For eleven years, the joint research cluster ‘Ethics, Technology Assessment and Sustainable Leadership’ (ETN) at OTH Regensburg and OTH Amberg-Weiden has been inviting students from both universities to a study day every winter semester. The digital format has proven its worth since 2020.
The event was organised under the direction of Prof. Dr Christiane Hellbach (spokesperson of the ETN cluster at OTH Amberg-Weiden) and Prof. Dr Sonja Haug (deputy spokesperson of the ETN cluster at OTH Regensburg) as well as Jana Stadlbauer (research assistant at OTH Regensburg) and Laura Völkl (research assistant at OTH Amberg-Weiden).
The fact that sustainability and health are inextricably linked is reflected, among other things, in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. One of these 17 goals is ‘Health and well-being’. It calls for ensuring a healthy life for all people of all ages and promoting their well-being. At the same time, the overarching theme of the study day created a link to the participants' own lives, as everyone is inevitably concerned with their personal well-being. This aroused the interest of the ten participating students, who asked the speakers numerous questions and actively participated in the group work.
In the first keynote speech of the study day, PD Dr Carmen Jochem from the Chair of Planetary & Public Health at the University of Bayreuth began by explaining the negative consequences of the current prevailing diet. This makes people ill, destroys the natural foundations of life and is globally unjust. She then presented the Planetary Health Diet as a solution. This is a universal reference diet that enables healthy nutrition, reduces the negative environmental impact of food production and guarantees food security. Because, according to the Planetary Health approach, healthy people can only live on a healthy planet.
Prof Dr Sonja Haug and Dipl.-Pol. Edda Currle from the Institute for Social Research and Technology Assessment at OTH Regensburg then explored the question of whether digital services can sustainably improve healthcare. This would be the case if they were integrated into healthcare provision for all and used on a permanent basis. To this end, Prof Haug and Ms Currle presented a research project in which telepresence robots supported the care of stroke patients. Based on the results of the study, they concluded that high acceptance levels following the use of telepresence robots are the first prerequisite for successful long-term implementation.
In the third keynote speech, Laura Völkl from the Institute for Sustainability and Ethics at OTH Amberg-Weiden described how the consequences of climate change affect the health of workers, focussing on heat stress in the workplace. She emphasised that heat in the workplace leads to increased absences from work. The number of days of incapacity for work reported in Germany due to ‘damage caused by heat and sunlight’ has risen over the last ten years. The trend shows that further increases are to be expected in the future. Finally, the speaker briefly presented the legal framework designed to protect employees from heat in the workplace.
The subsequent group work phase followed on from the content of Ms Völkl's presentation. The students were asked to collect other consequences of climate change, apart from heat, and to explain their effects on health. They were also asked to research possible adaptation and protection measures. In the second step, the students took a global perspective and analysed how the consequences of climate change affect the lives and health of people in other parts of the world. The students worked on the task in two interdisciplinary, cross-university teams and then presented their findings to the plenary session.
