Hamburg Sustainability Sessions (#HSS11) – Global Sustainability Education: Innovations in Digital & International Teaching

About the Event:

The goal of the Hamburg Sustainability Sessions #11 is to explore how digital transformation is shaping international learning through cutting-edge technologies, collaborative platforms, and innovative educational models in an international context. This event will feature expert discussions on e-learning, AI in education, collaborative online international learning (COIL) and inclusive access to knowledge, fostering a global dialogue between educators, researchers, students and industry leaders interested in the topic.

This event is an initiative by RCE and Green Office, supported by the DAAD projects:

• The Digital Introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals into Higher Education Teaching – Regional Aspects in Implementing the SDGs from Brazil and South Africa
• Haw Resilient: HAW.RESILIENT (RESI)

Event details:

Date: 22nd May 2025

Time: 01:00 p.m – 03:00 p.m CET (Central European Time)

Format: Online

Language: English

Cost: None!

Registration:

https://forms.office.com/e/sEgcKbDNjh

Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Martin Holle

Professor of Food Law and Administrative Law at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg). He graduated from the University of Mainz in 1997 and later earned his PhD (doctor iuris) with a dissertation on the constitutional aspects of food regulation. Before transitioning to academia, he built extensive industry experience, serving as Legal Counsel at Unilever Germany, Regulatory Adviser at Unilever N.V. in the Netherlands, and General Counsel, Foods at Unilever PLC in London, where he specialized in Food and Advertising Law. Since his appointment as professor at HAW Hamburg in 2013, he has also been a guest lecturer at the Europa Institute of the University of Zurich and Michigan State University. Currently, he leads the HAW.RESILIENT (RESI) project, an initiative focused on fostering international collaboration and resilience in higher education. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

Professor Dr. Belén López

Project coordinator of HG Sustainable, and Erasmus + (https://hgsustainable.eu/). Full Professor at ESIC University, where she was awarded two six-year research periods in 2022 for her outstanding academic contributions. Her work centers on business communication, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability, and higher education, with a focus on understanding the intersection of sustainability in both business and education. Dr. López is an active participant in international conferences, offering fresh insights into sustainable development from an academic standpoint. Since 2019, she has served as the Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at ESIC University and currently leads the Higher Degree in Sustainability Management. As a passionate researcher, she also directs the European Erasmus+ project, HG Sustainable (2022–2024), which explores the role of higher education in advancing sustainable development. This project has garnered recognition within the European Union as a model of best practices.

Ms. Li Lou

is a project manager at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences and an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in sustainability, comparative studies, and education innovation. With a legal background—holding an LL.M. from Cornell Law School and pursuing a Ph.D. in international law at the University of Cologne—she bridges academia, industry, and policy. She has held roles as a senior legal consultant for multiple international businesses, a visiting scholar at the University of Bergen, a lecturer and program manager at the Technical University of Berlin. Her recent work focuses on digital transformation in education, AI-driven learning strategies, and the development of interdisciplinary projects to foster innovative and integrative learning environments.

Dr. Obed Freedom Chauke

Professor Rudi Pretorius

lectured Geography at the University of South Africa (Unisa), an open distance e-learning (OdeL) institution, over a period of 38 years until his retirement at the end of 2024. During his career he experimented with and implemented innovative OdeL approaches in Geography and sustainability applications, on which he also published widely. He has been appointed since March 2025 as a Honorary Professor in the Department of Geography, Unisa on the basis of his established and sustained academic reputation and standing in his fields of expertise, that include education for sustainability, ODeL applications in Geography and environmental study fields, sustainability in higher education, sustainable development and the SDGs. His publication record includes papers in several international journals and he recently co-edited the books Sustainable Development in Africa: Fostering Sustainability in one the World´s Most Promising Continents and SDGs in Africa and the Middle East, both from Springer Nature. He is a Deputy Editor for Discover Sustainability and the International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. At Unisa he is currently the project leader for an international collaborative project on the digital teaching and learning dimensions of the SDGs between Unisa, Hamburg University of Applied Science (Germany) and the University of Passo Fundo (Brazil).

Join us as we explore how digital transformation is reshaping international learning through cutting-edge technologies, collaborative platforms, and innovative educational models in a global context.