Dear colleague,

The holiday season is upon us. Another year over and what have we done? ‘Lots of things’, is the short answer. For example: we organized our Symposium, Summer Schools, Masterclasses and a large number of Lunch Webinars. But there were things we couldn’t do due to Covid-19. We had to postpone our PhD Grants Ceremony. And many of our meetings still had to be online, because of the Covid-19 measures, as you all know.

This year, the pandemic reminded us again of how small and vulnerable our societies and planet are, as did other phenomena. Just recently, the US was hit by a devastating tornado that destroyed a large part of Kentucky. Yes, climate change. These sorts of events tell us how important it is to work towards a more sustainable society.

There are also reasons to be optimistic. Several Covid-19 vaccines were developed in a very short period of time at a speed unknown to man until now, and they are doing their job. Yes, mankind is causing problems, but we are also able to solve many of them. As our knowledge grows and science advances, we are better able to meet the challenges faced by our societies.

Sustainable Society in Groningen is proud to be a part of the solution. We are only a small part of worldwide efforts to find solutions to the challenges the future presents to us, but we are growing. This has been recognized by the University of Groningen. The UG is founding four ‘Schools’ and plans to turn us into a ‘School’ are well underway. This month the first plans for new and bigger housing for the Schools were presented. Exciting news!

The SuSo team would like to thank you for your support and cooperation in making many of our events happen and successful.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy 2022 full of good health, joy and prosperity!

Kees, Shanty, Astrid and Marco