The 2026 Higher Education Summit will explore how Education for Sustainable Development can empower learners to navigate complexity, embrace diversity, and drive meaningful change toward a just and sustainable future. The conference will bring together an international audience of students, educators and changemakers providing a unique opportunity for dialogue and collaboration.

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) redefines how we learn, think, and act in a rapidly changing world. Grounded in the transformative learning paradigm, it cultivates empathy, critical reflection, and collective agency – skills considered essential for navigating complexity and driving meaningful change toward a just and sustainable future.

Informed by UNESCO’s 2030 Roadmap and the Berlin Declaration, the summit aims to offer opportunities to exchange ideas, embrace diversity, and explore how education itself can become an agent of transformation.

The conference participants will explore how universities can foster climate-emotion literacy, turn eco-anxiety into engagement, and strengthen communities of care. They will challenge Eurocentric narratives, advancing decolonial and inclusive approaches that recognise diverse worldviews and local wisdoms. Transformative ESD calls for rethinking curricula, values, and success criteria – linking inner growth to societal renewal.

Participants will co-create pathways for education that not only respond to planetary crises but also cultivate resilience, solidarity, and a genuine sense of shared responsibility for our common future.