Niko Roorda. Auteur, onderzoeker en onafhankelijk consultant duurzame ontwikkeling

Dr Niko Roorda works on the integration of sustainable development in education since over 30 years. As an education developer and manager, he developed the world’s first sustainability course (BSc) in 1991, after which he pioneered on the integration of sustainability into existing courses. Being a co-founder of the Dutch Foundation for Sustainability in Higher Education (DHO), he coached universities and colleges in the Netherlands and abroad for many years.

Roorda studied theoretical physics and philosophy (MSc, 1981). He obtained his PhD (2010) in the social sciences on the topic of ‘sustainability in higher education’. His dissertation is still being downloaded every week.

He developed the assessment method AISHE, with which hundreds of sustainability certificates have been awarded to faculties and courses. AISHE has been applied in ca. 25 countries.

In 2001, Roorda received the Dutch National Award for Innovation and Sustainable Development. In 2018, he was chosen as the Netherlands’ Sustainable Lecturer of the Year in the Higher Education category.

Roorda wrote about twenty books. His Dutch ‘Basisboek Duurzame Ontwikkeling’ (1^st edition 2005; 4^th edition, 2020) is a bestseller: the textbook has been studied by over 40,000 students. Besides the English version, ‘Fundamentals of Sustainable Development’ (Routledge: 3^rd edition, 2021), the German edition, ‘Grundlagen der nachhaftigen Entwicklung’, was published by Springer last year.

His latest book, ‘Omniconomics’, is published in Dutch, and will be available in English in June 2022. During the ‘Groene Peper’, Roorda will describe the conclusions of his many years of research, where he proved that economics is only a protoscience. He will outline a plan for a new science that also redefines the sustainability principles: ‘intrinsic sustainability’. “Omniconomics starts where Doughnut Economy ends.”

Here, an important role is reserved for education, MSc & PhD students and scientists: in his presentation, Roorda offers concrete proposals.