Overview Sustainability Day 2025
The Sustainability Day 2025 took place on April 8 in Winterthur, exploring how AI can drive responsible learning, living, and leading. The ZHAW-wide event was organised by an international team of nine students from the School of Management and Law.
The Sustainability Day 2025 Team
- Paula de Arespacochaga Lara, MSc Circular Economy Management, SML (co-project lead)
- Jacob Christensen, MSc Banking and Finance, SML (co-project lead)
- Mumui Alija, MSc Banking and Finance, SML
- Mergim Avoli, MSc Banking and Finance, SML
- Chenyun Zhang, MSc Banking and Finance, SML
- Kateryna Kobtseva, MSc Circular Economy Management, SML
- Riziki Murhula, MSc Circular Economy Management, SML
- Carla Schwämmle, MSc Business Administration (Marketing), SML
- Elisa Van Bochove, MSc Circular Economy Management, SML
Paula de Arespacochaga Lara and Jacob Christensen lead the project starting in October 2024, joined by a team of seven volunteers. Through collaborative brainstorming sessions and discussions on today’s most urgent global challenges, the students chose AI as the central theme—framing it within the context of three pivotal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
From October 2024 to March 2025, the Sustainability Day Team worked together to design the event programme, leading to its successful execution in April 2025. Demonstrating initiative and independence, the students secured sponsorships, built partnerships with companies, and managed communications with key stakeholders both within and beyond ZHAW. Their efforts were guided and supported by Alexandra Grammenou, PRME Coordinator at the School of Management and Law, and Emma Sonnier, responsible for Sustainability Engagement at ZHAW sustainable.
An interview with the project leaders!
Learn more about the 2025 Sustainability Day Team and their inspiration for that year’s “AI meets Sustainability” theme.
A successful programme
Infomesse & Poster-Session
The morning kicked off with an interactive info fair and poster session, offering insights into impactful projects and companies working at the intersection of innovation and sustainability.
Companies at the Info Fair: livXp, IBM, Wonderfill, PingDo, Beyond-Bot
Visitors could take part in the popular Bean Bag Throwing Game, test their knowledge in a fun sustainability quiz and win small prizes.
Workshops
In einer Reihe von praktischen Workshops, die auf zwei Hauptslots am Nachmittag verteilt waren, haben die Teilnehmenden die vielfältigen Anwendungen von KI im Zusammenhang mit Nachhaltigkeit erkundet – und umgekehrt. Die Themen reichten vom Einsatz von KI-Tools für die akademische Forschung (geleitet von Margrit Meyer Kälin) bis hin zu ethischen Herausforderungen (geleitet von Dr. Ana Kotarcic), den Umweltauswirkungen digitaler Technologien unter der Leitung von IBM und praktischen Anwendungsfällen wie der Lebenszyklusanalyse von Alltagsprodukten (geleitet von Thomas Kägi). Mit Bandara wurden auch neue Technologien wie Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality und das Metaversum auf ihr Potenzial zur Unterstützung einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung untersucht.
Keynotes & Podiumsdiskussion
The evening programme featured two keynote speeches and a panel discussion.
The first keynote, led by Prof. Dr. Jan-Alexander Posth, explored how innovation in AI can accelerate the shift toward a more sustainable economy, highlighting the opportunities and risks of emerging technologies. The second keynote, led by Dr. Ricardo Chavarriaga, addressed the intersection of AI and responsible consumption and production, linking technical innovation to the SDGs and examining how sustainability can be embedded into AI development processes.
The day concluded with a panel discussion on ethical responsibility in AI, where experts debated accountability, governance, and the societal impact of intelligent systems. During the discussion, we were surprised to learn that many of the AI experts present seldom used AI tools themselves!
The panellists:
- Dr. Ana Kotarcic
Director of Studies Linguistic Diversity Management
ZHAW School of Applied Linguistics - Dr. Ricardo Chavarriaga
Group Leader, Responsible AI Innovation
ZHAW School of Engineering - Jonas Conrad
Co-Founder
Sentinus - Dr. Oliver Buchholz
Postdoctoral research fellow
ETH Zurich Health Ethics & Policy Lab
In short
The sixth edition of Sustainability Day @ ZHAW successfully brought together students and faculty from across the university, and beyond, to explore the intersection between sustainable development and the rise of AI.
Organised by ZHAW students, the event showcased innovative ideas, strong organisational skills and great teamwork, with a programme that strongly aligned with the SDGs and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UN PRME).
