2026 International Sustainability Conference
Responding to the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor
Rome, Italy, October 2026
Pope Leo XIV, in Dilexi Te, reminds us of our shared responsibility to care for the poor and marginalized. Today, over one billion people live in slum settlements worldwide, predominantly in the Global South, and almost 10 percent of the global population is undernourished. The 2025 State of the Climate Report states that 24 of 34 vital signs are at record levels. Global tree cover loss was 29.6 megahectares (Mha) in 2024, the second highest on record. Additionally, seven of the nine globally quantified safe and just planetary boundaries have been transgressed, highlighting both overshoot and deepening justice concerns.
As climate change advances, the burdens and benefits of our planet鈥檚 ecological commons remain profoundly unequal, with those least responsible for emissions suffering the greatest impacts. This transdisciplinary conference seeks to convene scholars, researchers, leaders, and practitioners dedicated to exploring the intersections of sustainability, poverty, and environmental health.
We welcome abstracts from a broad array of disciplines, including science, theology, philosophy, nursing, law, business, engineering, and the humanities.
Conference Goals:
- Foster transdisciplinary engagement to expand collective knowledge.
- Promote research and dialogue that empower communities to pursue safe, just, and sustainable futures.
- Encourage innovative thinking rooted in ethics, science, and lived experience.
Pope Francis warns in Laudate Deum (LD 2) that global responses to the climate crisis 鈥渉ave not been adequate,鈥� while the world 鈥渕ay be nearing the breaking point.鈥� The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 鈥� Rio de Janeiro, 1992 mandates parties to the convention to 鈥減revent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.鈥� This gathering seeks rigorous, creative, and hopeful responses.
- Arts and Humanities: The role of arts and humanities in promoting community engagement; resilient communities; safe and just communities; how the arts promote flourishing amid adversity.
- Biology: The biological basis for community engagement.
- Communication: Climate communication: prospects and problems for community engagement.
- Culture: The role of communities, cooperation, and diverse societies in collective global flourishing: depolarization and pluralism for community flourishing
- Ecology/Environmental: The promotion of planetary flourishing; nature connectedness and well-being; cosmic and other non-human forms of flourishing; Mitigating how conflict and climate affect communities.
- Economics: Creating a dynamic economy to expand opportunities for flourishing communities; Economies of the future: circular economy; sharing economy; the limits of growth: thriving economies; thriving lives.
- Education: Teaching and learning that promote human flourishing and community engagement; online education and access to quality education; Effective Sustainability and carbon literacy pedagogy for community engagement; Quality education.
- Engineering: Resilient infrastructure systems in communities; Addressing product planned obsolescence through the lens of life cycle Assessment; Resilient food systems; Green Transition in times of Geopolitical pressures. Affordable and clean water and energy.
- Health: The role of physical health, mental health, and health systems in promoting community health and wellbeing, climate anxiety, Air/water/ noise pollution and community health.
- International Development: SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and communities; life on land.
- Philosophy: The conceptual and philosophical basis of our understanding of community flourishing.
- Policy: Effective promotion of flourishing across the globe within the public Sector, housing sector, regional level, legal systems and community, governance structure and community flourishing.
- Psychology: The role of character traits and virtues in promoting community flourishing; Addressing climate denialism; the rise of technological dependence and the decline of independent thought; the science of loneliness and how to foster social connectedness in our communities.
- Religion and Spirituality: Religious and spiritual practices that promote community; Religion as a source of personal, communal and social flourishing. Spiritual but not Religious: Addressing the growing number of nones in Western society, Eco-spirituality, stewardship.
- Technology and AI: Technology and the future of human flourishing (including artificial intelligence and collective intelligence)
- Transdisciplinary approaches are strongly encouraged, and submissions may cut across the conference鈥檚 thematic boundaries.
Only abstracts with original work will be accepted for the conference. The primary author must have written or participated in the activities showcased in the abstract and obtained the necessary regulatory board approvals where sensitive data is used in the paper, as well as any necessary ethical clearance documents for human subjects research.
Word Count: The abstract should not exceed a combined word count of 500 words (which includes the introduction, methods, results and conclusions, but does not include the title, keywords, or list of authors).
Evaluation Criteria: Each abstract will be evaluated by the conference research committee with expertise in the subject area using the following criteria:
鈥� Methods
鈥� Presentation and Interpretation of Results
鈥� Innovation and Uniqueness
鈥� Rationale for study and relevance to the focus area, including its potential application for practical use
Be part of a global conversation committed to shaping a sustainable and just world - one grounded in rigorous scholarship, moral imagination, and transformative action.
Stay tuned for further conference details by following us on . For any questions email us directly at sustainability@villanova.edu
芭乐视频, as a community of learned and learning scholars, respecting the sacredness of all creation, accepts its responsibility to the integrity of Earth and its biodiversity, to the heritage of future generations, and to the security of nations. By utilizing the Augustinian values of Unitas, Veritas, and Caritas, meaning love thy neighbor, promote community unity, and live life in moderation through our curriculum, work environment, and operations, 芭乐视频鈥檚 approach to sustainability exemplifies an emphasis on social justice and community service.
For questions regarding campus sustainability email Sustainability@villanova.edu