UNESCO Chair Lecture Series: Heila Lotz-Sisitka
Heila Lotz-Sisitka on “De-individualising Learning in Transformations to Sustainability”
The UNESCO Chair in Higher Education for Sustainable Development at Leuphana University Lüneburg presents the next lecture in its UNESCO Chair Lecture Series. On 19 June 2025, we hosted a lecture by Distinguished Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka from Rhodes University, South Africa, our long-standing partner and collaborator in the UNITWIN Network on Education for Sustainable Development and Social Transformation.
In her talk, “De-individualising learning in transformations to sustainability: Re-thinking learning for transgressive world-making in society in the Anthropocene,” Prof. Lotz-Sisitka explored collective, community-based approaches transformative learning and teacher professional development in southern Africa. She critically examines the limitations of individualised, cognition-centred educational models, and proposes values-driven, culturally pluralistic, and co-engaged pedagogies as essential for societal transformation in the Anthropocene.
About the speaker:
Heila Lotz-Sisitka holds the South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) Chair in Global Change and Social Learning Systems. Her Chair is based in the Environmental Learning Research Centre at Rhodes University, South Africa which she directed for 18 years (2000-2015, 2022-2025). The current focus of the Chair's research is transformative social learning and green skills learning pathways in areas of biodiversity, the water food nexus, climate change, social and environmental justice, and just sustainability transitions. Heila’s research interests include critical research methodologies, transformative environmental learning, agency, and education system transformation.