Leadership & Learning Highlights
Villars Institute joins the IUCN Conservation Center
The Villars Institute moved into the IUCN Conservation Centre in Gland, Switzerland in August. The Institute will continue to host its flagship events in beautiful Villars-sur-Ollon. This move marks an important step in strengthening its programming capacity and collaborative potential in the cantons of Geneva and Vaud. The new office provides a dedicated hub to advance new projects, facilitate cross-sector partnerships, enhance coordination among our partners, and promote collaboration with the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) ecosystem of conservation experts and partner organizations worldwide.
Selection of the 4th Cohort for the Villars Fellowship Program
The Villars Instituted accepted +130 young leaders between the ages of 13 to 19 into the 4th cohort of Villars Fellowship program. The Fellows came from 40 countries and were nominated by 32 Learning Partners for having the 5 key traits of a systems leader. There are now over 500 Villars Fellows active worldwide. The aim of this lifelong leadership program is to empower young people to address complex systemic challenges such as biodiversity loss, climate change, food security, nature restoration, and renewable energy by promoting intergenerational collaboration.
Establishment of the Villars Youth Council
The foundation board established the Villars Youth Council in January to advise on the development of the Villars Fellowship and Villars Symposium programs and to ensure youth voices shape the Institute’s leadership initiatives. The Council meets quarterly to provide insights that strengthen intergenerational collaboration and advance systems leadership for a sustainable future.
Launch of the Villars Mentorship Program
Launched the Villars Mentorship Program, which empowers a new generation of systems leaders by fostering intergenerational collaboration and knowledge exchange between experts of the Villars Institute Community and Villars Fellows through a one-to-many model. The program equips Fellows with guidance and perspectives from experienced mentors while enabling mentors to shape the mindsets and skills of future leaders dedicated to transformative change for a sustainable planet.
Convened the 3rd Villars Institute Summit
The 3rd Villars Institute Summit was held in March at the historic Villars Palace Hotel with over 280 experts, entrepreneurs, investors, and philanthropists. The Summit aimed to address the climate and biodiversity crises holistically through interdisciplinary cooperation to accelerate systemic change. A cohort of 20 Villars Fellows was selected to serve as official rapporteurs to draft the Summit Report, which was held under the Chatham House Rule. The Summit was built around a various thematic roundtables community consultations organized by Strategic Partners such as:
- Ocean & Poles Roundtable: Ground Zero for Planetary Tipping Points co-hosted with Mercuria
- Building Momentum for Systems Change convened with the Global Commons Alliance
- Workshop on Systemic Action to Address Illegal Wildlife Trade with the Royal Foundation
- Workshop with GITEX Impact Leaders
- Inaugural Steering Board Meeting of the Global Ecosystems Atlas
- Workshop with Porticus on Repurposing Harmful Subsidies
- Special meeting of the Uplink Innovation Network of the World Economic Forum
5th Villars Institute Distinguished Lecture
The 5th Villars Institute Distinguished Lecture was given by Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief of Nature and Chief Editorial Adviser for Nature Portfolio. She opened the 3rd Villars Institute Summit, with a rich lcture focused on the role of scientific collaboration in building a healthy research ecosystem.
Launch of the Certification in Systems Leadership
The Villars Institute launched its professional Certification in Systems Leadership with its first cohort of design professionals participating from EY wavespace™. Three tracks of the Systems Leadership Certificate Program have been designed for youth, educators, and executives. The program consists of two courses taught in two modules each. Each module represents two hours of synchronous learning, amounting to eight hours of active class participation to complete the program. The first course, Systems Thinking as a Critical Skill, introduces core tools of systems thinking and its relevance in addressing complex problems. The second course, Systems Leadership as a Purposeful Practice, focuses on cultivating the practice of systems leadership and creating narratives to effectively lead systems change.
2nd Villars Fellows Connect
The Villars Institute hosted the 2nd Villars Fellows Connect, the annual online gathering of the Villars Fellows community. Fellows exchanged ideas and showcased their ongoing projects while gaining valuable insights from Barney Swan, polar explorer and environmental leader. Barney is the founder of ClimateForce that merges tradition and innovation to accelerate ecosystem resilience and whose work focuses on the organic reforestation at scale of the Daintree Rainforest.
Launch of the 1st Global Learning Conference in Villars-sur-Ollon
The inaugural Global Learning Conference was held in Villars-sur-Ollon in June in partnership with the Global Learning Council and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). It is an exclusive, invitation-only event that brings together visionary educators, thought leaders, innovators, policymakers, and multi-generational learners to shape the future of learning. The 2026 Global Learning Conference in Africa will take place in Kigali, Rwanda and will explore how existential environmental challenges and exponential technological changes are shaping the future of learning and education in Africa.
Announced the Global Learning Council Office in Kigali, Rwanda
The Global Learning Council (GLC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Rwanda to establish a new GLC Rwanda Office/Secretariat in Kigali. This Secretariat, supported by Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, will be responsible for facilitating GLC activities in Africa as well enhance cross-country collaboration with the GLC offices in India and Switzerland.
Global Learning Council EcoInnovator Ideathons in India
The Global Learning Council (GLC) and Schoolnet co-hosted the EcoInnovators Ideathons in New Delhi for secondary school students from across India and in Bengaluru for university students through the generous support of GLC Advisory Board member, Kris Gopalakrishnan and GLC Senior Advisor, Krishnan Narayanan. The final competitions in January fostered tech-enabled problem-solving skills in areas such as biodiversity, water and air pollution, circular economy, energy management, and environmental sustainability. The four finalists were invited to Switzerland to participate in the Global Learning Conference and present their projects at the Villars Symposium in June.
GLC-CERN Project on Accelerating the Energy Transition
The Global Learning Council (GLC) and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) selected a group of 6 university students and 4 high-school teachers from the CERN's Summer Studentship Program and International High School Teacher Program to collaborate on the topic of accelerating the energy transition through education. The collaboration featured working in intergenerational sub-groups to create a tool and high-school curriculum to support the energy transition. As a result, the group created a low-tech and replicable reproductable solar-dryer as a tool for communities and leverageable in education settings as well as a curriculum and teachers guide around to help bring renewable energy into the classroom. Their project was piloted within classroom settings and presented during as the Villars Symposium and the Global Learning Conference.
Launch of the Global Learning Council (GLC) Research Fellows Network
The Global Learning Council (GLC) launched the Research Fellows Network (RFN) to promote research collaboration on key research themes such as the application of machine learning (ML) in environmental science and sustainable energy education. New projects have been initiated to develop approaches that help learners of all ages in using AI and deep learning to probe into such topics as planetary boundaries and biodiversity, in a collaboration with researchers at MIT, Sweden and elsewhere.
Convened the 4th Villars Symposium
The 4th Villars Symposium was held in June at the historic Villars Palace Hotel and brought together 130 Villars Fellows and 180 experts, academic leaders, and partners. Participants engaged with pressing global challenges—including climate change, biodiversity loss, energy transition, and food security—through plenaries, workshops, and briefings designed to foster intergenerational collaboration and systems leadership.
The 6th Villars Institute Distinguished Lecture
Professor Johan Rockström, Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Professor of Earth System Science, gave the 6th Villars Institute Distinguished Lecture, presenting the latest evidence on planetary boundaries and tipping points and highlighting how earth system science can guide urgent action for climate stability and planetary resilience.
Launch of Climate Leadership Course in India
Co-developed the Climate Leadership Course, with Schoolnet and the Global Learning Council, a course designed for students in Grades 6–8 of affordable private schools in India. This course emphasizes environmental stewardship and sustainability through hands-on learning and technological insights. Developed in alignment with India's National Education Policy & National Curriculum Framework and inspired by the Villars Framework, the course fosters proactive leadership in climate action and systems thinking. This course is currently being piloted and will be offered through the Geneo platform to affordable private schools, as a unique gratuitous offering.
Launch of Æther, a Generative AI Platform for Sustainability Education
The Villars Institute launched Æther, an AI teaching assistant that enables users to understand the complex interplay between human activities and planetary health, fostering the insights needed to create a more sustainable future by coupling modern machine learning with peer reviewed science and public policy research. Æther is based on large language model (LLM) that has been conditioned to answer queries related to environmental science and energy systems based on a carefully curated, scientifically current archive of technical publications. The LLM agent elaborates on the connections between a user’s queries and the planetary-boundaries framework, with the explanations dynamically updated to keep current with the conversation history. In addition to text-based responses, it also offers interactive visualizations based on real-world datasets and a quiz tailored to the theme of each query, helping users uncover hidden insights and deepen understanding, for an adaptive, immersive, and personalized learning experience.
Villars Intensive Program on Ecopreneurship (VIP-e)
The second edition of the Villars Intensive Program on Ecopreneurship (VIP-e) featured young students from over 10 countries, united by their passion for sustainability and entrepreneurship. Students ranged from 16 to 23 years old andexplored the frontiers of Ecopreneurship, learning from leading entrepreneurs Sofia de Meyer (founder of Opaline) and Sofi Khwaja (founder of Thesus). The program helped them create and refine sustainable business plans, connect with global peers and industry experts, and gain practical experience from real-world Ecopreneurship cases.
Partner Events & Projects
International Transition Plan Dialogue in Villars-sur-Ollon
The Villars Institute co-hosted the first International Transition Plan Dialogue Network (ITPN) in May. The ITPN brought together over 40 policymakers, regulators, civil society representatives and academics from across the globe to explore and advance the evolving landscape of private sector transition plans. Transition plans are strategic, forward-looking documents that are part of overall corporate strategy, setting out how firms will respond and contribute to the transition to a low-emissions and climate-resilient economy.
Frontiers Planet Prize Awards at the Villars Symposium
The Villars Institute co-hosted the 3rd Frontiers Planet Prize (FPP) awards ceremony at the Villars Symposium and brought together leading scientists, policymakers, philanthropists, and private sector representatives to celebrate FPP National and International Champions for their groundbreaking research on planetary boundaries. Following the ceremony, the 2025 National Champions joined the Villars Symposium to lead various breakout sessions with Villars Fellows on their latest research driving planetary solutions.
New York Climate Week
In collaboration with Swissnex Boston and New York, the Villars Institute convened a curated group of educators, entrepreneurs, enablers, and Villars Fellows for a multidisciplinary, intergenerational panel on Day 2 of the Planetary Embassy at the New York Climate Week. The session, “Educating Planetary Stewards in the Age of AI,” explored how schools and learning programs can equip students with the mindsets and skills to navigate—and help govern—a world where human and more-than-human interests intersect with rapidly advancing technologies, emphasizing education, nature-based design, and ocean stewardship.
Building Bridges 2025
A cohort of Villars Fellows returned to participate in the Building Bridges 2025 program dedicated to accelerating sustainable finance. The Building Bridges Summit was held in autumn and united leaders from finance, startups, government, the United Nations UN, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia, and philanthropy to drive capital toward real-world impact. Organized by the Building Bridges Foundation, it spotlighted scalable finance solutions and empowered Villars Fellows to learn, network, and engage in intergenerational collaboration for sustainable change. They also served as rapporteurs, capturing insights across sessions and fostering intergenerational collaboration. The Villars Institute was included in the official program, contributing to key discussions on AI and sustainability and participating in the Closing Ceremony: Capital Flows for the Future – COP30 and Beyond.
Sustain Lab Paris - Climate Leadership Certificate
A cohort of Villars Fellows joined the SLP Climate Leadership Certificate Programme in October in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, gaining expertise in climate science, carbon management, industrial decarbonisation, and regulations. The programme blends technical training, leadership development, and mentorship, offering immersive retreats, hands-on project guidance, and access to global sustainability networks like GITEX Impact, empowering fellows to drive meaningful climate action.
Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator (GESDA) Summit
A cohort of Villars Fellows, participated in the 2025 GESDA Summit in October at the CERN Science Gateway as part of the Global Youth Cohort, alongside youth from around the world. GESDA brings together science, diplomacy, and society to “use the future to build the present”. The Villars Fellows actively engaged in discussions, captured insights as rapporteurs, and explored frontier scientific advancements, fostering intergenerational collaboration and contributing to multistakeholder solutions for a sustainable global future.
Tonga 2025
The Villars Institute supported the #OSETONGA25, the second expedition in a vital series of worldwide Ocean Science Expeditions, led by our founding Board Member, Keith Tuffley. This expedition inspired by the recovery of Tonga’s humpback whales—a powerful symbol of resilience and a reminder of what’s at stake as we work to protect the ocean and its biodiversity. By bringing together science, local knowledge, storytelling, and community voices, TONGA 25 demonstrates how local conservation successes can guide global action.
Launch of the Investment Readiness for Systemic Impact (IRSI) Program
The Investment Readiness for Systemic Impact (IRSI) program was launched in partnership with Helvora, a Swiss-based venture capital firm supporting climate and impact-driven startups preparing for pre-seed and seed rounds. The first cohort was delivered in a hybrid format, combining in-person and online participation, and marked the first use of the Villars Institute’s new offices to host an in-person learning program. Through masterclasses and tailored advisory, founders strengthened their investment readiness across funding pathways, impact strategy and governance, financial and legal structuring, and investor engagement—enabling ventures to credibly communicate value, attract aligned capital, and scale solutions that contribute to a net-zero, nature-positive economy.
Stockholm Food Forum - EAT
The Villars Institute co-hosted a session on Advancing Planetary Health through Innovation in K–12 Education with HundrED at the Stockholm Food Forum in October organized by the EAT Foundation. The session explored how intergenerational collaboration, systems thinking, and innovative learning can unlock solutions to solve complex food system challenges and contribute to systems transformation.
Launch of Ice Station Expedition to Antarctica
The Villars Institute co-sponsored the Ice Station Expedition to Antarctica, a two-week mission led by polar explorer Robert Swan and convened by the 2041 Foundation in partnership with Mercuria and Silvania. The expedition brought planetary stewards—including two Villars Fellows and a teacher from Eton College —to the heart of Antarctica to raise global awareness of its critical role in Earth’s climate system, advance scientific collaboration, test renewable energy solutions, and inspire international action to protect the continent as a symbol of peace, science, and cooperation beyond 2041. As part of the expedition’s educational outreach, the Villars Institute coordinated two live global calls from Antarctica, enabling students, educators, and communities worldwide to connect directly with Robert Swan and the Ice Station Expedition team. These interactive sessions brought one of the planet’s most remote environments into classrooms and learning communities, strengthening global engagement and understanding of Antarctica’s importance and the need to safeguard it for future generations.
Arts & Culture Highlights
FIFAD@Villars Event
The “Best of FIFAD" (Festival International du Film Alpin des Diablerets) was relaunched as FIFAD@Villars, combining in-depth seminars on climate change with a showcase of the festival’s award-winning films including those recognized by the Youth Prize Jury - a jury comprised of Villars Fellows. The event brings together young and older audiences, as well as professionals from the cinema and mountain communities, to explore pressing issues such as sustainable development, climate change, and the preservation of mountain heritage.
Memories of the Melted – A Journey through Time
Award winning artist, Thijs Biersteker and Songha, Robert Dunand Prize winning violinist collaborated on Memories of the Melted an immersive performance created exclusively for the Villars Institute Summit which showcased the power of storytelling by merging rich visual datasets with music to present four future scenarios of the Rhône Glacier, drip by drip, note by note to commemorate the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation.
Festival International du Film Alpin des Diablerets (FIFAD)
The Villars Institute Foundation once again supported the Festival International du Film Alpin des Diablerets (FIFAD), to highight the role of film-making in addressing climate change and fostering intergenerational dialogue. A cohort of Villars Fellows embarked on a unique bivouac experience on the Les Diablerets Glacier 3000. This immersive journey combined a glacier hike with a film screening, deepening participants' understanding of environmental preservation and the challenges posed by climate change. The experience underscored the importance of firsthand engagement with nature in shaping a commitment to sustainability. Villars Fellows also served on the Youth Prize Jury, selecting outstanding films that reflect the Villars Fellowship Program values.
Villars Music Academy in Villars-sur-Ollon
The historic Villars Palace Hotel was once again home to the fourth edition of the Villars Music Academy (VMA) in August. The Grand Theatre welcomed 29 talented young musicians from around the world to learn from members of the Berliner Philharmoniker. The week-long program culminated in a public concert and the Robert Dunand Prize competition to showcase their progress and artistry.
The 2025 Robert Dunand Prize
The 2nd Robert Dunand Prize competion took place at the historic Villars Palace. Featuring laureates of the Villars Music Academy, the prize celebrates emerging musical talent. In 2025 it was awarded to South Korean violinist Yesong Sophie Lee, who received a professionally produced video from the Villars Institute Foundation and concert opportunities with Villars Partner organization to support the launch of her international career. The prize is named in honor of Robert Dunand, a Swiss conductor whose influential career began as a percussionist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Alongside this role, he managed opera broadcasts at Radio-Geneva and led music criticism for the Courrier de Genève. That same year, Dunand founded the Orchestra of Musical Youth, which he transformed into the Orchestra of the Collegium Academicum of Geneva in 1958.
