Nobel Prize Summit
Programme
The 2021 Nobel Prize Summit was a meeting for Nobel Prize laureates, experts, policy makers, teachers, students – with many opportunities for anyone interested in questions about how humankind’s future on Earth will be achieved and shaped.
The summit was split into three tracks:
Main Stage: Days 1-2
The main programme consisting of three parts: Our Planet, Breakthroughs, and Our Future.
See below for the main summit programme.
Click here to watch the Main Stage sessions.
Academic Science Sessions: Days 2-3
Scientific sessions designed for Nobel Prize laureates and other scientific experts in global sustainability, but open to all to watch. These sessions discussed the role of science in supporting transformations towards global sustainability and resilient societies.
Click here for more information and to watch the scientific programme
Solution Sessions: Day 3
Concurrent sessions turning knowledge into actions. Separate registration required.
Click here to learn more
All times are cited in US Eastern Time. Please note that this agenda is subject to change.
Day 1: 26 April
09:15 - 09:45 US Eastern Time
9:15 NETWORKING
Sign on early and take a look at who is attending. Connect with fellow attendees via virtual meet-ups.
9:45 DOORS OPEN TO VIRTUAL MAIN STAGE
Grab a beverage and get ready to settle in for the program opening.
SESSION 1: OUR PLANET
10:00 - 13:00 US Eastern Time
10:00 THE PERFECT HOME
Sir David Attenborough provides a message for our planet via a glimpse into his newest project.
10:20 WELCOME FROM THE THREE PRESENTING HOSTS
Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director, The Nobel Foundation
Marcia McNutt, President, US National Academy of Sciences
Johan Rockström, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
10:30 SETTING THE STAGE: OUR PLANET
Former US Vice President Al Gore, Nobel Prize laureate, Co-Founder and Chair of Generation Investment Management, and Founder and Chair of the Climate Reality Project
10:45 THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
A conversation between
Sandra Diaz, Professor of Ecology at Córdoba National University and senior member of the National Research Council of Argentina
Thomas Lovejoy, Professor of Ecosystems, George Mason University
11:00 MUSICAL PERFORMANCE AND ART PIECE: BEATIE WOLFE FEATURING FROM GREEN TO RED
Artist and UN Women campaign role model for innovation Beatie Wolfe shares her latest work, built using 800,000 years of climate data.
With an introduction by Nobel Prize laureate Robert Woodrow Wilson
11:15 DYNAMIC DIALOGUES
A fast-paced, interactive exchange centered around the Summit’s core topics.
Human rights
Martin Chalfie, Nobel Prize laureate, Professor of Biology, Columbia University
With Connie Nshemereirwe, independent science and policy facilitator
Gatwal Augustine Gatkuoth, peacebuilding advocate
Gingger Shankar, musician and activist
Economics of inequality
Gary Hoover, Professor of Economics and Director of the Murphy Institute at Tulane University
With Simon Levin, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University
Zoe Jenkins, education justice activist
Sustainability/Earth systems
Brigitte Baptiste, biologist, Chancellor of Universidad Ean, Colombia
With Adam Riess, Nobel Prize laureate, cosmologist
Klaus von Klitzing, Nobel Prize laureate, physicist
Anne Muthoni, climate change enthusiast
Technology
Stanley Whittingham, Nobel Prize laureate, Professor of Chemistry, Binghamton University, State University of New York
With David Gross, Nobel Prize laureate, Chancellor’s Chair Professor of Theoretical Physics and former Director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Beatie Wolfe, artist and UN Women campaign role model
Ahmad Mobayed, digital education advocate, youth leader and co-founder of the Syrian Youth Assembly
Hosted by actor, writer, musician, producer, futurist, and science enthusiast Ahmed Best
12:10 DYNAMIC DIALOGUES BREAKOUT
Choose your own adventure audience Q&A: Which of the dynamic dialogues piqued your curiosity? Join the discussion group of your choice to take a deeper dive with one of our dynamic dialogue scientists.
13:00 CLOSE OF FIRST SESSION
13:00 - 15:00 US Eastern Time
BRAIN BREAK
Join a relaxing, 30-minute yoga and soundbath session with Phyllicia Bonanno, work on a fun puzzle challenge with puzzle master David Kwong, network with fellow attendees, catch up on personal business, or take a walk. Your choice! Be sure to come back refreshed for Session 2.
SESSION 2: BREAKTHROUGHS
15:00 - 17:00 US Eastern Time
15:00 SESSION OPENS
15:05 WELCOME
Johan Rockström, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
15:15 PAY IT FORWARD: ENVISIONING NEXT STEPS WITH OUR LEADERS OF TOMORROW
Xiye Bastida, climate activist and youth leader
15:25 EVIDENCE OF URGENCY: AN ISLAND NATION’S CALL TO ACTION
David W. Panuelo, President of the Federated States of Micronesia
15:40 MUSICAL PERFORMANCE: GINGGER SHANKAR AND SPECIAL GUESTS
Promises of Our Grandmothers is an original musical piece by Gingger Shankar exploring the roles of our Grandmothers and their relationship to the land and environment.
15:50 MANY AVENUES FOR ACTION: A PANEL DISCUSSION
Sir Richard Roberts, Nobel Prize laureate, Chief Scientific Officer at New England Biolabs
Tamar Krishnamurti, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh and CEO of Naima Health
Rana el Kaliouby, Co-Founder and CEO of Affectiva
Moderated by Nisha Anand, CEO of Dream Corps
16:10 GIVING POWER TO SOLUTIONS
A conversation between
Steven Chu, Nobel Prize laureate and Professor of Physics and Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University
Natalia Kanem, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund
16:25 A COMMITMENT TO COOPERATION
A conversation between John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate
Marcia McNutt, President, US National Academy of Sciences
16:30 CLOSING REMARKS
Marcia McNutt, President, US National Academy of Sciences
16:40 NETWORKING SESSIONS: CONNECTING & COLLABORATING TO CREATE CHANGE
Meet someone new or connect with a colleague. Collaborate with fellow attendees.
17:00 CLOSE OF DAY 1
Day 2: 27 April
SESSION 3: OUR FUTURE
13:00 - 17:30 US Eastern Time
13:00 COFFEE OR COCKTAILS
Hosted by leading mixologists, attendees will be led through a coffee and cocktail mixology demonstration to prepare a beverage to enjoy during the session.
13:30 OPENING REMARKS
Vidar Helgesen, Executive Director of the Nobel Foundation
13:50 TOGETHER WE STAND: A VIEW TO THE FUTURE
A message from Ursula Von der Leyen, President, The European Commission
13:55 A PANDEMIC GUIDE TO SOLVING PROBLEMS WITH SCIENCE: A PANEL DISCUSSION
Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health
Jennifer Doudna, Nobel Prize laureate, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, Berkeley
Peter Doherty, Nobel Prize laureate and patron of the Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne
Moderated by author and policy analyst Laurie Garrett
14:20 LISTENED: LEARNED
Key themes and messages from the previous panel will be shared by the US National Academy of Medicine President, Victor Dzau.
14:30 HARD PROBLEMS: SCIENCE SOLUTIONS
A message from James Liao, President of Academia Sinica
14:40 WE ARE THE WORLD: HIS HOLINESS, THE 14TH DALAI LAMA
An interview with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet.
14:55 NETWORKING
Seek out fellow attendees to connect or join a roundtable discussion on summit topics created to foster discussion and action.
15:15 TOOLBOX OF TRUTH
A conversation between Saul Perlmutter, Nobel Prize laureate and Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and Bryan Doerries, Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions, The Oedipus Project
15:30 THE OEDIPUS PROJECT: A SPECIAL PERFORMANCE AND GLOBAL DISCUSSION
The Oedipus Project presents acclaimed actors reading scenes from Sophocles’ Oedipus the King as a catalyst for powerful, constructive, global conversations about climate change, ecological disaster, and environmental justice. Sophocles’ ancient play, first performed in 429 BC just after the first wave of a plague that killed nearly one-third of the Athenian population, is a story of arrogant leadership, ignored prophecy, intergenerational curses, and a pestilence and ecological collapse that ravages the archaic city of Thebes. Seen through this lens, Oedipus the King appears to have been a powerful tool for helping Athenians communalise trauma and loss, while interrogating their own complicit role in the suffering, not just of those around them but also of generations to come. This performance will be presented on Zoom.
Featuring performances by Bill Murray ('Lost in Translation'), Frances McDormand ('Nomadland'), Jeffrey Wright ('Westworld'), Frankie Faison ('The Wire'), David Strathairn ('Good Night, and Good Luck'), Marjolaine Goldsmith (Company Manager of Theater of War Productions), and Jumaane Williams (New York City Public Advocate), and a Chorus of Nobel Prize-awarded scientists, including Elizabeth Blackburn and Harold Varmus.
Translated, directed, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.
17:30 CLOSE OF DAY 2