Radboud University celebrated its centenary in October of last year. We chose this moment to reflect on our raison d’être as an emancipation university. Now is the time to look forward, which is what we are doing with a campaign that not only underlines the urgency of combating climate change and biodiversity loss, but also seeks to continue to initiate critical dialogue on the subject. As we enter our second century, we are therefore re-emphasising our social mission, which focuses on today’s problems. The wealth of research and education projects that focus on sustainability issues provides a sound basis for this purpose. These projects include Johan Mentink’s research on Green IT, and John Schermer’s decades-long research efforts into high-efficiency solar cells. And all of the faculties are actually contributing to research for a more sustainable world. In the medical cluster, the ‘Planetary Health’ research group has taken a new perspective on health : a healthy earth makes healthy people. And from the Faculty of Arts, I’m reminded of Professor Emeritus Anneke Smelik’s group, which is conducting research into sustainability in the fashion world.
Scope for neglected perspectives
Emancipation is one of the pillars on which the university rests. When it was founded, the university’s mission was to give Catholics who had an academic education and who up until that time had held a less prominent position in society greater opportunities to participate in society. Allowing everyone to participate is a message of the social dialogue on which we are now focusing. We are especially focusing on the one issue that affects everyone: the sustainable society.
A sustainable society can only evolve if everyone participates, if everyone is involved in the issues in this discussion. How quickly can we implement sustainable changes? Which costs is society prepared to cover, in addition to the societies elsewhere on earth? In this dialogue, we want to create room for everyone, and for the perspectives that are still being neglected, for the voices of people from different professions and regions, from other cultures, and also for the ‘voices’ from nature. We realise that a dialogue with such a large number of voices will involve tension. But we won’t shy away from this. As a university, we wish to advocate that we must endure in the midst of this tension, which is infinitely preferable to conflict and the rejection of groups.
The restoration of balance is one of the essential requirements for sustainable progress in society. This includes the balance between groups of people, individually and in organisations, and ultimately the restoration of the balance between people and their natural environment. For example, see Hans de Kroon’s research on greater biodiversity on dikes, which is beneficial for both us and nature. Due to the way in which we humans have treated the earth for the last few centuries, we have actually reached our planetary and humanitarian limits. The status of our age has now been defined to the extent that the current era has been labelled the Anthropocene. But what if we thought beyond this era? What if we looked towards a different, more equal, relationship with nature, other life forms and each other? Environmental philosopher Glenn Albrecht has also referred to this era as the Symbiocene.
Workshop for new ideas
Radboud University will only be able to achieve the campaign’s goals if it also heeds the call. This is exactly what we are doing, and what we are capable of achieving. As a general university, we are able to provide a platform for a wealth of knowledge, reasoning and skills from many different disciplines, which justifies the complex issues where everything intertwines. These include the Radboud Centre for Sustainability Challenges (RCSC), which is a platform that invites us to share knowledge with one another, while functioning as a workshop and innovation hub for new theories, perspectives and inclusive dialogues. Together, we can create a place for critical reflection on major issues and inspire a new framework for action. This is something that we are also doing in our own region, for example in the collaboration between Associate Professor of Corporate Sustainability Strategies Sjors Witjes and the waste-processing industry, which is aimed at recycling nappy waste.
The collaboration between disciplines has long been familiar to us, thanks to discussion groups, Radboud Reflects debates and a large number of interdisciplinary connections. An example of this is the 2015 encyclical at the Laudato Si’ Institute (which was founded in late 2023), which asked everyone to provide solutions to the climate problem. In the special edition of Radboud Magazine that accompanies the campaign, Laudato Si’ researcher Gerard Kuperus highlights the framework for action for achieving a sustainable world. Although he suggests that it is still possible to change the course of events, this won’t happen “until we collectively change who we are today”. Initiatives like Laudato Si’ not only help us to bridge the gap between our disciplines, but also to unequivocally bridge the gap between science and practice.
We relate the call for a more sustainable world in both stories and images, and even in the vision of our own campus. We continue to live up to our moniker of a green campus, which features varied foliage, and less and less rocks and more and more soil, and through our reduction of disposables, and meat and energy consumption. We continue to share the stories about this from our scientists, students and alumni, for instance in the special sustainability edition of Radboud Magazine and in the stories on Radboud Recharge. These serve as an inspiration, and are the stories of people who continue to seek the balance between hope and despair. It is a story that is also not always an easy one for the university, but silence is no longer an option. Take action. Help us to find solutions, join the discussion and get involved. The time is now! -Marije Klomp
You have a part to play
Our society is facing major challenges. Radboud University wants to contribute to a healthy, free world with equal chances for everyone. With ‘Je bent nodig’ (You have a part to play), Radboud University aims to reach people who want to contribute to that goal.
Would you like to actively contribute or read more about sustainability in our education and research? Visit www.jebentnodig.nl for more information.