About
The Concept
Over the past years, the TU/e has taken a number of steps to become more sustainable. In 2016, the GO Green Office was established as a student organization. In 2021, Anna Wieczorek was appointed as Sustainability Ambassador and a team of staff members was created to facilitate the transition towards a more sustainable organization. Sustainability should be considered as a very broad concept, encompassing economic, social, and ecological aspects. Therefore, making the TU/e truly sustainable means accounting for it in the operations, governance, research and education of the university. The GO Green Office aims to communicate the importance of enabling this change to the many different boards and directors at the TU/e.
To achieve this, our team gives a physical chair to the TU/e Executive Board and all other leaders at our university, on behalf of the TU/e community. With the chair, we want to remind and encourage our university leadership that a sustainable future should always be considered and ‘have a seat at the decision-making table’. We will hand over the chair during the Opening of the Academic Year (OAY) on September 4, 2023, together with a statement and video. The Eindhoven climate alderman Rik Thijs and Dutch climate minister Rob Jetten have already received such a #ToekomstStoel, an idea by Jan Terlouw. By combining this physical chair with a number of well-considered interventions in the coming years, we increase awareness, encourage change and highlight the progress that is made.
About the Opening of the Academic Year
As is tradition, on September 4th, the TU/e officially opens the academic year. The event features a number of high-profile speakers and includes a reflection of last year and preview of the year to come. The theme of this years’ opening is ‘The Future Earning Power of The Netherlands and Europe’, which connect well to the idea behind the Chair of the Future. During the ceremony, we hand over the physical chair to the boards and directors at the TU/e and communicate the importance of our message. Afterwards, the chair can be viewed at the Senaatszaal and the team behind the initiative is available for questions.
About the GO Green Office
The GO Green Office is the organization of TU/e students and employees, that aims to make the operations, education, and the people on the TU/e move towards sustainability by shaping inspiring ideas and launching projects. Check out our website to learn more!
Long-term impact
To ensure that the impact of the Chair of the Future goes beyond the opening of the academic year, we are planning a number of activities throughout the coming years. This will likely include an exposition on the chair and the design process behind it, a tour where the chair visits all departments, and a collaboration with the Executive Board to present the chair at a number of key meetings. To keep up-to-date on everything yet to come, follow us on instagram!