"Change to Net Zero: Promoting “Human Agency” and governing “Data Ecologies” in the Digital age", July 6, 2022, Wednesday 3.30 pm, Pavilhão de Informática III, amphitheatre FA3

Date: July 6, 2022, Wednesday

Time: 3.30 pm

Place: Pavilhão de Informática III, amphitheatre FA3

• Speaker: Manuel Heitor (Full Professor at DEM / Scientific Area of Environment and Energy, researcher at IN+)

• Title: “Change to Net Zero: Promoting “Human Agency” and governing “Data Ecologies” in the Digital age"

• Abstract
To reach net zero, emissions from homes and cities, transport, agriculture and industry will need to be significantly reduced in the coming decades, together with the suppression of forest fires, while others activities, like aviation, will take longer and considerably larger additional investments.For this change to happen, we need to better understand “Human Agency” and our emerging collective behaviors, in a way to guarantee the sustainability of our populations and design the necessary incentives (fiscal, economic, social, culture and scientific), to foster and accelerate the change process to Net Zero in an increasingly digital era.  And this requires the governance of complex and massive amounts of data and their synergies (i.e., “data ecologies”),  including with new satellite-based data, together with the necessary knowledge and innovation to improve land use management. This program aims to promote a transatlantic dialogue to better guarantee responsible, climate-aware systems in complex landscapes in a decentralized and AI-supported digital age. It refers to a  multi-annual workplan, 2022-2030, to implement and promote an international and informal “think and do tank” to foster new research, scientific diplomacy and advocacy promoting “Change to Net Zero”.

• Short biographic note
Manuel Heitor (Lisbon, 1958) is full professor of mechanical engineering at Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) the engineering school of the University of Lisbon. He served more than 12 years in the Government of Portugal as Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education in the period November 2015 – March 2022 and Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education from March 2005 to June 2011. At Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), Manuel Heitor founded the IST´s Center for Innovation, Technology and Policy Research (IN+, https://in3.dem.ist.utl.pt/ ) in 1998, which he directed between 1998-2005 and 2012-2015.

This is another seminar of the “Seminars @ DEM” cycle.