WHAT IS THEME YEAR?

The Theme Year is the scientific focus of EGEA in any given calendar year.
It serves as an inspiration for events, including congresses, and allows EGEA to focus its resources on a chosen subject for one entire year. EGEAns are encouraged to organise lectures, workshops, scientific conferences and many more activities that relate to the Theme Year. All of these efforts allow EGEAns to collaborate with each other even more and create a joint scientific impact outside the lecture halls.

Currently, the EGEA Science Team is responsible for the topic proposal and the subsequent promotion of the Theme Year. The topic of each Theme Year is elected by EGEAs General Assembly two years in advance to provide future event and congress organisers enough time to include it into their concepts. Active participation with the Theme Year is completely voluntary for all EGEA bodies, including entities.

2025: CIRCULAR ECONOMY

We’re excited to announce that our theme for 2025 is Circular Economy!

Circular economy is a model of production and consumption reducing waste and making the most of available resources. It focuses on sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling. Circular economy extends the life cycle of products, reduces waste to a minimum, and promotes sustainable practices. This model contrasts with the traditional linear economy, which follows a “take-make-dispose” approach.

Circular economy is central to the EU’s environmental policy, as it aims to reduce waste, improve resource efficiency, and promote sustainability across industries. It supports the European Green Deal and contributes to achieving United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, which focuses on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns by encouraging the reduction, reuse, and recycling of resources.

What you and your entity can do:

Throughout 2025, we plan to integrate the concept of circular economy  into our events, workshops and congresses, aiming to inspire meaningful change in the way we produce and consume. Here are some fun ways you can bring the concept into your entity’s activities:

  • 🔄 Upcycling workshops: Transform old items into new creations — get creative with upcycling and recycling, tying sustainability with the arts
  • 🔧 Repair & refurbishment days: Fix broken items and give them a second life, developing or honing in on your manual skills
  • 👚 Clothing swaps: Find new owners of clothes you no longer need, reducing your environmental footprint and saving money while at it
  • 🏙️ Field trips & site visits: Organise field trips to local businesses, urban spaces, or industries that are using circular economy models, such as recycling facilities, composting sites, or eco-friendly construction projects
  • 🎓 Cooperation with your campus managers: Run initiatives to increase recycling awareness and participation on campus
  • 🎤 Educational talks: Dive deep into sustainability with expert panels, fostering your entity’s collaboration with external experts
  • ℹ️ Educational materials: Create posters, flyers, and social media content to educate students about the environmental benefits of circular economy models — showcasing both the ecological and economic impacts of reducing, reusing, and recycling

Whatever you, remember to have fun and if you post something on social media tag @egea.europe and use the #EGEAthemeyear 

Let’s make 2025 a year of sustainable change! We can’t wait to see all the creative ideas you come up with 🧡