Our public lecture series “Sustainability in Computer Science” continues…

Michaela Zint is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor at the University of Michigan where she advances research, teaching and leadership on sustainability and climate education. A former Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the School for Environment and Sustainability, she founded the university’s Advancing Climate Education initiative and has led award-winning teaching innovations that empower students as change agents for a sustainable future. She also serves on the BOKU’s Unirat contributing to its vision for sustainability education and research. By integrating sustainability science and educational research, she advances transformative, cross-disciplinary pedagogies that foster sustainability competencies and inspire informed, emotionally grounded, collective climate action.

Her lecture is on “Reprogramming Computer Science Education for a Sustainable Future”.

Abstract

Digital technologies shape nearly every aspect of modern life — from energy and mobility to communication, governance, and learning. Yet the systems that computer science creates and sustains also contribute to growing resource use, inequity and planetary instability. If computing is both part of the problem and part of the solution, how must its education evolve?

This talk explores how universities can reimagine computer science education to foster sustainability mindsets, ethical reflection, and systems thinking alongside technical excellence. Drawing on sustainability in computing scholarship as well my own work on sustainability and climate education, I will discuss how students, faculty, and administrators play vital roles in aligning computing with societal and planetary well-being.

Participants will be invited to consider what it would mean to “reprogram” computing such as reframing design priorities to balance performance and profit with responsibility, resilience and the capacity for human and ecological flourishing.

Online Event

Switch on your laptop and join us via Zoom! Whether you’re a student, a professional looking to expand your knowledge, or a citizen interested in sustainability issues – this lecture series is open to everyone.

Public Lecture Series “Sustainability in Computer Science”

Sustainability is not an optional feature. Targeting economic, social, and ecological issues through sustainable development has become a must, not least since the publication of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. Computer Science (CS), and more prominently and recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI), is hailed as the solution to many sustainability problems (and yes, it is!). Still, energy efficiency and CO2 reduction must be considered to ensure fair and ecological use of resources. Hence, dealing with CS and sustainability involves two faces of the same coin: Sustainability with CS, and Sustainability for CS.

This public lecture series is unique in Austria, with all Austrian CS departments and faculties participating under the auspices of Informatik Austria. We want to raise awareness for the utmost importance of sustainability in CS, demonstrating research solutions to various problems, and triggering developments for a sustainable future.

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