The conference is free and open to everyone at OsloMet — students, staff, PhD candidates and researchers across all faculties and academic communities. Register today to reserve your seat and join the conversation.
What does it mean for OsloMet to take responsibility in the face of the crises of unsustainability shaping our time?
Across OsloMet, researchers, educators, students and professional communities are already responding in many different ways. OsloMet Green Transitions Day 2026 brings these responses together, with around 40 contributions from across the university, participation from university leadership and selected external perspectives.
The day moves from different understandings of green transition to concrete work in research and innovation, education, societal engagement and research capacity, before lifting the discussion to the higher education sector and asking what universities — and OsloMet itself — can and should do.
Programme
09:00–09:15 — Welcome
Opening of OsloMet Green Transitions Day and introduction to the questions connecting the day.
With participation from OsloMet’s university leadership and the organisers.
09:15–10:00 — Opening Dialogue: What are we responding to when we speak about green transition?
Three researchers open the day with different perspectives on what green transition means in their work: Cecilie Sachs Olsen, Gavin McCrory and Manjana Milkoreit
Rather than seeking one definition, the conversation asks how different understandings of transition shape the problems we see, the priorities we establish and the responses we consider possible
10:00–10:05 — Reset and refill
Refill coffee cups.
10:05–10:55 — Research, Transition Practices & Innovation: What responses are already taking shape across OsloMet?
Chair: Cecilie Sachs Olsen
The session opens by asking what kind of organisation a university actually is — and what this means for its capacity to respond to green transition.
It then brings together a diverse set of examples from across OsloMet, such as energy and technology research, materials and decarbonisation, health, marine environments, interdisciplinary research platforms and student-led sustainability work.
Together, the contributions illustrate some of the different ways green transition is already being interpreted and put into practice across the university.
10:55–11:10 — Break
Coffee, conversation and exhibition.
11:10–12:10 — Education, Professional Formation & Citizenship: How do we equip people to understand, participate in and shape transitions?
Chair: Håkon Endresen Normann (nifu.no).
Green transition is also an educational challenge.
The session combines broader perspectives on the role of education with examples from areas such as professional education, engineering, design, sustainability education, PhD training and collaboration with practice fields.
Together, the contributions ask what kinds of knowledge and capabilities people need to understand, participate in and shape transitions.
12:10–13:10 — Lunch + Exhibition: Green transition beyond the stage
Exhibition coordinated by Kristin Bergaust.
The exhibition brings additional work from across OsloMet into Studenthallen through video, visual methods, artistic practice, systemic design and other formats.
Explore the exhibition over lunch, meet contributors and make new connections across disciplines and environments.
13:10–14:00 — Societal Engagement and Transformation: How does change happen in society?
Chair: Andreas Ytterstad
Green transitions are shaped not only through technology and policy, but also through the ways societies understand, organise and negotiate change.
The session brings together examples such as media and climate narratives, storytelling and future imaginaries, finance and divestment, organisational practices and behavioural approaches to reducing waste.
14:00–15:10 — Building Research Capacity for Green Transition: How can OsloMet strengthen its capacity to contribute?
Projects and perspectives from OsloMet’s Strategic Research Area for Green Transition:
Tanja Storsul, Arvind Keprate and Gro Sandkjær Hanssen
The session presents projects supported through OsloMet’s new Strategic Research Area for Green Transition.
Project pitches will be brought together in thematic clusters, followed by conversation about connections across disciplines and research environments — and what it takes to build lasting research capacity for green transition at OsloMet.
15:10–15:30 — Break
Coffee, conversation and exhibition.
15:30–15:45 — Higher Education Sector Perspective: How are universities responding to green transition?
The discussion now zooms out from OsloMet to the wider Norwegian higher education landscape.
What approaches are emerging across universities and university colleges, and what can we learn from the different ways institutions are organising their responses to sustainability and green transition?
15:45–16:15 — Institutional Panel: What can and should universities — and OsloMet specifically — do?
Moderator: Carl Christian Thodesen.
The final conversation returns to the question of response and responsibility.
What responsibilities do universities have? Where do they have real capacity to act? How can projects and initiatives develop into lasting institutional capacity — and where should OsloMet itself be more ambitious?
The panel will bring together perspectives from research, university leadership, students and the wider higher education sector.
Panel participants will be announced shortly.
16:15–16:30 — Closing Reflections: What have we learned — and what happens next?
Arvind Keprate and Gro Sandkjær Hanssen:
Connections, lessons and possible next steps after a day of responses from across OsloMet.
Practical information
Participation is free, but registration is required. Please register using the registration button at the top of the page.
The conference is organised by Green Energy Lab and OsloMet’s Strategic Research Area for Green Transition.
Contact: For questions about the event, please contact Stefan Erbs or Arvind Keprate.
