"As long as humanity has a future, and this depends on science and knowledge, the university will always have a role to play to fulfil", stressed João Amaro de Matos, Vice-Rector of NOVA University de Lisboa, at the end of the
1st NOVA /USP Exchange and Knowledge Conference, dedicated to sustainability, which took place on the 7th and 8th of September.
For two days, the Auditorium of Rectory of NOVA was the stage for a wide variety of presentations on the sustainability challenges that humanity is already facing and how best to answer the question: "What kind of planet will we leave to future generations?”
Despite the familiar scenario, the last guest speaker, Paulo Artaxo, a physicist from the University of São Paulo and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), left a note of optimism: "Are we going to get out of this? The answer is yes. But the only solution is to build a much more balanced society, in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)."
This was the first in a series of conferences that aim to create opportunities for the research communities of both universities to get to know each other, share experiences and interests, and stimulate the development of joint projects.
In the year in which NOVA University Lisbon celebrates its 50th anniversary, NOVA and Universidade de São Paulo (USP) formalised a strategic partnership to strengthen the intense collaboration of the last decades.
In this sense, one of the largest entourages in the history of the University of São Paulo visited the NOVA schools during the days spent in Lisbon.
