Youth Engagement

Youth Engagement as a cornerstone of Sustainable Chemistry

The expectations of the young generation and their participation are of particular importance for the breakthrough of Sustainable Chemistry. Especially in times of "Fridays for Future" and matters of intergenerational justice, the voice of youth and youth organisations should be heard and taken seriously. By networking with youth organisations and strengthening the cooperation of the UN Youth Delegates for Sustainable Development (currently on the advisory board of ISC3), young people from science and civil society should be won over to the topic of Sustainable Chemistry and related scientific fields of education.

ISC3 Policy Trainings (for youth organisations)

The ISC3 aims to provides information and disseminate knowledge on sustainability and chemistry related political processes and topics such as on SAICM, European Policy, Multilateral Environmental Agreements and Human Rights Policy. As the group of children and youth is underrepresented in many decision-making processes (such as the in the SAICM process) we aim to support youth related organisations in making their voices heard and bring topics of generational justice to the table by providing trainings. There is no universally agreed international definition of the youth age group. For statistical purposes, however, the United Nations—without prejudice to any other definitions made by Member States—defines ‘youth’ as those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years. According to the World Youth Report (2020), there are 1.2 billion young people aged 15 to 24 years accounting for 16 per cent of the global population.

Academic and research cooperation

Academic and research cooperation One highlight of our cooperation in academic research, was our supportive work in the fully open access opinion piece “An overview of young chemists’ expectations towards the sustainable development of the chemical sector. Opinions that matter.” The opinion piece has been published in the highly renowned peer-reviewed academic journal De Gruyter in September 2021. The ISC3 supported JCF researchers in assisting, initiating, conceiving, and conducting the survey. A wrap up of the key findings of the opinion piece, including the expectations, barriers and possible solutions when fostering youth engagement in the chemical sector can be found here:

At the ISC3 we think it is important to give young scientists a voice in what their expectations are, how they believe they should be educated and prepared, and what opportunities they see for implementation levels in different areas to promote sustainable development.
At the same time, activities taken out by the ISC3 should contribute to making the expectations and ideas of young people more visible in the discussion on international chemical policy.

Examples of events and activities

We therefore have regular events with youth-related topics such as “#ISC3youthday - Young Chemists expectations of the chemical sector” or “People, Plastic and Pollution – How can youth engagement solve the global challenges of today?” whereas both multi-stakeholder discussions were co-organized by the Young Chemists Forum and United Nations Environment Programme Major Group of Children and Youth (UNEP MGCY). Both events took place during our virtual ISC3 Global Sustainable Chemistry Week 2021.

Information sessions

The ISC3 provides information sessions on their work and activities or at other conferences (e.g. Spring Symposium) on topics such as Sustainable Chemistry, Sustainability, Communication or topics with a social dimension (e.g. gender dimensions).

Youth Engagement