The workshop will bring together more than 100 scientists, politicians, experts of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from countries in Asia and the world and it will focus on the issued related to climate change, sustainable development of urban and rural areas, environmental protection, highly-qualified human resources training in the field of sustainable science ... Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang, Vice President of VNU have had a very enthusiastic sharing. Prof. Vu Minh Giang - Vice President of VNU - Hello Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang, could you please tell us some more details about the subject of science for sustainable development in this conference? Sustainable Science is a very new field of science not only in Vietnam but also in all over the world, not only new just to a normal person, but also to those who do research. The birth of this science is the main cause of self-development of modern life. Humans are part of nature, and in the course of its development they have destroyed nature too much so now they have to receive its effects. Humans have been "revenged" by nature: flood, drought, greenhouse effect, and environment, climate change leading to health problems and cultural issues, social ... People increasingly live in insecurity. On the other hand, previously, science was developed towards single sector to serve the purpose of depth perception, in particular, but the disadvantage is losing overall, there is no holistic view. Therefore, interdisciplinary science was born to address those shortcomings. From two reasons above, it is about time to have a new generation of scientific knowledge to perceive the nature of sustainability such as causes, factors that create decrease, consolidation solution, explanations … And Science sustainable was established with the purpose of studying the development process with everything related to reality. Pioneering studies of sustainable development issues are scientists at the leading training and research center of the world such as Harvard, Tokyo.... Therefore, this conference is of great significance, is the continuation of a new development which is extremely important for humanity. Sustainable Science subjects is the sustainability, possibly sustainable spaces such as national, regional, provincial, regional... or it could be listed by areas: economy, society, culture, and community ... However the sustainability of this research is not stepping on old footsteps or following specialized research simulations, it will solve the problem through the relationships. - So what is the role of sustainable science in the development of Vietnam? Science is very important for sustainable development of mankind, especially for the development of Vietnam. Considering all aspects: natural conditions, ecological environment, history, culture and people, Vietnam is a country which suffers a lot from natural effects and has undergone many changes in history, multicolor ethnic, multi-religious, so the risk of losing ecological balance is very clear ... Vietnam has great demand in strengthening stability and social and political stability. Sustainability science is a kind of science that will help Vietnam raise awareness for development. - So what is the reason for the University of Tokyo to co-operate with VNU in this conference? VNU has a mission of pioneering, innovating in new academic areas, and based on awareness of the importance of sustainability science, VNU has taken many early steps on how to show its concern for such an important and new domain science. Code on graduate training in science for sustainable development has been built at VNU. Sustainable development is one of six core values that VNU is targeting. I think the meet in the enthusiasm for a common concern has led to this cooperation in the conference in Vietnam. - What will VNU contribute in the workshop? This conference brings together over 100 leading scholars in the field of sustainable science and VNU will everything to make the conference become success, and will make the first step in academic contribution, but only at the modest level because the knowledge and understanding of this science is still so new in Vietnam. - What is the meaning of the first Conference on Science held at VNU, sir? The conference held at VNU has three distinct meanings: First, the conference attracts the world's leading experts on sustainable science to exchange and help us directly inherit a lot of results that are brought by the conference. Vietnamese scientists are directly involved and talk to them. This is a very big chance that if the conference were held in foreign countries it could not obtain such results. Secondly, the position and prestige of VNU will be raised, which also expresses the concerns and wish to develop this field of science in Vietnam. Thirdly, it will establish the strong and wide relationship among leading experts on sustainable science. Finally, VNU is developing code on graduate training in science for sustainable development, and this is a good opportunity for training-programs building team to exchange information with leading experts on sustainable science to build training programs more updated and more reasonably.VNU will likely invite the top professionals to contribute in building and teaching VNU. If so, the quality of education will soon reach international standards. - How does VNU do to develop this science in the future? After finishing the conference, VNU will continue to take steps to develop stronger sustainable Sciences, and in the short term is the MA program. Maybe it is initially attracted a little attention from society, but in the future, this is essential for the management staffs in the state system from central to local levels, especially for those who do strategies, make investment plans. Currently we just train people in the direction of academic research, not in industry policy. If they are trained under this program, the quality of their policy will be much better because sustainable science will help people understand what policy making need. In the future, the VNU will continue training this majors at higher levels: to organize research on sustainable science topics, a national project. The national research programs now are mainly gathered in the form of science projects for sustainability, not of a particular specialty. We need a broader perspective of sustainable science in solving the practical problems of society. - What does VNU expect to contribute to sustainable science of the world? With these early, rapid and powerful steps under a tight schedule, the VNU hopefully expect that it will contribute to the world’s sustainable Science. Sustainability Science itself has many benefits in developing strong multidisciplinary and multi-sector of VNU and has a positive impact to the sustainable development of VNU. Like Environmental science, besides the theoretical problem, the global issue, with all the real sensitive, complex conditions which are set for Vietnam today, VNU, in particular and Vietnamese scientists, in general can contribute to sustainability science of the world, at least with the experience and the specific case of Vietnam. Thank you very much for the sharing, sir! THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE IN ASIA (ICSS-ASIA). MARCH 2-4, 2011, HANOI, VIETNAM Proceeding (PDF) 2 MB