International seminar "Rethinking human-nature relationship"

One of the most important challenges today is learning how to live with climate change. In a world where planetary boundaries are increasingly exceeded, wild species are disappearing, pollution is growing, and human needs continue to expand, the question is not only how to preserve what remains, but also how to learn to inhabit a changing and damaged world. This challenge concerns both learning and teaching: how can teachers and educators take responsibility not only for themselves and their students, but also for the environments they inhabit. The seminar, therefore, asks: How should relationships between humans and the environment change? How should teaching and learning practices transform? Which competencies do teachers and educators need today?

This international seminar continues the research project ENVOLEARN (Vilnius University, Lithuania), which investigates how teachers and educators can respond to the challenges of the Anthropocene through continuous learning and the development of new competencies. The project seeks to rethink human-environment relationships and explore practices that foster ecological awareness and environmentally attentive ways of thinking and acting. The seminar also continues cooperation with the Contemporary Art Centre Sapieha Palace and expands collaboration with other organisations and educational institutions working on human–nature relations, including Sengirės fondas and Patirčių slėnis, strengthening international and interdisciplinary dialogue among environmental education, philosophy, and artistic practice. 

Bringing philosophy, education, and art into conversation, the seminar approaches them as interconnected forms of theory and practice. The first day will focus on theoretical discussions and held in English, bringing together researchers and other participants for discussions that explore perspectives beyond the traditional division between nature and culture. The second day will focus on practical explorations and will be dedicated to practitioners, including teachers and non-formal educators and art educators. Through different workshops, participants will be invited to explore theoretical ideas in practice and collectively experiment with new ways of relating to and learning with nature. Please check below if the workshop is held in English or Lithuanian.

The seminar is open to researchers and artists, theorists and practitioners, teachers and non-formal educators, students, and anyone interested in human–nature relations and the development of environmental competencies in education.

Seminar participants will have the opportunity to visit the exhibitions at Sapieha Palace with discount.

The event is free of charge, but registration is required.

Registration day one: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/JwARt37MTp
Registration day two: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/KvcUqXWcXc

More about the project: http://www.fsf.vu.lt/en/envolearn

Sapieha Palace: https://sapiegurumai.lt/en/

PROGRAM

This event is financed by research No. EDU-23-18, which is co-funded by the European Union (the project “Breakthrough in Educational Research” No. 10-044-P-0001) under the 1 April 2025 Agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (RCL) and the 15 April 2025 Joint Activity Agreement with Vilnius University.