Conference

AI, the Future of Work, and Higher Education’s Defining Moment: Beyond Skills to Impact

AI is no longer on the horizon—it is actively reshaping industries, automating workflows, and redefining professional roles. Yet, the true disruption isn’t just about automation—it’s about how work itself is evolving and what it means to be prepared for this transformation. Higher education is at a defining moment: Will it take the lead in preparing learners for an AI-powered world, embracing the opportunity to shape the future of work and learning? The challenge goes beyond AI literacy or technical skilling—it’s about equipping learners to augment work with AI, make AI-enabled decisions, and reimagine their roles in evolving industries. This talk explores key trends in AI-driven workforce transformation, barriers to translating AI’s potential into real-world impact, and higher education’s pivotal role in shaping a future-ready workforce. Beyond AI skills, the focus must shift to human-AI collaboration—developing adaptability, ethical reasoning, and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Through key framing questions, this session invites educators and researchers to rethink learning models, strengthen academia-industry partnerships, and take bold steps toward preparing learners—not just for AI skills, but for AI’s broader impact on work and society.

The speaker

Junghwa (“Sam”) Lee is an experienced learning and development professional with over 15 years of experience designing innovative learning solutions that drive business impact. As Senior Learning Manager at Microsoft, she leads initiatives that empower business leaders and professionals with AI-driven, future-ready skills to transform their work. Previously, Sam led impactful skilling programs at McKinsey & Company, Udacity, and Columbia Business School, focusing on scalable learning solutions for digital and tech leadership. A graduate of Columbia University with a master’s degree in international educational development, she is dedicated to helping professionals thrive in a tech-driven world.

SEFI – The European platform for engineering education, current challenges and opportunities

The presentation will detail the most recent advancements in engineering education as approached by SEFI, the European Society for Engineering Education. The main mission of SEFI is to contribute to the development and improvement of engineering education and to strengthen the understanding and knowledge of engineering education by bringing relevant stakeholders together through the sharing of ideas, good practices, common goals, and experiences. The challenges around skills gap, the wide spread of AI, technosociety, increasing energy demand and in general the UN sustainable development goals are key drivers of the engineering education transformation. The SEFI perspective and activities in this transformation aim to engage educators and institutional leaders along with various groups of interested partners in order to develop further engineering education for the current and future needs.

The speaker

Balázs Vince Nagy - associate professor, Mechatronics Engineering programme lead, former vice-rector for international affairs (2018-2021) at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). PhD in mechanical engineering, post-doctoral fellow (2010-2014) and visiting scientist (2015-2016) at the Institute of Psychology of the University of São Paulo. Main research fields are optics, optomechatronics, illumination, visual perception and visual electrophysiology. President of the European Society for Engineering Education - SEFI (2023-). Chair of the EELISA European University Alliance Executive Board (2023-). Division 1 representative from Hungary in the International Commission on Illumination (CIE).

BME GTK: Pioneering Sustainable Education for the Future

The growing urgency of sustainability is no longer a distant concern – it is actively reshaping industries, influencing consumer behavior, and redefining the responsibilities of organizations. Higher education stands at a pivotal moment: Will it effectively equip future leaders with the knowledge and, crucially, the transversal skills necessary to navigate and drive this profound transformation? The Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences (GTK) at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) recognizes this defining moment and is proactively integrating sustainability principles into its educational framework through innovative approaches, particularly within the context of management education in an engineering environment. This presentation will showcase the BME GTK's pioneering initiatives and pedagogical advancements aimed at fostering graduates who are not only aware of sustainability challenges but are also equipped with essential transversal skills to develop and implement impactful solutions. Moving beyond traditional economic and social science curricula, we will highlight our efforts in embedding environmental and social responsibility, and circular economy principles across various disciplines, while also fostering key transversal skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and communication, all within the unique framework of management education embedded into an innovative engineering environment. Furthermore, we will explore our collaborations with sustainability-focused organizations and our commitment to experiential learning, ensuring our students gain practical insights and the ability to translate sustainability concepts into real-world action, leveraging their transversal competencies in this specific educational context. This talk will delve into specific examples of how BME GTK is fostering systems thinking, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainability issues, and nurturing entrepreneurial ventures with a strong sustainability focus, all while emphasizing the development of vital transversal skills within management education in an engineering environment. Through examples and a vision for the future, we aim to demonstrate how BME GTK is taking decisive steps to educate a generation of professionals who will champion a more sustainable and resilient future, equipped with both domain-specific knowledge and crucial transversal abilities in this integrated educational setting.

The speaker

Dr. Mária Szalmáné Csete is currently holding the position of habilitated Associate Professor at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) within the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, at the Department of Environmental Economics and Sustainability. Demonstrating her leadership and commitment to international engagement, she also serves as the Vice-Dean for International Affairs at the same Faculty. Her comprehensive academic background includes an MSc in Engineering and Management (BME, 2004), an MSc in Spatial and Settlement Development (BME, 2007), a Master 3 degree in Regional- and Urban Development (Sorbonne-Paris IV, 2007), and a PhD in Business and Management from BME (2009). Notably, she served as the Head of Department between 2013 and 2016 and leads the Regional and Environmental Economics MA Programme since 2013, in addition to being a Core Member of the Doctoral School of Business and Management at BME GTK.

Dr. Csete's research interests are wide-ranging, encompassing sustainability management, environmental economics, sustainability and climate education, sustainable regional and urban development perspectives, climate innovation, digitalization, and mitigation and adaptation-oriented evaluations. Her primary research delves into the critical interlinkages between climate change and sustainability, with a specific focus on the feasibility of integrated solutions across diverse sectors, territories, and enterprises in the digital age. Her expertise is further demonstrated by her involvement as a leader or participant in numerous national and EU-funded research projects, including Horizon 2020, Climate-KIC, Erasmus+, FP7, ESPON, Interreg, Grundtvig, and NKTH initiatives.

Beyond her academic and research endeavors, Dr. Csete actively contributes to the scientific community and has received notable recognition for her work. She was twice awarded the prestigious János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS) (2012-2015, 2020-2023). Her past contributions include serving as the Secretary of the HAS Presidential Committee of Environmental Sciences, Future Earth Subcommittee (2014-2020). Currently, she is a member of the HAS Committee on Regional Sciences (since 2023) and the Interdepartmental Committee on Logistics (since 2021). She was also a founding member of the Sustainable Regional Development Subcommittee in 2018 and the Sustainabilty Management Subcommittee in 2024.