La Nuit des idées – The Challenge of a Shared Carbon-Free World

La Nuit des idées – The Challenge of a Shared Carbon-Free World

The French Embassy in the Czech Republic and the French Institute in Prague are organising a debate on ‘The scientific community and climate change: informing, raising awareness and taking action’. What role can the scientific community play in raising society’s awareness of environmental issues? What influence can it have on the direction of political decisions? What are the impacts and limits of popularising science? What can go wrong?

Location: Congress Hall of The French Institute in Prague (5th floor)
Date: 
Thursday, 24 Octobre, 2024 at 6:00 p.m.
Language:
Czech and French

Organizers: The French Embassy in the Czech Republic and the French Institute in Prague

Discussants: Jana Dlouhá (Charles University), Zuzana Harmáčková (Czech Academy of Sciences), Gilles Lepesant (CNRS/CEFRES)

Abstract

The meeting will feature an exchange between Jana Dlouhá, a Czech expert in transformative education for sustainable development, Zuzana Harmáčková, a Czech expert in climate policy and economics, and Gilles Lepesant, a French geographer. They will each present various aspects and concrete examples of the role of the scientific community in the transition to a low-carbon world.

Jana Dlouhá is a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Issues at Charles University, editor-in-chief of the journal Envigogika, founder and coordinator of the Regional Expert Centre of the Czech Republic, second vice-president of the Czech Commission for UNESCO, former vice-president and current member of the advisory board of the international network of higher education institutions Copernicus Alliance. She is interested in transformative education for sustainable development and the resulting changes to education at all levels; she is active in the field of online media, open educational resources (she is co-founder of the Enviwiki knowledge base).

Zuzana Harmáčková heads the Department of Socio-ecological Analysis at the Institute for Global Change Research of the Czech Academy of Sciences. She is engaged in the creation and analysis of future scenarios and pathways to sustainability in collaboration with experts, policy makers and public representatives in different cultural and geographical contexts (Czech Republic, Europe, Central Asia, Africa). She contributes to international platforms that improve the transfer of knowledge on sustainability between researchers and policy-makers (e.g. within IPBES – Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services). She teaches at Charles University’s Faculty of Science and Masaryk University’s Faculty of Social Studies.

Gilles Lepesant is director of research at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) in geography and a research associate at the Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin) and the Asian Energy Studies Centre (Hong Kong Baptist University). He teaches at Sciences-Po Paris. His main research topics are EU energy policy, the implementation of the transition in the Member States (particularly Germany), energy-climate policy in the context of cohesion policy, and the strategies of sub-state territories (cities, regions, ports) in terms of energy transition and adaptation to climate change.

The discussions will be moderated by Clément Maufras. An independent consultant in the CSR sector, Clément Maufras is active both as a professional and as a citizen in raising awareness of environmental issues, in particular those linked to climate change and decarbonisation trajectories.

The discussions will be conducted in Czech and French (simultaneous translation will be provided).

The debate and event ‘La Nuit des idées 2024 – The common challenge of a carbon-free world’ is organised by the French Institute in Prague, in partnership with the Argo publishing house and CEFRES.