contexts.

Universities and Social Entrepreneurship ​
Since 2005 Thorsten Jahnke is CEO of iq consult GmbH, an agency working on social innovation and also Co-founder of Social Impact gGmbH in 2010. Social Impact provides expert start-up consultancy for social innovation and since 2011 it has been developing 8 Social Impact Labs offering the start-up programs across Germany. The labs provide scope for co-working, networking and events. To date, several thousand companies have been set up with the support of Social Impact.
After his vocational training as an industrial clerk and studying economics, education and politics (FU Berlin) Thorsten Jahnke gained experience as a CEO and as a member of various managing boards within a broad range of social businesses and organisations. He has been working for more than 25 years in the field of Inclusive and Social Entrepreneurship. This includes both leading different start-up support programs for disadvantaged people and business incubators for social start-ups. He worked in senior positions in several European projects, such as ADAPT, EQUAL I + II and Leonardo. He also taught at various universities and published professional articles and guides for social start-ups. Currently, he heads 2 Social Impact Cluster in Berlin and Potsdam, which run various national and international programs supporting Social Entrepreneurship and digitalism.

Universities and Social Entrepreneurship ​
The Possibilities and Challenges of Transdisciplinarity in Higher Education​
Lindsay Hetherington is Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of Exeter, where she is Deputy Head of Department and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in STEM Education. Her research interests focus on sociomaterial and transdisciplinary approaches to learning in science and environmental education, in particular with respect to creativity. Alongside her research and leadership roles, Lindsay teaches on the PGCE and MA Education courses and supervises PhD students.After his vocational training as an industrial clerk and studying economics, education and politics (FU Berlin) Thorsten Jahnke gained experience as a CEO and as a member of various managing boards within a broad range of social businesses and organisations. He has been working for more than 25 years in the field of Inclusive and Social Entrepreneurship. This includes both leading different start-up support programs for disadvantaged people and business incubators for social start-ups. He worked in senior positions in several European projects, such as ADAPT, EQUAL I + II and Leonardo. He also taught at various universities and published professional articles and guides for social start-ups. Currently, he heads 2 Social Impact Cluster in Berlin and Potsdam, which run various national and international programs supporting Social Entrepreneurship and digitalism.

  • HEInnovate: a tool for advice, ideas and inspiration for the effective management of institutional and cultural change – Rebecca Allinson Managing Partner at Technopolis Group, a European public policy consultancy. 
  • Creating and running the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee (IEC) of the University of Peloponnese: experiences from the field – Dr. Athanasios (Thanos) Kriemadis. Head of the Department, President of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Committee at the University of Peloponnese, Director of Graduate Studies in Public Administration and Digital Management, Director of the Laboratory “Strategic Management, Quality Management, and Human-centered Technologies”.
  • Sampling, Sound and Sustainability – Øystein Røsseland Kvinge & Hans Mark Svedal 
  • Empowering Educators through Creative Pedagogies and Transdisciplinary Learning – Dr Margaret Mangion
  • Personal journeys: Turning ideas into business with a social impact – Dr Annette Klinkert & Philipp Nico Krüger