Exploring inner sustainability through aerosol science: NSYSU hosts the first International IDG Forum in Asia
2025-03-11
The world is facing multiple ecological challenges caused by human activities, including air pollution, global climate changes, posing significant threats to the ecological sustainability of the Earth. The Aerosol Science Research Center (ASRC) of National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan hosted the "2024 International IDG Forum: From Aerosol Sciences Toward a Sustainable Earth" at the National Science and Technology Museum. The forum took aerosol science as a special lens and integrated science, art, and philosophy, to manifest the close connectedness between humans and the ecological environment. Breaking free from traditional thinking frameworks, this IDG event attracted 170 participants from Taiwan, the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Turkey, and other countries, who joined either in-person or online, to discuss concrete strategies to address environmental crises.
Professor Chia C. Wang, Director of the ASRC at NSYSU and Coordinator of Taiwan Kaohsiung IDG Hub, emphasized that strengthening Inner Development Goals (IDGs) and reflecting personal and collective inner values, followed by making necessary transformations, can facilitate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Wang further explained that aerosols, fine particles suspended in the air, are ubiquitous and intricately linked to Earth's major systems—the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere—at the molecular level. Awareness of this complexity helps people deeply comprehend the connectedness among everything, and the essence of the oneness as a whole, and eventually take actions to make necessary changes to improve our shared ecological environment, and co-create a more sustainable future for all.
Minister of Education of Taiwan, Dr. Ying-Yao Cheng stated in his opening speech that many inner qualities emphasized by the IDGs, such as critical thinking, complexity awareness, long-term orientation and visioning, sense of connectedness, and empathy and compassion for others, are key elements for solving numerous ongoing ecological crisis and co-creating a sustainable future. He expressed sincere appreciation for the leadership of NSYSU's ASRC in guiding the world to reassess the importance of inner qualities in rebuilding the homeostasis between humans and the environment. Jan Artem Henriksson, Executive Director of Inner Development Goals also provided a pre-recorded opening remark to strengthen the urgency of increasing awareness of IDGs to address the global environmental crisis
To highlight the close interconnectedness of aerosols, climate, and human health, the forum invited a number of world-renowned scientist, including the cloud physicist and Academia Sinica academician of Taiwan, Professor Pao-Kuan Wang, who discussed the close relationship between aerosol, clouds, and climate; Professor Ralf Zimmermann from the University of Rostock, Germany who addressed the health impact of aerosols from diverse sources on human at the cellular level; Professor Avidan Neumann from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany who talked about the airborne transmission from the COVID-19 pandemic; and Dr. Jong-Rung Tsai, the Vice Superintendent of Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Taiwan who addressed various adverse health impacts of air pollution from the epidemiological perspective. Additionally, NSYSU's ASRC Visiting Professor and En-Roads Climate Ambassador, Professor Hsunling Bai introduced climate action to address global warming, bridging IDGs and SDGs; and Professor Wei-Hsiang Chen, Head of the Institute of Environmental Engineering of NSYSU, discussed wastewater discharge and bioaerosols generated in the processes.
This IDG event also invited industry representatives, including Wen-Ying Chang, Chief Officer of Sustainable Development Executive Office of Taiwan International Ports Corp., Taiwan, and Dr. Huai-Ren Lai, Senior Director of Risk Management and Environment, Health & Safety at United Microelectronics Corp., Taiwan, to share practical experiences in reducing air pollution, nanoparticle exposure in occupational environments, and ESG implementation practices. Maria Testa, IDG global coordinator from Amsterdam, Netherlands also explained why it is necessary and imperative for the industry to drive sustainability through innovation, collaboration, and transformation.
The IDG forum also featured with an ecology-oriented art performance entitled "The Quest of Electron Clouds," co-created by I-Lien Ho, Associate Professor from the Department of Theatre Arts, NSYSU, Taiwan, Chi-Hsin Chen, a musician, and Chia C. Wang. By integrating science, music, and theater art, this original play attempted to elaborate the interconnectedness from the perspective of modern quantum mechanics, in which all matters in the universe is comprised of fundamental particles like electrons, protons and neutrons. By highlighting Schrödinger's cat, the famous thought experiment to depict the particle-wave duality, the play strengthened that everything in the universe is interconnected and should be seen as one whole entity. This artistic expression prompts the audience to re-evaluate the essence of our beings, and our relationship with ourselves, others, and the ecological environment. This Forum is co-organized by Taiwan Kaohsiung IDG Hub for SDGs, IDG Asian Wisdom Network, AIR HoPE Academic-Industry Research Hub for People and Earth, PM2.5 Control Association, Taiwan International Ports Corporation, National Science and Technology Museum, Taiwan Indoor Environment Quality Management Association, Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research、Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Yuan T. Lee Foundation Science Education for All- Kaohsiung Office.
The Aerosol Science Research Center (ASRC) of National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan is the only aerosol-focused research center in Asia, which carries out multi-faceted innovative aerosol research to improve the air quality and safeguard health for the public. ASRC is the first IDG Hub established in Taiwan, and one of few IDG Hubs that took the initiative to promote IDGs from higher education institutes to facilitate the SDGs.
The world is facing multiple ecological challenges caused by human activities, including air pollution, global climate changes, posing significant threats to the ecological sustainability of the Earth. The Aerosol Science Research Center (ASRC) of National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan hosted the "2024 International IDG Forum: From Aerosol Sciences Toward a Sustainable Earth" at the National Science and Technology Museum. The forum took aerosol science as a special lens and integrated science, art, and philosophy, to manifest the close connectedness between humans and the ecological environment. Breaking free from traditional thinking frameworks, this IDG event attracted 170 participants from Taiwan, the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Turkey, and other countries, who joined either in-person or online, to discuss concrete strategies to address environmental crises.
Professor Chia C. Wang, Director of the ASRC at NSYSU and Coordinator of Taiwan Kaohsiung IDG Hub, emphasized that strengthening Inner Development Goals (IDGs) and reflecting personal and collective inner values, followed by making necessary transformations, can facilitate the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Wang further explained that aerosols, fine particles suspended in the air, are ubiquitous and intricately linked to Earth's major systems—the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere—at the molecular level. Awareness of this complexity helps people deeply comprehend the connectedness among everything, and the essence of the oneness as a whole, and eventually take actions to make necessary changes to improve our shared ecological environment, and co-create a more sustainable future for all.
Minister of Education of Taiwan, Dr. Ying-Yao Cheng stated in his opening speech that many inner qualities emphasized by the IDGs, such as critical thinking, complexity awareness, long-term orientation and visioning, sense of connectedness, and empathy and compassion for others, are key elements for solving numerous ongoing ecological crisis and co-creating a sustainable future. He expressed sincere appreciation for the leadership of NSYSU's ASRC in guiding the world to reassess the importance of inner qualities in rebuilding the homeostasis between humans and the environment. Jan Artem Henriksson, Executive Director of Inner Development Goals also provided a pre-recorded opening remark to strengthen the urgency of increasing awareness of IDGs to address the global environmental crisis
To highlight the close interconnectedness of aerosols, climate, and human health, the forum invited a number of world-renowned scientist, including the cloud physicist and Academia Sinica academician of Taiwan, Professor Pao-Kuan Wang, who discussed the close relationship between aerosol, clouds, and climate; Professor Ralf Zimmermann from the University of Rostock, Germany who addressed the health impact of aerosols from diverse sources on human at the cellular level; Professor Avidan Neumann from the Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany who talked about the airborne transmission from the COVID-19 pandemic; and Dr. Jong-Rung Tsai, the Vice Superintendent of Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Taiwan who addressed various adverse health impacts of air pollution from the epidemiological perspective. Additionally, NSYSU's ASRC Visiting Professor and En-Roads Climate Ambassador, Professor Hsunling Bai introduced climate action to address global warming, bridging IDGs and SDGs; and Professor Wei-Hsiang Chen, Head of the Institute of Environmental Engineering of NSYSU, discussed wastewater discharge and bioaerosols generated in the processes.
This IDG event also invited industry representatives, including Wen-Ying Chang, Chief Officer of Sustainable Development Executive Office of Taiwan International Ports Corp., Taiwan, and Dr. Huai-Ren Lai, Senior Director of Risk Management and Environment, Health & Safety at United Microelectronics Corp., Taiwan, to share practical experiences in reducing air pollution, nanoparticle exposure in occupational environments, and ESG implementation practices. Maria Testa, IDG global coordinator from Amsterdam, Netherlands also explained why it is necessary and imperative for the industry to drive sustainability through innovation, collaboration, and transformation.
The IDG forum also featured with an ecology-oriented art performance entitled "The Quest of Electron Clouds," co-created by I-Lien Ho, Associate Professor from the Department of Theatre Arts, NSYSU, Taiwan, Chi-Hsin Chen, a musician, and Chia C. Wang. By integrating science, music, and theater art, this original play attempted to elaborate the interconnectedness from the perspective of modern quantum mechanics, in which all matters in the universe is comprised of fundamental particles like electrons, protons and neutrons. By highlighting Schrödinger's cat, the famous thought experiment to depict the particle-wave duality, the play strengthened that everything in the universe is interconnected and should be seen as one whole entity. This artistic expression prompts the audience to re-evaluate the essence of our beings, and our relationship with ourselves, others, and the ecological environment. This Forum is co-organized by Taiwan Kaohsiung IDG Hub for SDGs, IDG Asian Wisdom Network, AIR HoPE Academic-Industry Research Hub for People and Earth, PM2.5 Control Association, Taiwan International Ports Corporation, National Science and Technology Museum, Taiwan Indoor Environment Quality Management Association, Taiwan Association for Aerosol Research、Kaohsiung Municipal Ta-Tung Hospital, Yuan T. Lee Foundation Science Education for All- Kaohsiung Office.
The Aerosol Science Research Center (ASRC) of National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU), Taiwan is the only aerosol-focused research center in Asia, which carries out multi-faceted innovative aerosol research to improve the air quality and safeguard health for the public. ASRC is the first IDG Hub established in Taiwan, and one of few IDG Hubs that took the initiative to promote IDGs from higher education institutes to facilitate the SDGs.
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