Section events and activities before the ISIE 2019 conference

We are just over 4 months away from the next ISIE conference, which will take place in Beijing, China from July 7-11. During ISIE conferences there are often a number of side events and related activities that happen during or just before or after the conference itself. During a recent meeting with section representatives, the ideas and (tentative) plans of the different sections have been discussed.

This forum thread serves as a public platform where this discussion can continue -- specifically around the events scheduled before the conference. This allows other members to have a voice in this discussion, while also making our decision-making process more transparent.

Overview of activities

Based on earlier discussions, there are three events that have been scheduled or are being planned just before the conference:

Industrial Symbiosis Research Symposium
Industrial Symbiosis Section
This is the 16th edition of this symposium, to be held before the conference. It is aimed at members of the IS section and it will include a site visit (to an industrial park/site?) as part of the event. The date is not yet set in stone and the site visit may be combined with the student section site visit. The initial idea is to have the symposium on the 5th and the site visit on the 6th.

Symposium for Young Professionals
Student Section
This is an informative and networking event around the topic of turning IE research into action. Aimed at students and young professionals, and also potentially including a site visit to an industrial park. In principle aiming for Saturday the 6th, but date is not yet fixed.

Symposium: Urban Metabolism in Policy and Practice
Sustainable Urban Systems Section
This is an event organized with partner organizations (Metabolism of Cities, Institute of Urban Environment at CAS) and aimed at researchers who engage in urban metabolism work as well as city officials and practitioners from Beijing. It will be a niche event that is relevant to a subset of the SUS section. It will be a day-long event. In principle on Saturday the 6th unless there are strong reasons to move the date.

In addition to these events, a number of sections is planning to have section meetings during the conference. The conference organizing committee has been asked for the possibilities to provide a slot during the conference itself in order to hold these section meetings within regular hours during conference days. Once we know more about the possible time slots for these meetings we can proceed with the scheduling endeavors.

Through this post I would like to specifically ask the representatives from the IS and Student sections to provide insights into their preferred dates, constraints, and other ideas around how to coordinate the three events. I can respond any queries related to the urban metabolism symposium, as I am involved in the planning of this event -- and where needed or useful my colleagues can chime in.

Furthermore, if there are any other ideas or questions from other people around these events, feel free to post them here. Finally, I would like to ask the organizing committee to provide insights into the starting time and events that are scheduled for Sunday, July 7th, so that we can take this into account when planning these pre-conference activities.

Greetings from the ISIE student chapter board!

We have recently opened registration for our ISIE Beijing pre-conference event, The Sixth Symposium on Industrial Ecology for Young Professionals (SIEYP VI).

Our event will take place primarily on Saturday July 6th.  Most of the event will be hosted in a room on Tsinghua University campus.  In it, we are planning small- and large-group discussions about how we can translate IE research into action, and truly make a difference.  We will also discuss diversity & inclusion strategies for our field.

Later in the afternoon, we will go on a group field trip to a closed steel plant turned into a museum and cultural park, Shougang Park.

We will formally conclude on Sunday morning with breakfast.  We also plan to facilitate an optional sight-seeing trip on Sunday July 7th for those who do not plan to attend pre-conference metings.

Feel free to contact students@is4ie.org with questions!

~Reed Miller, ISIE SCB President