First Hybrid Conference in Nature’s History Held in Korea at KU

The KU’s Ojeong Resilience Institute (OJERI), together with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the 3 major ‘Nature’ journals, and the International ESG Association, held the 2021 Nature Conference at the LG Science Park in Seoul for 3 days from October 26 (Tue) to 28 (Thu) with the theme ‘Waste Management and Valorization for a Sustainable Future.’ KU became the first university in Korea to convene the Conference.

* The 3 major ‘Nature’ journals : Nature Nanotechnology / Nature Electronics / Nature Sustainability

This special event, the first hybrid conference ever in the history of Nature, was attended online and offline by about 1,500 participants from 100 countries around the world, including LG Energy Solution, the International ESG Association and the Ministry of Science and ICT, as well as the world’s most authoritative scholars at universities such as MIT, Cornell University, the University of Cambridge, Yale University, Stanford University and Princeton University. The participants shared their newest research results on sustainability and circular economy, and the editors-in-chief of the major Nature journals attended the conference on a real-time basis to discuss the future of sustainability together.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chung Jin Taek the President of KU, Lim Hye-sook the Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Lee Bang-soo the President of LG Inc, as well as many executive members and working-level employees from various Korean and overseas companies. They discussed the importance of sustainability at the levels of states, industries and enterprises.

At the opening ceremony held at 9 a.m. on October 26 (Tue), Chung Jin Taek, the President of KU said, “Beginning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals (P4G) activities, much sustained global effort has been made to manage climate change, and, including universities innovating towards sustainability. Therefore, it is significant that Korea is convening the conference to discuss these matters at a state level.” President Chung also expressed his expectation that “The conference will provide precious opportunities for the experts, government officials and entrepreneurs to share their knowledge for making a better future through cooperation and to review the policies for managing soil and groundwater pollution, and micro-dust and wastes such as plastics.”

Fabio Pulizzi, the chief editor of Nature Nanotechnology, said, “I’m happy to convene in Seoul the first hybrid conference ever in Nature’s history. In this conference, the great scholars of the world will share their newest technological accomplishments regarding circular economy, including soil and groundwater contamination, micro-plastics management, battery, food garbage recycling, and Biochar.”

Professor Lee Woo-kyun, the Director of OJERI, said, “I’m so happy that this conference with the theme of the UN SDGs can provide opportunities to discuss solutions to the earth’s environmental problems and reflect on the philosophy for future generations.”
 

On the second and third days, October 27 (Wed) and 28 (Thu), world-class scholars at the conference venue, including Professor William Mitch from Stanford University, US, who chaired the sessions, discussed for over 90 minutes with the editors-in-chief of the 3 major Nature journals and the conference participants, the details of the submission and review process of articles filed in Nature journals. The main participants of the session shared the latest news of the individual Nature journals, including their key agendas, so that in the future universities of Korea could successfully publish more research results in them.

World-class scholars in the field of ESG, including Professor Rhee Jay-hyuk from the Korea University Business School, the head of the organizing committee of the conference, and the editors-in-chief of the Nature journals, discussed for 3 days wide-ranging issues, such as electronic waste, circular economy, batteries, carbon neutrality, green hydrogen, sustainability, environmentally-friendly packaging, biochar, waste management and bioenergy.

In addition, graduate students, especially those participating in the BK 21 programs, had a poster presentation session throughout the conference, and opportunities to directly discuss their results with the scholars from other countries. The key speakers of the conference, including some of the world’s top 1% of scientists and the staff from the Nature Publishing Group Korea, had the time to develop their networks with the young researchers at the poster presentation site.