Business and Economics

International Week on Sustainability

18 - 22 March 2024

Mission and objective

The mission of the Faculty of Business and Economics includes the strong international orientation of our educational and research activities. The course 'International Week on Sustainability' or I-Week was introduced in 2014 to embed international exposure into the curriculum of the Bachelor of Applied Economics: Business Economics and has since grown into a faculty-wide course, being incorporated in the curricula of our Bachelor of Economic Policy, Bachelor of Business Engineering, Bachelor of Business Engineering: Management Information Systems and Bachelor of Social-Economic Sciences.

During the I-week, students:

  1. interact with professionals and academics about economic, ecological and ethical sustainability;
  2. listen to a debate on sustainability, held by CEOs from international companies;
  3. analyze a current sustainability issue through group work with other international students;
  4. create and present a poster that summarizes the analyzed issue;
  5. meet students from all around the world;
  6. improve their language and intercultural skills.

I-Week in a nutshell

Programme and participants

The course consists of 5 intense days of presentations, discussions and workshops during which students are exposed to international academics, sustainability experts and CEOs. To get the most out of the I-week, 3 preparatory sessions are organized online in the weeks before the I-week. The I-Week takes place in a hybrid learning environment: it can be followed online, in class or both.

The first hybrid edition in 2022 made it possible to become even more international than before, with speakers and students with over 30 different nationalities from 5 different continents. For the 2023 edition, we had the honour of working together with 15 partner universities. 

Speakers 2024

The 2024 edition will include speakers such as Ekaterina Ivanova, Guido De Wilde, Ian Williamson, Jan Jonker, Orsolya Diofasi, Wouter Ghyoot, Antoine Lebrun, Kavita Hamza, Philippe Weiler, Shawn Theunissen, Gilke Eeckhoudt, Natalia Soebagjo, Christudas Karayil Victor, Martin Dinter, Lebone Nkhumeleni, Elizabeth Abba, Abhimanyu Sahoo, Peter Verhezen, Luc Van Liedekerke, and many more.

"Sustainability (ESG) beyond Woke and Compliance"

a blogpost by professors Peter Verhezen and Luc Van Liedekerke

The I-week is an innovative way to embed international perspectives and a focus on sustainability into the students' curriculum.

Aftermovie 10the edition of I-Week

This was the interdisciplinary day

Philippe de Woot Award Ceremony

The 2024 edition of the i-week hosts a unique biennial event: the 8th Philippe de Woot Award Ceremony for Best Master Thesis on Corporate Social Responsibility. It will take place on March 21, 2024 at 6.00 P.M.  at Aula Rector Dhanis, Universiteit Antwerpen.

Attendance is free, but registration is required for non-students.

Programme:

  • 17.30    Welcome
  • 18.00    Opening ceremony
  • 18.10    Award top 3 nominees’ presentations
  • 18.40    Announcement of the winner of the 8th Philippe de Woot Award

Musical Intermezzo by the Cusk Collective: Ear to Sea

  • 18.50    “Impact Investing: a CSR accelerator” by Eric Archambeau
  • 19.30    Reception with walking dinner

The Philippe de Woot award is organized biennially by UCLouvain, Louvain School of Management and the Louvain Foundation in cooperation with an academic partner. The Faculty of Business and Economics is this years host institution.