Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development
Annual Conference 2019
Energising the SDGs through appropriate technology and governance
Call for Papers
The Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development (IESD) of De Montfort University
(Leicester, UK) is organising an international conference in July 2019 in Leicester on
Energising the SDGs through appropriate technology and governance. We are inviting
abstracts of papers for presentation in the conference.
The vision of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to transform living conditions of
all people on the Earth so that we can live within the ‘planetary boundaries’ while enjoying
economic prosperity and social wellbeing. The transformative change aimed through the
SDGs requires a paradigm shift in thinking to break away from the current development
trajectories that are resource intensive, inefficient (hence wasteful), environmentally
damaging, growth-driven, and socially inequitable and unjust. The Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs) offer the opportunity to approach sustainable development in an integrated,
interconnected way.
However, building ‘the world we want’ and reaching the SDGs by 2030 faces a number of
challenges, including:
1) Demanding timelines. To reach the SDGs by 2030 would require a Marshall-like
plan that has to be implemented meticulously. In many areas, implementation
needs to shift from evolutionary to revolutionary timelines. Our understanding of
the issues, evidence to support the decision-making process and our ability to
analyse the issues effectively and in a timely manner will hinder progress.
2) Weak governance. Countries facing the greatest challenges are mostly lowincome countries, with weak governance arrangements. On one hand, the topdown management approach of governments perhaps needs to be strengthened
so that the Marshall Plan can be effectively implemented. Designing a modern
governance arrangement that can work in these countries remains a challenge.
On the other hand, the co-creation of sustainable bottom-up solutions at a
decentralised level needs to be supported through innovative thinking,
knowledge sharing, business ideas, and empowering local communities and
actors.
3) Complexity. As SDGs are an interconnected and integrated set of targets, better
understanding of their inter-relationships, synergies and conflicts is required. The
human-nature interactions in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors affect
the natural capital, ecosystem services, human capital development, natural
environment, the climate and the communities. Our understanding of these
interactions is still incomplete and scientific research can surely improve our
knowledge.
4) Lack of innovation ecosystems in many developing countries.
In this context, it is important to consider how appropriate technologies and governance
arrangements can support the achievement of the SDGs by 2030. While technology has
shaped the past development, it has also contributed to environmental damages, inequality
and social issues. Similarly, management of the development process depends on
governance arrangements and bad governance is considered to be the root of
underdevelopment. As the SDGs are aiming to leave no one behind, we cannot rely on the
existing technology or the governance arrangements to solve the present problem.
This leads us to the main focus of this conference. How can the countries reap the benefits
of innovation in technologies and governance arrangements to reach the SDGs? What sort
of appropriate technologies, governance arrangements and practices would be required to
deliver the SDGs? Are there priority areas for interventions and how such priorities vary
across countries? Are there any best practices that are emerging in terms of technology and
governance practices? What lessons can countries learn from one another? These are some
of the issues we would like to consider. We are particularly interested in three main
thematic areas:
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Solutions for the base of the pyramid population
Solutions for sustainable communities and sustainable living (both urban and rural)
Solutions for a low carbon pathway
We invite contributions from researchers, academics and other stakeholders on the
interaction of appropriate technology and governance in these areas. Please send a
structured abstract of 300 words by 31st December 2018 indicating the purpose of the work,
the methodology used, main findings and your recommendations for energising the
implementation of SDGs by 2030. A review panel will consider all abstracts and authors of
the accepted abstracts will be asked to submit the full paper by 30 th April 2019. At least one
author will have to present the paper in the conference.
Important Dates:
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 31st December 2018
Acceptance information sent to authors: 31st January 2019
Deadline for full paper submission 30th April 2019
Conference presentation 4-5, July 2019
For further information, please contact: Prof. Subhes Bhattacharyya, IESD
Email: subhesb@dmu.ac.uk Tel: 44 116 257 7975