Ms Dr. Rachel Bowden is ESD consultant at the Center for Teacher Education and Educational Research ZLSB where she coordinates the ESD State Initiative and an Erasmus+ Teacher Academy ("Teacher Academy Project – Teaching Sustainability“ (TAP-TS)). Her research interests include multilingual education, ESD, and teacher education.

Multilingualism and Global Citizenship Education

How do you picture your own multilingualism? What has multilingualism got to do with Global Citizenship and sustainability? As we address these questions, we will explore and contrast research-based insights around multilingualism as a social and neurological phenomenon and ‘monoglossic ideology’, which dominates language policies in schools and universities. We will discuss strategies for moving out of ‘linguistic boxes’ and some implications for sustainability and Global Citizenship Education.

Mr Dipl. Ing. M. Sc. Oscar Choque from the AYNI-Verein für Ressourcengerechtigkeit e.V. is a One World Promoter specializing in resource justice in Saxony. He grew up in a mining village in Bolivia and worked there as a miner. He studied in Russia and Germany. His work focuses on the effects of conventional mining and lithium extraction in Latin America (Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina).

Human Rights Violations and Environmental Destruction in the Mining Industry – the Downside of Prosperity

Digitalization and electromobility are on the rise in industrialized countries, resulting in a massive increase in raw materials consumption. For instance, Germany is almost 100 percent dependent on imports of metal ores. What strategy is Germany's raw materials policy pursuing? Where do the raw materials come from? Who mines them? How does mining impact people and nature in the global south? What about the question of resource distribution and resource justice? What alternative courses of action are there?

Ms Klara-Johanna Fabisch is a Master's student in Spatial Development and Natural Resource Management at the TUD, a committed member of tuuwi (TU Environmental Initiative), and coordinator of its student teaching programs such as the Environmental Ring Lectures.

Peer Counseling

In peer counseling, you will get to know a tool to support each other. This tool can be a good assistant to you in mastering all modules of the program (TUD Global Citizenship Certificate). We will be collecting possible solutions to problems in your very authentic work or life context. We will work constructively with the diversity of the group in terms of point of view, knowledge, and experiences to generate new impulses and ideas. 

Ms Lea Hummitzsch is the Project Manager for the "dies academicus" at the Integrale - Institute for studium generale of the TU Dresden.

Ms Marlene Maria Schreiber is part of the team of reflektiert.engagiert - doing sustainability.

MatchMaker Program

How can you pursue your interests at the university, yet beyond lectures and seminars? TUD's university groups offer you a wide range of opportunities to get involved socially, politically, or ecologically, to expand your practical knowledge and skills as well as to widen your social circle.

You have no idea where to go and to contribute? Our MatchMaker will give you initial guidance based on your interests so that you can find out more.

How can you successfully achieve your goals? Set them SMART!

With the SMART method, you will learn a particularly effective technique for formulating clear and achievable goals and reaching them successfully.

Broadening your Horizons: How to see the World through the eyes of a Cosmopolitan?

In China, people eat dogs and bats; in East Germany, public nude swimming is common. How unpleasant and unhygienic must it be for people in India to eat with their hands, right? Is it in deed coincidental that terrorism and civil wars frequently erupt in predominantly Islamic regions? How horrible does Mongolian throat singing sound?

Our view of the world is constantly shaped by prejudices. On the one hand, preconceptions help us to deal with things that are still unfamiliar more efficiently. On the other hand, if we fail to challenge and correct them, they can cloud our perception of new things. Bias prevents us from engaging with others and their cultural practices on an equal footing, from reflecting on our own actions and thinking about them, and from seeing ourselves as equal inhabitants of this planet or equal Global Citizens.

Adopting a cosmopolitan perspective requires openness and the ability to expose our world view to irritations in order to overcome ourselves. Let's take a closer look at some cultural practices, stretch their potential for irritation – even provocation –, and explore how to cultivate an attitude of impartiality. We would also discuss how to recognize and cope with the limitations of this approach.

Let’s broaden our horizons and enjoy the richness of intercultural and interpersonal diversity this world is offering!

Ms. Maria Nelz, M. Sc., a tropical forester by profession and a human by passion, coordinates a Dresden-based NGO (Global Learning Education Center by aha - anders handeln e.V.) that is committed to facilitating Education for Sustainable Development through local cooperation. Maria´s mission is to promote lifelong learning and thus to support Dresdeners – whether young or old – to integrate into a global and pluralistic society.

Mr. Peter Che Nfon, M. Eng. is the founder of Sustainable Actions Afrika, a non-profit NGO dedicated to promoting education for sustainable development through glocalized actions. Besides his teaching experience of over six years, he also works as an anti-black racism trainer, demonstrating his commitment to racial justice and global citizenship.

DIY – HOW TO … become a Global Citizen

You are a global citizen – and not aware of it yet? Are you looking for a manual on how to activate your Global Citizenship mindset? Well, then you are exactly the right one here! Together we will be exploring whether Global Citizenship is only about the frontiers in our mind, or physical and territorial borders as well. We will delve into our colonial history, and reflect on the relation between power and responsibility. At the end of the journey, you will be able to take along a handful of global mindfulness with you on your very own path to  Global Citizenship.

Mr. Sebastian Kaiser is a permaculture designer, founding member, and part of the executive board of the Alte Gärtnerei in Dresden-Pieschen.

In addition to permanent gardening and building on the land, he is interested in questions regarding urban development from the grassroots, land justice in the context of mobility issues, good life, and Italian cuisine.

Applied transformation in practice - the Alte Gärtnerei

All the key questions of our present that result from the need for transformation must be negotiated, tried out, and put into practice. We have been doing this at the Alte Gärtnerei in Dresden-Pieschen since 2019, transforming formerly derelict horticultural land into a place with a promising future that treasures healthy ecology as well as the people living in the city. Can a transformation of food systems, good food, productivity, aesthetics, learning activities, and lingering be united?

During an explorative guided tour, you will get to know your interests as well as the place itself. Afterward, there will be room for questions and exchange of ideas you may have over a jointly prepared dinner on the terrace.

Ms Freya Sternkopf, M.Sc. is a Research Associate at the Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy TUD, a representative of the TU Dresden and the NGO Cradle to Cradle Saxony in the "Clean Dresden" campaign.

Against Cigarette Butts, and for a Clean Dresden

Cigarette butts lying around are annoying. They look awkward; it is pricy and time-consuming to remove them. And, contrary to what many smokers may expect, they don't disappear by themselves! But that's not all. Cigarette butts are highly toxic. This is not only alarming to me, the mother of a one-year-old daughter who is thrilled by everything lying on the ground and will examine it with great curiosity (occasionally even with her mouth), but animals also get poisoned by the stubs. In the worst cases, even fires can be caused by casually flipping them away with the attitude of “out of sight, out of mind”. The fight against cigarette butts is nevertheless more challenging than one would imagine in the face of these dangers. So, why is that so, and how can we make a change? A broad alliance of municipal institutions and NGOs in Dresden is working together to raise awareness and campaigning against the problem.

I am a representative of the NGO Cradle to Cradle Saxony and the TU Dresden (Institute for Waste and Circular Economy), and would be delighted to be joined by fellow campaigners!