Students from across Keio’s undergraduate community gathered to kick off the Keio SDGs Student Conference—Keio University Student Conference (KUSC) 2026. Now in its fifth year, the conference gives students the opportunity to work together to create a comprehensive vision, goals, and targets for Keio’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Supported by experts, the students will deliberate and assemble their ideas into formal recommendations for submission to the university administration over the coming year. Among conference attendees are both volunteers and also students selected at random from each of Keio’s undergraduate faculties. During the Spring Semester, attendees participate in a mix of lectures and discussion sections to learn about the current status of the SDGs movement. In the Fall Semester, attendees are assigned to working groups with themes such as the environment, society, economics, and partnership, deepening both the discussion and their own understanding.
The KUSC’s first meeting, held on May 14 (Thurs.), was attended by approximately 70 students, including one from the United Nations University (UNU). Proceedings began when the faculty representative to the KUSC, Professor Hiromichi Kobayashi, invited President Kohei Itoh to address the assembled students. His encouraging words were followed with an explanation of the conference’s objectives by Professor Akiyo Okuda, Vice-President for Student Affairs and Hiyoshi Campus. In a world that is increasingly divided, achieving all of the SDGs will not be easy. KUSC supervisor and Keio University Global Research Institute (KGRI) project professor Hiroko Kuniya shared an inspirational message reminding attendees that the many challenges lying ahead are precisely what make the spirit of transformation (“Transform Our World”) so crucial. She implored them to carry this spirit forward as contributors to the KUSC dialogue over the coming year.
The meeting’s next segment was facilitated by Sachiko Tsukahara from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment (MOEJ). She introduced attendees to a card game called 2030 SDGs, which simulates what the world may look like in 2030. The conference broke up into 18 teams. Each was given a specific goal and cards standing for certain amounts of money and time. The teams then worked to achieve their respective goals by exchanging cards through negotiation. They aimed to create a sustainable future society that balanced strong economic growth with non-economic forms of value, such as conserving a healthy natural environment.
At the game’s conclusion, the teams gathered to reflect on their performance, evaluating both how well they achieved their respective goals and the future society that would emerge from their collective efforts. While the 2030 SDGs card game has been played at various organizations across the world, including the MOEJ, private financial institutions, the United Nations Headquarters, and environmental groups, the future society created by each took its own distinct form. This diversity of outcomes serves to remind players how choices made at the individual level can shape the direction of global change. What goals should Keio University set and what changes does it need to make to achieve them? How should each member of the Keio community act to bring forward a more sustainable future? This card game experience served as a fitting start to the 2026 Student Conference, inspiring attendees to think about the questions they seek to answer with the recommendations they will draft over the coming year.
Photos: Aki Takematsu