Meet Professor of Practice Kate Raworth
Our Professors of Practice each have their own area of expertise and each represents one of the ‘3 Ds’ in our strategic plan at AUAS. With Kate Raworth on board, AUAS has a Professor of Practice with vast experience in the realm of sustainability. This page explains what she’s doing at AUAS.
Kate Raworth (1970) is an economist at Oxford University and also works for the sustainable leadership program at the University of Cambridge. She is best known worldwide for her book Doughnut Economics, in which she calls for a new economic model that is better suited to the 21st century. She has also worked for Oxfam International and co-authored a report for the United Nations.
Raworth lives in England and visits the AUAS three to four times a year. She also works together with the city council in the 'Amsterdam Doughnut Coalition', which intends to use her model for, among other things, a new, sustainable waste policy.
short video in which Raworth introduces herself and describes what she wants to do at AUAS
In her role as Professor of Practice, Raworth will, among other things, act as a critical friend to the Centre of Expertise for Economic Transformation. This is intended to be a place where students, teachers and researchers, together with businesses and civil society organisations in the Amsterdam region, develop new expertise while using the basic principles of Raworth's work as a starting point. These principles include that economies, once they have flourished, should know their limits between the environmental ceiling and the social foundation.
Raworth also wants to play a role in 'transforming' the AUAS curriculum, starting with that of the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE).
- All AUAS students will be introduced to the aspects of sustainability applicable to their programme and if desired, they can study sustainability in greater depth, e.g. via extracurricular activities or minors. Sustainability is interwoven into AUAS’s research priority areas and our professorships offer students the opportunity to conduct research into aspects of sustainability, such as the circular transition, the energy transition and climate resilience.
- AUAS has a responsible ecological footprint and serves as a shining example of sustainability for students, staff and other stakeholders. AUAS invests in measures to promote sustainable transport and our target is to achieve a 25% reduction of the ecological footprint of all journeys by 2026. This includes both everyday commutes and workrelated travel, including flights and goods transport.
- All of AUAS’s buildings will be Paris-compliant by 2040 (all electric) depending on the progress of the national energy transition (energy generation), which will probably only be carbon neutral (CO2 neutral) by 2050. AUAS’s goal is to make our campuses entirely free of natural gas before 2040 and to research the optimal power-generation structure for AUAS campuses. We are working on a plan for sustainable use of raw materials that generates zero waste and within which all disused products and materials are reused in a manner appropriate to a circular economy. By 2050, all AUAS campuses will be circular, nature-inclusive and climate resilient. In the next few years, we will reduce the ecological footprint of our ICT usage and resources by 25%.
- In our canteens and catering establishments, we will offer a range of food and other products that is compatible with our knowledge of the limits of our planet, for example, by replacing animal proteins with vegetable proteins and preventing food waste. Furthermore, AUAS will strive to offer responsibly manufactured products whose production causes as little deforestation, overfishing and/or exploitation as possible.