The 2025 New Horizons in Conservation Convening

The 2025 New Horizons in Conservation Convening

Honoring Our Legacy & Building Our Future

Cultivating Environmental Leadership Among Students and Professionals

May 8-10, 2025 

The New Horizons Convening was held on campus in the Yale School of the Environment, the newly renovated Yale Peabody Museum, and at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale. Renowned environmental justice professionals and activists, academicians, leaders from the food sovereignty movement, authors, leaders of local and national environmental organizations, and government policymakers were in attendance. Participants and alumni of JEDSI’s pathway programs, such as the Yale Conservation Scholars - Early Leadership Initiative and Environmental Fellows Program, were also a part of the convening.

The convening invited professionals, practitioners, students, recruiters, and vendors to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, to explore urgent issues in the environmental field. It encompassed multiple perspectives in environmental institutions, environmental justice, food insecurity and sovereignty, climate and energy justice, outdoor experiences, future leadership in the environmental movement, and more. It brought together students, academics, researchers, and professionals from a wide array of backgrounds and professional environments to give talks, participate in workshops, attend field trips, meet local leaders, and network with each other.

Thematic areas

The convening featured plenaries, talks, and workshops around different themes around the environmental world including (but not limited to) energy, food sovereignty, wildlife conservation, media and art, policy, and many more. Check below for more detailed plans.

Speakers

Convening Registration 

Free – Yale University student, faculty or staff

$160 – Students and workers of grassroots community organizations. This also applies to alumni of the University of Michigan’s or Yale’s Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program (DDCSP), the Yale Conservation Scholars - Early Leadership Initiative (YCS-ELI), and the Environmental Fellows Program (EFP). 

$265 – Early career 

$375 – Mid to senior career 

The registration fee covers the cost of attendance for conference sessions, receptions, and meals. 

Scholarships are available to discount registration ticket cost. See below for details.

Flash Talks

The New Horizons in Conservation convening invites attendees to showcase their work in our Flash Talk Sessions where each speaker will present their most exciting new findings in a fast-paced, three-minute format. The flash talks will follow five main themes: 

1. Community Organizing and Urban Greening 
2. Environmental Sociology 
3. Sustainable Community Building 
4. Public Health, Energy Policy, and Tradeoffs 
5. Environmental Perceptions and Attitudes

Talks will be presented along with slides that are coherent, concise, and to the point followed by a short question answer session. Applications are now closed, and selected speakers will be contacted shortly.

Scholarships 

Scholarships are available to discount the cost of registration, and recipients will be expected to volunteer during the conference. Scholarship applications are now closed and all applicants have been contacted with responses. If you were a selected applicant, we will be in touch with volunteering details soon. 

Lodging 

We had reserved a block of rooms at the Marriot Courtyard Hotel, which is a 16 minute walk away from the conference location, which has been booked out. 

If you are in dire need of a room at the Courtyard Hotel and were unable to book with the hotel block, please email newhorizons@yale.edu so we can direct you to our hotel contact person.

If you are a current (2025) YCS-ELI or EFP participant, invited host-site supervisor or mentor, or invited speaker, please check with the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Sustainability Initiative (JEDSI) staff about lodging. 

Travel 

Nearby Airports 

Tweed New Haven Airport (4.5 miles from hotel): Smaller airport with good flight options including but not limited to Chicago, DC, and multiple cities of Florida. 

Bradley International Airport, Hartford CT (54 miles from hotel): International airport with multiple flight options.
 

Transportation from airports and train station 

From Bradley International Airport  

• Pre-scheduled shuttles will pick up conference attendees from Bradley International Airport in Hartford on May 8^th, with return trips on May 10^th and May 11^th. Shuttle times will be determined at a later date. There will be no shuttles from the New York airports.  
• Please see the Bradley International Airport website for more options.  

From New Haven Union Station  

• CTtransit free shuttle Union Station and the New Haven Green 
• Visit Website for more information and bus times. https://www.cttransit.com/services/union-station-shuttle-new-haven  
• The Chapel St & Church St stop is a 2-minute walk from the Omni entrance  
• The Temple St & Crown St stop is a 1-minute walk from the Omni  
• 20 minute walk (0.8 miles)  

For airport shuttle information from other airports, please visit Yale’s website.  

Ground transportation beyond the included Bradley shuttle will not be covered by the conference.  

Out of state airports with public transport options 

John F. Kennedy Airport, New York (78 miles) 

LaGuardia Airport, New York (73 miles) 

Newark International Airport, New Jersey (95 miles) 
 

Train stations

New Haven Union Station (less than a mile from the Omni Hotel): Services multiple train lines including the Metro North Commuter rail (which has multiple trains coming in each day from Grand Central Terminal in New York) and Amtrak.  

State Street Station (half a mile from the Omni Hotel): Smaller train line with commuter rails to Hartford and Massachusetts, with some trains coming in from Grand Central Terminal.  

Special thanks to our sponsors