On 2 September 2026, I presented at the International Sustainability Transitions Conference (IST 2026) at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Held from 31 August to 2 September, the conference brought together the international sustainability transitions research community around the theme Hope – in challenging times.

My presentation, Learning the liberal way: How liberal arts and sciences education can enable the development of competencies for advancing sustainability transformations, shared work developed with Julia Silveira and Pim Martens. We explore how liberal arts and sciences education can help students develop the competencies needed to contribute to sustainability transformations, connecting learning across disciplines with the complex challenges facing society.

This work brings together my interests in interdisciplinary education and sustainability. It asks how universities can prepare students to draw on different forms of knowledge and participate in shaping more sustainable futures—a question closely connected to the conference’s focus on hope and collective action.