On 19-21 April 2009, the Faculty of Economics organised the Ninth International Conference on Current Issues of Sustainable Development, with a focus on issues of Governance and Institutional Change. The conference was co-organised by the University of Applied Sciences (Hochschule Zittau/Goerlitz, Germany), Private University of Applied Sciences (Private Fachhochschule Göttingen, Germany), International Graduate School (Internationales Hochschulinstitut Zittau (IHI), Germany), University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands) and Vilnius University (Lithuania). The international aspect of the conference was emphasised by contributions from Switzerland, England, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey, Slovenia, France, Iran and South Korea.
The conference was organised by prof. Joost Platje and prof. Janusz Słodczyk, with assistance of conference secretaries dr Robert Poskart and mgr Agnieszka Dembicka, mgr Bartosz Fortuński as well as 15 members of the Student Scientific Circle on Sustainable Development.
Main issues discussed were transition towards sustainable development in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Central Asia, sustainable transport and corporate social responsibility for achieving sustainable development. There was a very strong discussion element, where after presentation, papers were publicly discussed by co-discussants – prof. Joachim Ahrens (Göttingen, Germany), prof. Herman Hoen (Groningen, The Netherlands), dr Karol Kociszewski (Wrocław University of Economics), dr Sebastian Płociennik (Wrocław University) and prof. Joost Platje. An important element of the conference was the poster session. More than 20 posters were presented in the main hall of the Faculty of Economics. Very interesting posters were presented by students of the Scientific Circle on Sustainable Development, presenting their research on the direction of road traffic in the city of Opole.
Also students following a course on Urban and Regional Sustainable Development (3rd year) presented excellent posters on the issue to what extent local government is able to influence its own development.
The co-organisers of the conference expressed the wish to co-operate in next year conference, where the aim is to increase the international range of the conference even more, of which the wish of the Turkish partner to become a co-organiser is a good example. This development fits very well in the aim of the Faculty of Economics to start a Master in Economics in English (specialisation Urban and Regional Sustainable Development), with participation of lecturers from foreign partner universities.
