Est.1985
Environmental Lecture Series
Winter Semester 2024/2025
Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Journey into the World's Hidden Realities
Our media channels are filled with stories about economic trends, climate change, political power struggles, and global conflicts. But what else is happening on this planet? What critical realities remain hidden from our sight? What essential truths have been concealed from our minds?
The lecture series “Out of Sight, Out of Mind? – A Journey into the World’s Hidden Realities” aims to answer these questions by exposing the hidden dimensions. We invite you to explore the aspects of our world that deeply impact our environment, society, and future, but often remain unnoticed. There are various reasons why these topics remain unnoticed: some are simply invisible to the naked eye, like groundwater, microorganisms, and nanoplastics; others are overlooked by society, such as invasive species, wildlife diseases, and fungi. Then there are those activities intentionally kept out of the public view, like corruption, lobbyism, and illegal exploitation.
So, let’s use this Environmental Lecture Series to dig beneath the surface and uncover some of the world’s unseen realities. Let’s be stunned, engaged, and inspired to create an impact by our speakers and program. Because we don’t want to be left in the dark. Because it is important to know what is happening. Because we must keep these realities in mind and never lose sight of them.
For everybody else
Lectures and events
With the help of satellite data, we can communicate, navigate from A to B or gain important insights into climate change. We owe numerous innovations and future technologies to space research. In short: without space, our modern life would look very different!
The talk will highlight how important space is for sustainable life on Earth and on the challenges that space must face in order to become more sustainable.
Chiara Manfletti holds a degree in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College London, a masters degree in space studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg and a PhD from RWTH Aachen. She worked for the German Aerospace Center, DLR, as a research engineer in the field of liquid rocket propulsion and later joined the European Space Agency in 2016, where she was Head of Policy and Programmes Coordination at ESA. In March 2019 she was nominated the first President of the then just founded Portuguese national space agency, Portugal Space. Today she is Professor of Space Mobility and Propulsion at the Technical University of Munich in Germany and CEO of Neuraspace.
AI-enabled technologies have huge potential to enable climate action, from digital twins that model the Earth to algorithms that help us run the future of energy systems and transportation networks. But AI systems, especially the rise of deep learning and large language models, also raise sustainability concerns linked to the natural resources they consume such as electricity and water, and the carbon emissions they produce. All of this begs the question: can AI help save the planet?
Johannes Leon Kirnberger is a policy advisor for AI and sustainability at the AI Unit of the OECD Division of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). He previously led the program on climate action and biodiversity preservation at the Global Partnership on AI (GPAI) and the International Centre of Expertise in Montreal on AI (CEIMIA). Johannes is a member of the UNEP Expert Group on Digital Tech for Circular Economy, advises the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the green and digital “twin transition” and serves as guest lecturer at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) on climate change and AI policy. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from ESCP Business School, a Master of International Public Management from Sciences Po, and a Master in International Affairs, Energy and Environment from Columbia University.
Shared Session with Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences
Where: Lecture Hall R 1.046 (Roter Würfel) | Lothstraße 64 or online via Zoom Meeting-ID 947 3715 4657 with the password 631726
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of synthetic chemicals, which are also widely known as “forever chemicals”. They are used in various household, commercial and industrial products due to their unique properties of oil, water and stain repellency. As researches increasingly underscores the mobility, persistence and potential toxicity associated with these emerging contaminants, significant concerns for environmental and human health have been raised.
The European Green Deal commits to achieving a zero-pollution ambition for a toxic-free environment, where the urgent need to address risks from persistent and mobile hazardous chemicals are specifically mentioned. Development of advanced modelling techniques for identification of sources and pathways of water pollution is an essential prerequisite to facilitate the implementation of effective EU regulatory instruments and pollution control measures in river basin management. This is particularly required for substances as PFASs, as available monitoring data are limited for substances beyond PFOA and PFOS, and the mechanisms of transport for different PFAS substances via environmental pathways are not fully understood.
This talk will focus on the identification of emission sources, pathways and fate of PFASs related to urban waste water as well as to the Upper River Danube and its tributaries. Further on, it will highlight which conclusions can be drawn from these investigations on the risk of exceedance of thresholds of human and environmental health as well as on the effectiveness of different measures and concepts to control PFAS pollution in the aquatic environment.
Matthias Zessner is a full professor at the Institute for Water Quality and Resource Management at TU Wien. He holds a degree in Environmental Engineering and earned his PhD in 1998 with a focus on nutrient and heavy metal fluxes in wastewater. His research areas include water quality, river basin management, trace substance monitoring, and phosphorus recycling. Since 2020, he has been a full professor, following his role as an associate professor since 2005. Zessner is also a faculty member of the Vienna Doctoral Program on Water Resource Systems at TU Wien.
Shared Session with Hochschule München University of Applied Sciences
TBA
Location
On-site: TUM Main Campus
Room: 1180
Floor: 1
Building: Main building (Z1)
Location: Arcisstraße 21, 80333 München
Online: Zoom Webinar
Webinar-ID: 634 7067 0726
Password: hidden
Contact us!
rivo@fs.tum.de
History of the Environmental Lecture Series
The lecture series on the environment is an interdisciplinary, public lecture series organised by the Environmental Department of the Student Union of the TU Munich. It is organised by TU Munich students on a voluntary basis.
Speakers have been giving lectures on the topic of sustainability since 1985. This includes, for example, technical environmental protection, health, consumer and climate protection. In this way, it offers both students and teachers at the TU Munich, as well as the non-university public, the opportunity to learn about and discuss these topics and research results at a scientific level.
The speakers from research, associations, authorities and companies will be happy to answer questions from the audience after the lecture; the slides of the lectures, and in some cases the video recordings themselves, will be made available – if available – on our website. In the 40 years of its existence, more than 480 lectures have been organised so far.
In the meantime, the lecture series on the environment has become a regular part of the TU’s lecture programme and is supported, among others, by the management of the TU Munich, the Munich Center for Technology in Society and the KHG of the TU Munich. The lecture series on the environment is a partner of the BNB, the “Alliance for Sustainability in Bavaria”. In addition, some lectures are held in cooperation with the Environmental Academy and the Munich Forum for Sustainability.
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