The Sustainable Development Goals Journalism Conference (UNNC Study Visit) was held at UNNC from 4 to 8 September 2023. Hosted by UNNC and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, it was the first international conference held in China dedicated to exploring the role of news media and media practitioners in promoting the UN's sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Over 50 academics from Spain, Romania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Cambodia, and China attended the conference. Most participants are involved in the EU's Erasmus+ SDGs Journalism Reporting Project. This conference marked the final leg of their study visits before the four-year-long project concludes in November 2023.
The opening ceremony on 4 September featured speeches from Professor Giapaolo Buticchi, UNNC's Interim Vice Provost for Research and Knowledge Exchange, and Professor Óscar Rodil Marzábal, the Principal Investigator of the Erasmus+ SDGs Journalism Reporting Project from the University of Santiago de Compostela. Three keynote speakers, including Dr Xiaoge Xu, founder of Mobile Studies International and Mobile Studies Congress; Associate Professor Liang Chen from Tsinghua University; and Professor Peter Berglez from Örebro University in Sweden, delivered talks on various topics such as Rescue SDGs Storytelling, the Mobile Way; Environmental Communication in the AI Era; and What is Sustainable Journalism? Theoretical Challenges and Practical Opportunities.
In addition to the conference sessions, the Erasmus+ project consortium meetings were held to allow partner universities to report on the project's progress, share experiences and challenges, and discuss future plans. Cultural events and a tour of the UNNC campus were also organised. Participants had the opportunity to visit the Tianyi Ancient Library and Nantang Old Street to experience the local culture in Ningbo. They also toured UNNC's e-classrooms, Innovation and Enterprise building, incubators, digital labs, the award-winning Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, and the new library.