Sustainability & Climate Change

Sustainability & Climate Change

Empowering learners to drive sustainable change through research-driven education and innovation

A research-driven educational hub connecting cutting-edge knowledge, innovative teaching, and transdisciplinary collaboration to tackle today’s sustainability and climate challenges. With a focus on global warming, climate justice, sustainable policy, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it empowers learners to understand complex systems and drive sustainable transformation.

Learning offers are research-driven and often challenge-based, with innovative formats like micro-credentials, collaborative courses, and service learning projects. Learners can tailor their education to develop key SDG competencies aligned with the help of the Aurora Competence Framework tools – for example, choosing courses and micro-credentials that empower them to contribute to a sustainable future. By integrating cutting-edge research and SDG-aligned content and learning approaches into teaching, the hub empowers Aurora students, as « change makers », with the knowledge, skills, competencies and mindset to drive sustainable societal impact across Europe.

General inquiries about Sustainability & Climate Change courses and micro-credentials aurora-courses@uibk.ac.at

Featured

Educational Offers

Climate Action & Sustainability Communication

The micro-credential “Climate Action & Sustainability Communication” introduces students to current research, challenges and solution pathways in climate protection and sustainable transformation. Students learn to connect evidence-based climate knowledge with questions of human action, personal decision-making and agency, while reflecting on their own strengths and weaknesses in relation to sustainable change. They strengthen their ability to communicate complex sustainability-related topics clearly, engagingly and responsibly to specific audiences, and to collaborate constructively in interdisciplinary and international teams.

Opportunities

“Rising Voices: Emerging Scholars’ Forum”

A flagship Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) event that brought together students and (early-career) researchers from multiple Aurora universities to share ideas and research on sustainability challenges. Through Rising Voices paired with Expanding Scholarly Horizons (a parallel BIP for researchers), students engaged in interdisciplinary collaboration on and communication of sustainability topics. This inclusive forum offered students a unique opportunity to present their work, receive mentorship from academics and communication experts, and improve the real-world relevance of their research. Rising Voices showcases the hub’s emphasis on experiential learning, international collaboration, and amplifying new voices in the sustainability arena.

Research

“Expanding Scholarly Horizons”

An Aurora collaborative research forum designed to integrate research and teaching within the Sustainability & Climate Change Hub. Held alongside Rising Voices, this Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) convened academics and researchers from different disciplines to explore innovative approaches to sustainability research and support student personal and learning growth. By emphasizing open communication and peer feedback, Expanding Scholarly Horizons allowed researchers to gauge the societal impact and visibility of their work. This initiative highlights how the hub bridges research and education, ensuring that the latest scientific insights inform teaching, and that educational activities contribute back to research on sustainability and climate action.

News

Discover a growing portfolio of courses and micro–credentials offered by the Sustainability & Climate Change Hub. New learning opportunities are added on a regular basis—explore what’s currently available in the Aurora Course Catalogue and on the Aurora website in the micro-credentials section, and find the pathway that fits your interests and ambitions.