2025 EPIC-Network Conference

June 16-19,2025
Chicago, Illinois
Sheraton Grant Chicago Riverwalk

EPIC-N is delighted to announce that we have partnered with the Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress (SRI) for the 2025 EPIC-Network Conference happening at the Sheraton Grand Chicago Riverwalk in Chicago, Illinois from June 16-19, 2025. 

What is SRI?

The SRI Congress is an annual convening of practitioners and scholars dedicated to advancing sustainability science, and is co-hosted by the Belmont Forum and Future Earth. For the 2025 congress, SRI will work with the University of Illinois System to mobilize sustainability solutions in the US and around the world. 

SRI2025 will spotlight Pathways to Sustainability, sharing implementation strategies and legacies of successful approaches to critical sustainability concerns facing Chicago, the United States, and the globe. It will also provide opportunities to overcome hurdles in engagement, policy, resourcing, and other obstacles that slow our transformation to more resilient and equitable futures.

The Congress has a global audience with strong participation from industry, governments, civil, non-governmental, Indigenous, and intergovernmental organizations, as well as researchers and innovators and the agencies and ministries who fund their forward-looking efforts. Each Congress has attracted around 2,000 participants from more than 80 countries.

How has EPIC-N been involved with SRI? 

EPIC-N members and staff have presented at the last three SRI Congress convenings. Additionally, EPIC-N has worked closely with Future Earth and the Belmont Forum within our international regional networks, which has resulted in valuable collaborations, resources exchanges, and relationship building. 

What does this mean for the EPIC-N Conference?

This means that EPIC-N’s conference will be hosted  within the 2025 SRI Congress. All sessions will be available to both EPIC-N and SRI attendees. When registering, people will be signing up for both conferences. EPIC-N will, however, create spaces for just EPIC-N members and friends to meet and network during the conference.

What does registration look like? 

Registration for the conference will be done through SRI. SRI has not yet announced registration rates, but know that we are working with them to try to make the cost as affordable as possible for our members. At a later date, if people have needs or requests for financial assistance, we will address those on a case-by-case basis. Stay tuned for more information on conference registration, coming soon. 

How do EPIC-N members submit session proposals?

In order to present at the SRI/EPIC-N Conference, you will need to submit a session proposal to SRI. When submitting the proposal, be sure to check the “EPIC-N” box under “Affiliation(s)”. The SRI Programming committee, including EPIC-N staff, will review your proposals. The deadline to submit session proposals is 7 December, 2024.

You can submit your session proposal here.

What kind of sessions should we propose? 

Whatever kinds of sessions you would like to see at the EPIC-N conference. Don’t feel like you have to submit something specifically related to sustainability. In the past, conference presentations have ranged from practitioner-related questions (e.g., How do we improve outreach and engagement with local government partners? How do we evaluate EPIC-N programs to assess impact? How do we improve report-writing? How do we train faculty and students to work with community partners?, etc.), to research-based questions. (What cutting-edge solutions in the research exist to address specific local government problems? What impacts do students experience when working with EPIC-N programs? What teaching methods best enhance student learning working with real-world clients?, etc.) We welcome problem-solving sessions, presentations about promising practices for managing programs, and papers about anything related to EPIC-N projects. 

EPIC-N is excited for this opportunity to connect and collaborate with our members, as well as the incredible SRI community. We hope you all join us for this conference and encourage you to reach out if you have any questions. 

More information will be shared soon.