Deepika Joon

How can leadership contribute to sustainable development in times of multiple crises and uncertain futures? This seminar explores this question across different contexts, using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a shared frame of reference.

In the first part of the seminar, students engage with different concepts and understandings of leadership and discuss what "leadership for sustainable development" can mean in practice. Questions of justice run through this discussion: Whose interests do leaders represent, who is affected by their decisions, and who has a voice in shaping sustainability transformations?

Building on this, students form small groups, choose a focus of their own interest, and carry out a small research project following the principles of research-based learning. Leadership can be explored in any field, for example in schools, non-governmental organizations, companies, start-ups or politics. Previous projects explored leadership in areas such as fashion, renewable energy, e-mobility, gender diversity and political communication.

Depending on their focus, groups can draw on different analytical perspectives, such as adaptive leadership, responsible leadership or the concept of change agents, to examine how leaders deal with complex sustainability challenges.