This month Students will have the opportunity to apply to join the oikos Executive Board and we are welcoming two new chapters in our network. Student Reporters will be covering four international conferences. Meanwhile, the deadline to participate in our 2013 Finance Academy is approaching and we introduce you to Dario Pirovino, President of oikos St.Gallen, presenting his oikos chapter.
oikos FutureLab
We are very much looking forward to welcoming the oikos family at the FutureLab 2012 on 19th and 20th of November, 2012 in St. Gallen, Switzerland! The FutureLab 2012 is designed to bring together our chapter members, our alumni, our faculty members and a broad array of partners supporting our projects to dream big and to create the impact we want to see in oikos. Living up to our principles, our partner South Pole Carbon will offset all of the event's carbon emissions, in order to limit the oikos FutureLab's environmental impact. And if you cannot make it on time, a team of oikos Student Reporters will be blogging live to keep you abreast of all developments.
oikos Students
Elections to oikos International Executive Board With the end of the current governing term approaching, oikos International now accepts your applications for joining the Executive Board. If you are up for the task and would like to contribute to further development of our network, then take on this challenge! You can coordinate regional communication, coach and supervise a group of Chapters or co-create some of oikos international projects and regularly discuss and decide on crucial issues on the oikos agenda. The deadline for applications is November 11, 2012 and elections will be held on 19th of November in St. Gallen right before the FutureLab.
oikos Vienna & oikos Lille Two new Chapters are joining the oikos structure, strengthening our presence in France and in Austria. We are welcoming our new members at the EDHEC Business School in Lille and the Vienna University of Economics and Business!
oikos @ UNICA: Building ‘The Ideal European University’ Every two years UNICA, a network of European Universities, gathers a group of international students striving to rethink higher education. This year's conference took place between 10 and 13 October at the University of Oslo with more than 200 student participants. Dawid Wroblewski, President of oikos International, moderated one of the Forums and with a group of fellow students set out to work on a paper outlining a student's assessment of Sustanability in Higher Education, which will ultimately be published at the UN University Press. The conference was enriched by oikos members and alumni joining via video-conference, sharing best examples of their own projects and initiatives, demonstrating the impact oikos can have on improving the quality and relevance of higher education.
oikos PRI Young Scholar Academy 2013
Hurry up to submit your proposal for the 5th oikos PRI Young Scholars Academy 2013 - Join us in the Swiss Alps from 20-25 January 2013 and meet our outstanding faculty: Ioannis Ioannou (London Business School), M’zali Bouchra, (University of Quebec at Montreal) and Peter Clarkson (University of Queensland, Australia). Submit your abstract proposal by November 5, 2012.
oikos Case Writing Competition Update
October 26 was the deadline for the oikos Case Writing Competition 2013 Call for Cases. We received an impressive variety of cases from 4 continents. All cases will be double blind reviewed by our judging committee including 40 scholars – and we will report on the winners in the April 2013 issue of this newsletter. Meanwhile you may have a look at our growing oikos free case collection.
30 seconds with...
Dario Pirovino, oikos St.Gallen President
I have always been impressed with the diverse and innovative ideas that evolve in our network. This is exactly what has fascinated me about oikos since my start in 2009 during my Bachelor's studies in International Affairs. Being a board member of oikos St. Gallen since March 2012, I find myself in the lucky situation to experience first hand the high energy and enthusiasm oikees from around the world bring into the various projects.
Currently, I am pursuing my Master’s studies in Banking and Finance, in International Management (CEMS), and in Business Education. In connection with my studies, my interests lie in Energy Finance and especially in Social Entrepreneurship, which I find plenty of opportunity to nurture within our oikos activities in St.Gallen, summarized in our recent chapter brochure. Here a few highlights of our chapter projects
The member base is steadily rising and more and more people get involved in our projects and initiatives
In St. Gallen, the number of students actively involved in projects has risen from 45 in March 2012 up to 100 by now! In addition, another 100 students are part of the oikos family and join us regularly for events or conferences. Especially our diversified project portfolio consisting of eleven different initiatives in the broad area of sustainability tends to be a key success factor in bringing together a bunch of highly motivated people with different personal and academic backgrounds.
Three new projects are working together in order to create action-learning experiences in Finance and Consulting.
In the spring semester, three projects have been established:
- “oikos Responsible Investing”, which seeks for opportunities to actively manage a student run (microfinance) fund.
- With “oikos consulting” (oc), around 30 oikees already consult five start- ups in the area of Social Entrepreneurship.
- The third project, “oikos academia” will foster sustainability related courses at our university.
In a joint-collaboration effort, oikos academia is currently developing two new oikos courses soon to be taught at the HSG for “oikos Responsible Investing” and “oc”, respectively. Therefore, the knowledge creation takes place at the university whereas it can actually be applied in our projects.
In the next couple of weeks, our program is packed with interesting – and also international - events.
I want to highlight four oikos events taking place in St. Gallen that will allow a proper celebration of our 25-year jubilee this year:
- Nov. 15-16: oikos Conference on Commodity Trade
- Nov. 17-18: Chapter Presidents meeting
- Nov. 19-20: oikos Future Lab with a big jubilee party
- Nov. 20-22: Go Beyond (Career Forum co-organized with AIESEC; German only)
In the name of all of the oikees in St. Gallen, I would like to emphasize that we are already looking forward to meeting you here soon for the forthcoming events and especially our jubilee party. Let’s celebrate and have a memorable night together!
Cheers,
Dario
Outlook:
5 November 2012: CfP oikos PRI Finance Academy 2013 “Capital Markets, Impact Investing & Sustainability”, January 20-25, 2013, Kaubad (Switzerland)
12-13 November: Student Reporters in Bangkok UNEP Sustainable Consumption and Production Conference
12-13 November: Student Reporters in Berlin European Resources Forum
12-14 November: Student Reporters in Dubai WEF Global Agenda Summit
17-18 November: Chapter Presidents Meeting in Rorschach/CH
19-20 November 2012: oikos FutureLab "Impact: Think - Act - Share" St. Gallen, Switzerland
Contribute
Let people know what you are up to and submit your oikos News for the next newsletter to: update@oikosinternational.org
Meet oikos...
Lenka Parkanova and Dawid Wroblewski will be attending the oikos Winter School, taking place from 3-11 November in Witten-Herdecke.
Elections to oikos International Executive Board 
oikos @ UNICA: Building ‘The Ideal European University’ 
Dario Pirovino, oikos St.Gallen President
