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X-WR-CALNAME:Transformations Conference 2023 Schedule
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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Transformations Conference 2023 Schedule
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TZID:Europe/Berlin
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DTSTART:20230326T010000
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T100000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T091115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230704T050426Z
UID:32-1689152400-1689156000@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Headliner: How do we draw on diverse sources of knowledge within transformative partnerships?
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Ioan Fazey\, Petr Jehlicka\, Bruce Goldstein \nEast European households’ resource-use practices: Learning from the epistemic periphery\nPetr Jehlicka
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/headliner-how-do-we-draw-on-diverse-sources-of-knowledge-within-transformative-partnerships/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 206
CATEGORIES:Online,Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T090000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T100000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T113703Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T165425Z
UID:149-1689152400-1689156000@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Reflections\, hopes and tensions in Contemporary Bioregioning: a forum for discussion
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Sam Wearne\, Ella Hubbard\, Krisztina Jónás\, Maria Wilke\n\n\nOur research project has generated insights into how bioreigoining is emerging. It sheds light on a range of topics that we feel are of interest to a broad audience of sustainability researchers and practitioners. Specific insights that we’ll share in the first part of our session relate to the discourse and practice of bioregioning\, as we encountered it: 1) The concept of a ‘bioregion’ appears to motivate proponents in three ways: it inspires visions of the future that encompass more-than-human thriving\, creates a conceptual container that enables a strategic narrative for change\, and justifies the importance of everyday people exercising their right to “do” something. We’ll discuss these motivators and their resonance with conference participants. 2) Despite central similarities\, bioregioning appears to be patterned. Different perspectives about the state of the Earth System and different exposure to socio-ecological histories influence how bioregioning is expressed. We’ll host discussion about the practices bioregioning draws forth and the hopes and tensions they carry. 3) There is a long history of bioregional thought and action. As we encountered it\, bioregioining represents a Western scientific narrative for the hybridization of humanity’s place on Earth. This carries political\, ethical and practical complexities. We will use our presentation to provide some context to this observation\, and highlight some opportunities as well as tensions that the discourse of bioregioning carries. 4) We found parallels between our research process and central features in bioregioning; both respond to ambitions and calls to enact relational values and surface contextualised knowledge whilst valuing generalisations and abstraction. We’ll create a space for a reflexive discussion about knowledge creation in sustainability science\, and how relational values and contextualised knowledge engage with current norms. While our presentation will seek engagement\, each theme sets the basis for more detailed and open discussion in the break-out sessions.Our session will include: 1) A collaborative group presentation which outlines what we found about contemporary bioregioning from our research. We’ll include prompts\, questions and discussion about the tensions and hopes we encountered to engage participants about the findings. (20minutes) 2) We’ll then open 4 break out rooms organised by theme to dive deeper into specific topics and host an open discussion with participants (20minutes). The four themes are: (i) Relationality and context. Here\, we’ll invite discussions into the role of context and abstractions in knowledge production and research. This will include discussing what a place–conscious or scale–conscious approach might look like\, and what it might offer. (ii) “Practice” as if it’s “placed”. Bioregional thought has a long history of starting with the question ‘where the heck are you?’ In this breakout\, we’ll invite discussions about promising practices\, and the importance of cultural and ecological literacy as a premise for sustainability action. (iii) Critical reflexivity and debate. Here\, we’ll discuss the observations\, and tensions in bioregioning and how we might deal with them. We’ll dive deeper into bioregioning and what it represents in (Western) sustainability discourse\, opening the space for conversation amongst the cohort. (iv) Bioregioning as philosophy. Bioregioning draws forth fresh perspectives about knowledge\, ontology and epistemology. We see strands of connection to process-relational ontology. This space will dive into the prospects of more deeply considering what and how process-relational ontology (or other frameworks) might offer to proponents in bioregioning. 3) We’ll then return to the main room to exchange reflections and discussions about hopes\, tensions and opportunities that we see and have encountered through the session. (15minutes).Contemporary bioregionalism\, which we frame as Bioregioning\, is attracting increasing interest amongst sustainability researchers and practitioners that seek to reconnect society to nature in systematic and practical ways. Over the past two years we have undertaken a collaborative learning journey into Bioregioning through interviews with contemporary leaders and a reflexive research process. The process provided an opportunity for us to distill insights\, hopes\, and tensions into the movement\, as we encountered it\, drawing on experiences across seven countries. We propose to host an online session that creates space for a collaborative discussion and engagement with conference participants\, across all hubs\, to discuss the findings\, hopes\, tensions\, and practical opportunities from this research\, and for bioregioning more broadly. Our session will become generative and has been designed as a way to complement the conference design. Our session is targeted at the central conference. While our session aims to connect to the US Hub Discussion\, it provides an opportunity for a central\, trans-place discussion about bioregional thought and practice\, raising questions and sharing insights that are not only related to the US\, but also other localities\, such as perspectives from the contextualities of Europe\, South America\, Australian and United Kingdom. To support Glenn and the US community\, we’ll be available to contribute to the US Hub’s agenda if he would like to include a follow-up\, contextualised discussion with participants of that event.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/reflections-hopes-and-tensions-in-contemporary-bioregioning-a-forum-for-discussion/
LOCATION:Online Room 1
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T110000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T093642Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230704T053044Z
UID:38-1689156000-1689159600@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Facilitated Sessions
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/facilitated-session/
LOCATION:All Prague Rooms
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T113000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T113745Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T165549Z
UID:151-1689156000-1689161400@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:T-Practice Workshop: Reflect and Discuss Roles of Scientists in Sustainability Transformations
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Franziska Marfurt\, Sibylle Studer\n\n\nWhat is the role of research in sustainability transformations? Who acts as supporter\, critical friend\, integrator\, midwife\, … evidence provider? We believe that transformations gain effectiveness when roles are clarified. With the proposed practice we foster the capability to position oneself in a spectrum of roles. Furthermore\, we provide a vocabulary to advocate for an academic system which acknowledges that research may embody different/multiple roles to adequately contribute to societal challenges.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/reflect-and-discuss-roles-of-scientists-in-sustainability-transformations/
LOCATION:Online Room 1
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T130000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T091352Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T165721Z
UID:34-1689161400-1689166800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:T-Practice Workshop: Connecting science to sustainability transformations: how to create transformative research?
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Esther Turnhout (University of Twente)\, Josephine Chambers (Utrecht University) \nMany commentators lament the lack of action in response to evidence of environmental crises\, making reference to a broken science-policy contract (Turnhout and Lahsen 2022). In response\, we have seen calls to shift research priorities to the production of actionable knowledge. Although participatory approaches are on the rise (Chambers et al.)\, there has been no fundamental reprioritization of research-agendas to support transformative change. Reasons are related to the role vested interests in science and policy (Lahsen and Turnhout 2021) and a lack of alternative imaginaries for research and how it can connect to policy and society (Maas et al. 2022). \n 
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/t-practice-workshop-connecting-science-to-sustainability-transformations-how-to-create-transformative-research/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 205
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T130000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T093926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230623T203816Z
UID:40-1689161400-1689166800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:T-Practice Workshop: Assessing when Change is Transformative
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Fern Wickson\, Julia Leventon \nTransformative change is currently receiving much attention from science\, practice and science-policy interfaces. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change 6th assessment (released 2022) refers to the need for societal transformation to mitigate and adapt to climate change\, and ensure climate resilient development. Further\, the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is currently performing a Transformative Change Assessment\, an appraisal and comparison of different visions\, theories\, scenarios\, and pathways for transformations towards a sustainable future. Such assessments aim to deliver relevant messages drawn from the basis of existing evidence to various types of decision-makers. They should therefore produce actionable\, readable outcomes that are useful to multiple beneficiaries. Part of the challenge to creating policy and society relevant\, actionable messages lies in being able to show what actions create transformative change; leading to the question of how we define\, measure and monitor transformative change towards which visions\, particularly as distinct from ongoing patterns of destruction of nature. \nIn this session\, we will facilitate a process of experience and idea sharing on the topic of assessing transformative change. We want to draw together ideas while exploring a range of questions relating to monitoring\, evaluating and assessing transformative change\, such as: \n\nWhat types of assessment approaches are available and useful for evaluating transformative changes in process?\nWhat do assessment approaches that provide clear and usable actions for policy makers and practitioners entail/require?\nHow can assessment and evaluation approaches balance a policy need for specific forms of evidence with the qualitative\, longer-term impacts and uncertainties of transformative change processes?\nHow could assessment approaches avoid forcing binary classifications of transformative vs not transformative change?\nWhat would evaluation approaches that encourage continued reflection\, learning and improvement amongst practitioners and policy makers look like?\nHow can the assessment and evaluation of transformative change be made feasible for practitioners and policy makers in practice?\n\nPlease join us with your ideas\, experiences and reflections!
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/t-practice-workshop-assessing-when-change-is-transformative/
LOCATION:Prague Room UN IC
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T130000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T094151Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T165821Z
UID:44-1689161400-1689166800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:T-Practice Workshop: Co-creative reflection and dialogue
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Felix Beyers\, Carolin Fraude\, Valerie Voggenreiter\n\n\nHow can we confront and deal with fears while strengthening trust in the UN Climate Policy? Together with several partner organizations\, the TranS-Mind research group at the RIFS (former IASS) took a special interest in this question at COP27 in Egypt last year. The aim was designing and exploring (political) spaces that include and embrace the inner dimension of transformation. The aspiration here is to create space for reflection and to dive deeper into these personal states in order to explore their normative value in transformative research.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/t-practice-workshop-co-creative-reflection-and-dialogue/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 206
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T113000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T130000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T112157Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230706T155525Z
UID:123-1689161400-1689166800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Creative Shiftwork: pluriversal\, multi-modal methods for the hard work of perspective-shifting
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Lisa Grocott\, Mia Perry\, Sharifa Abdulla\, Reagan Kandole\, Alison Colwell-Matsuura \nThis panel will open up a dialogic and practical space for considering the affordances of creative methods when it comes to supporting people to shift their mental models\, worldviews\, beliefs and habits of mind. The shiftwork we will do together sits where the theme Transformative Learning and Knowledge Practices intersects with a practice of Inner Transformation. \nThe work of perspective-shifting is core to transformative practice\, and yet the reflexive and vulnerable nature of the work calls for radically different ways to engage audiences. Conventional modes of translating research insights often take a low-context\, cognitive path to advance change. White papers and industry-facing reports with their quantitative diagrams and 7-point lists of recommendations are not relevant methods when it comes to shifting individuals’ long-held beliefs or contesting internalised social norms. We need alternative modalities that can push back against an approach that privileges objective notions of evidence and believes in universal notions of how to proceed. \nGuided by Indigenous values of respect\, responsibility\, relationality\, reciprocity and representation the invitation will be to listen to the speakers’ plural perspectives and reckon with how they might affirm or contest your own worldviews or mental models. To this end\, we explore the role of social learning and creative methods in pathways to transformation pathways. \nThe first half will conceptually frame perspective-shifting work\, through applied examples from artists\, designers and theatre practitioners. In the second half\, participants will work creatively with an online Miro board to conceptually consider the role of perspective-shifting in their practice and creative strategies for making that happen. The board will double as a site for capturing the collective insights from the session. \nWith a focus on pluriversal literacies and transformative learning the session will be co-facilitated by academics Mia Perry and Lisa Grocott\, with creative practitioners Sharifa Abdulla\, Reagan Kandole and Alison Colwell-Matsuura sharing decolonial\, Indigenous and disability perspectives that productively unsettle and reframe our ways of seeing the world.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/creative-shiftwork-pluriversal-multi-modal-methods-for-the-hard-work-of-perspective-shifting/
LOCATION:Online Room 2
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T123000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T140000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T114046Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230707T212018Z
UID:158-1689165000-1689170400@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:T-Practice Workshop: Towards new models of knowledge exchange for sustainability transformations: A multi-sited dialogue (II)
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Blane Harvey\, Ying-Syuan (Elaine) Huang\, Bruce Goldstein\, Nick Graham\n\n\nThe community of researchers\, practitioners and policymakers working on global climate and sustainability challenges are faced with two competing challenges: First is an ever-expanding body of knowledge\, networks\, and initiatives generating new insights that should be shared. Second is the growing recognition that fly-in-fly-out conferencing practices (long the main forum for this sharing) are an insufficient and unsustainable model for learning\, boundary-crossing and collaboration toward sustainability transformations. Against this backdrop\, this session will bring together conference and network conveners and conference participants\, to collectively discuss how we can re-think\, re-design and sustain equitable and impactful knowledge exchange on sustainability transformations.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/t-practice-workshop-towards-new-models-of-knowledge-exchange-for-sustainability-transformations-a-multi-sited-dialogue-ii/
LOCATION:Online Room 2
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T140000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T113903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T165903Z
UID:155-1689166800-1689170400@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:The Bewilderment Game: Using stories as sense-making adventures
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Meredith Lewis\n\n\n‘Throw away the light\, the definitions\, and say\, what you see\, in the dark.‘ —Wallace Stevens We have all been jolted out of time and psychosocial space due to Covid\, climate and natural emergencies\, growing inequality\, and their attendant disruptions and griefs. What does this mean for us? The Bewilderment Game is a ‘choose your own adventure’ narrative building workshop. It uses reflexivity\, imagination\, and storybuilding as a transformational exercise in sense-making. Following a series of creative prompts and visualisations\, participants will be allowed to construct their own richly-imagined story before being invited to share it with the group. The Bewilderment Game opens up a shared transformational space\, allowing participants to build bridges between their individual inner world to a group discourse. Past participants have fed back that this is creatively generative\, inspirational\, and emotionally resonant. Level of participation: Before: If required\, a brief creative prompt can be emailed to participants before the event to provide inspiration. During: This is a highly interactive event\, first giving individuals time to create a story by being guided by creative prompts from the facilitator\, and then by inviting participants to join group discussions about those stories. There is no passive learning. Following: A 1-page summary of the quotations and prompts used in the session is emailed to the participants and / or shared via Zoom at the end of the event. This is so participants can revisit the creative exercises at any time. About time: Based in Melbourne (AEST)\, I have nominated an evening time-slot for an online event as past experience has shown me that I can attract audiences from across a number of international time zones then. However\, I am happy to deliver any time between 6.30am and 11pm AEST.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/155/
LOCATION:Online Room 1
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T150000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230623T201401Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230704T051010Z
UID:620-1689170400-1689174000@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Guided Tour: Transformational Prague
DESCRIPTION:Sign up through this form to join a guided tour
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/guided-tour-transformational-prague/
LOCATION:Foyer
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T153000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T094637Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230711T090843Z
UID:47-1689170400-1689175800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Transformations Organizations
DESCRIPTION:Leaders of transformation organizations will explore: \n\nWhat are transformations initiatives\, and how do they differ from other social change initiatives?\nWhat have we learned about how to design and structure transformations initiatives?\nWhat are the principal challenges in building and sustaining transformations initiatives\, and how can we address those challenges?\n\nModerators: Bruce Goldstein (Transformations Community) and Ioan Fazey (University of Kent) \nPanelists: \n\nDerk Loorbach\, DRIFT\nCarolina Carvalho\, Activator\, Global Regeneration Co-Lab\nMamphela Ramphele\, Co-President\, The Club of Rome\, South Africa\, and founder Reimagine SA
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/transformations-organizations/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 205
CATEGORIES:Online,Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T140000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T153000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T095100Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230704T050604Z
UID:50-1689170400-1689175800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:World Café Day One Afternoon: Drawing on Diverse Sources of Knowledge in Partnerships
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Violeta Cabello\, Sarah Velten\, Eugenia Castellazzi\, Sierra Deutsch\, Viola Hakkarainen\, Sara Zaman\, Jakub Macha \nPresentations: \nShifting values\, knowledge systems and agency in education\, institutes and policy\nViola Hakkarainen\, Sara Zaman\, Eugenia Castellazzi \nFrom academics\, policy makers\, to practitioners\, humans often work within the context of institutions that partially provide the scope of what a desirable future looks like. Sustainability and transformative change mean vastly different things to individuals within these contexts. Having developed processes for integrating institutional knowledges and values\, it remains unclear how these processes intend to fundamentally challenge existing worldviews within institutions\, thereby dealing with the ultimate alienation of human from nature\, and mind from body. Our research therefore unsettles institutional claims to sustainability on multiple fronts. We have introduced relational learning through role-plays to secondary schools\, research the transformative potential of online sustainability education in universities\, and used embodiment to uncover care-ful relationships in the smart city. In these contexts\, we demonstrate the need for shifting and enriching sustainable educational and urban planning paradigms with relational and embodied approaches. These approaches can enable humans to understand past\, present and future more-than-human interdependencies. \nFostering positive biodiversity outcomes of the EU Common Agricultural Policy through multi-level transformative partnerships in Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia\, Germany\nSarah Velten \nAgriculture is both one of the main drivers of ongoing biodiversity loss and one of the sectors that suffer most from the consequences of this unsustainable trend. In the European Union\, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) crucially shapes agricultural practice and its effects on biodiversity. Agri-environmental requirements and measures have been part of the CAP since the 1990s. However\, despite substantial investments in these measures\, biodiversity loss in European agricultural landscapes is far from being stopped or reversed. There are multiple causes for the limited effectiveness of the agri-environmental legislation and measures\, such as insufficient payments\, too little flexibility of the measures\, risk of sanctions etc. Also\, farmers feel too little involved in the design of the measures and see measures to be poorly adapted to day-to-day agricultural practice. Project CAP4GI aims to identify leverage points improve agricultural support under the CAP in terms of both biodiversity outcomes and economic feasibility for farms. As part of this endeavor\, the project team has established partnerships with farmers and other agricultural stakeholders in two federal states in Germany (Baden-Württemberg and Thuringia). At these so-called exchange platforms\, all partners work together in a co-design process to develop solutions for better biodiversity outcomes in the agriculture of the addressed regions and thereby highlight potential improvements for the CAP in general. The platforms are realized on both regional and state-level. With this multi-level design\, the partnerships attempt to facilitate effective knowledge co-production\, tackle power imbalances while enabling the involvement of a wide range of different stakeholders\, and increase the relevance of the outputs of the partnership. The oral presentation will describe the design of this process and will reflect on lessons learned so far regarding the potential of these partnerships to shape transformations. \nTransdisciplinary transformative change: an analysis of some best practices and barriers\, and the potential of critical social science in getting us there\nSierra Deutsch \nBiodiversity experts now widely acknowledge that transformative change is best supported through transdisciplinary collaborations. Yet\, such collaborations rarely successfully occur in major biodiversity research institutions and those that do rarely achieve the paradigmatic effects they aim to deliver. To gain some insight into this global phenomenon\, we surveyed Swiss-based researchers and non-academic stakeholders addressing global change and biodiversity. In this article\, we connect our findings to global patterns in transdisciplinary transformative change initiatives (TTCIs) and heuristically divide collaboration barriers into two categories: lack of resources and lack of vital functional elements. Two of the major themes that emerged from this research were the continued difficulties with (1) establishing a common ‘language’\, understanding\, and goals\, and (2) meaningful pluralization of knowledge in transdisciplinary collaborations aimed at addressing global change and biodiversity loss. The former is widely cited in the literature as contributing to the failure of TTCIs in the form of incoherent problem-framing\, while the latter is often identified as contributing to the lack of structural transformative change (e.g.\, paradigmatic shifts) in completed initiatives. Another major theme reflected in TTCI literature was limited time. Moreover\, based on our own extensive inter- and transdisciplinary experience\, we agree with other experts that there is a persistent lack of understanding of the potential contributions of critical social science (CSS) to TTCIs. We thus argue that enhancing resource availability for TTCIs\, especially tools for improving CSS literacy\, could save time and support both problem-framing alignment and delivery of the structural/paradigmatic changes we aspire to. \nSituating knowledge co-production in environmental conflicts\nVioleta Cabello \nThis presentation shares insights from a Transformation Lab focused on the eutrophication of a coastal lagoon\, the Mar Menor\, in Southern Spain. Building upon a reflection of what can transformation mean in a context of ecological grief and strong social contestation\, I situate a methodological design for a Transformation Lab that targeted humble individual and collective transformations. I emphasize the importance of the initial steps in knowledge co-production when relations are build with potential participants and crucial decisions are to be made on inclusivity and on how to attend to intersectional power differentials. I reflect on how the results of the process partially achieved its purposes\, namely\, opening a safe-enough space for dialogue among divergent positions and creating a sense of collectivity among them. I further discuss how both external and internal contexts of polarization influenced the process and how internally processing such conflicts was fundamental for me as researcher-facilitator in order to sustain it. I contend that inner and outer dimensions of transformation need to be coupled when co-producing knowledge in environmental conflicts. \nKnowledge networks and partnerships in CEE grassroots\nJakub Macha
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/world-cafe-day-one-afternoon/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 206
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T160000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T114245Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T170149Z
UID:163-1689174000-1689177600@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Online Panel: Transformative Policy & Paradigms
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Sofia Maniatakou\, Nathalie Sänger\, Jorge Martín Motta\, Simone Sandholz\, Laura Arévalos \nPresentations: \nExploring the roles and capacities of large-scale actor coalitions for sustainability transformations\nSofia Maniatakou \nSeveral transnational corporations\, investors and philanthropic organizations have formed coalitions to respond to global social and environmental challenges of the Anthropocene. The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified calls for such partnerships to increase transformative actions including new forms of governance and business models. Do these coalitions\, consisting of large-scale actors\, have the capacities to contribute to the fast\, broad and deep transformations that are needed\, or do they perpetuate the system dynamics that created the problem in the first place? In this paper we explore how large-scale actor coalitions (LSACs) may contribute to transformations towards equitable and sustainable futures. We use a “rapid assessment” 20-variable framework to collect and analyze empirical data from a total of five food and finance coalitions to identify their role and capacities for transformative change. To better understand how capacities might change according to certain conditions\, we used additional data from the COVID-19 crisis. Our results indicate that LSACs take on several roles and implement distinct strategies to reach their goals. More specifically\, LSACs raise awareness of sustainability issues\, utilize ties to push forward agendas\, and/or deal with push-back from actors that resist change. Our findings also show that LSACs responded differently to the COVID-19 disruption and were able to switch a variety of capacities when responding to the crisis. We contribute with a more nuanced understanding of the promises and pitfalls of LSACs in transformative processes\, and conclude that a combination of strategies and capacities (reflected through diverse LSAC set-ups) may support transformative changes within the food and finance sectors. \nCo-creating a Toolbox for building Transformative Coalitions: Lessons from Latin America\nNathalie Sänger\, Jorge Martín Motta\, Simone Sandholz\, Laura Arévalos \nCities are responsible for 75% of carbon emissions. Rapid and radical decarbonization is needed to meet global emission targets\, however this can only be sustainable if it is also socially just. Such a goal requires collaboration across urban dwellers. But how can urban actors succeed in building and sustaining diverse coalitions? The Transformative Urban Coalitions (TUC) project seeks to transform the social\, technological\, and political structures and value systems that have so far fostered high-carbon and resource-intensive urban developments. The project focuses on Latin America\, where cities are already feeling the effects of the climate crisis in addition to structural problems like inequalities\, poverty\, and informality. In five urban labs in Mexico\, Brazil and Argentina\, catalyst projects for transformation are being co-designed and co-implemented by multi-stakeholder coalitions involving the most vulnerable groups. The goal of the toolbox is to help urban actors steer their cities toward more just and carbon-free development trajectories. Tools include participatory design and mapping methodologies\, awareness raising games and consensus building exercises that are developed and adapted in and with the urban labs to meet local needs. In parallel to its development the toolbox is also being researched for its effectiveness regarding contribution to transformative change in different urban contexts. Results are then constantly being fed back into the further development process. This presentation will discuss the opportunities and challenges arising from toolbox development process\, with a focus on experiences from the Buenos Aires Urban Lab. in doing so\, it will draw on experiences as well as on empirical data from the development and implementation process\, The presentation ends with critical reflections on how processes of co-design and co-production of knowledge can reflect collective visions and build effective partnerships that enable transformative change toward sustainable and just urban futures.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/online-panel-transformative-policy-paradigms/
LOCATION:Online Room 2
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T173000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T095532Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230711T090852Z
UID:53-1689177600-1689183000@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Collaborative Systems Mapping and Visioning
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Julia Leventon\, Zuzana Harmackova\, Silja Zimmermann\, Jan Christian Polanía Giese\, Bruce Goldstein\n\n\n\nPanelists will describe their collaborative mapping processes\, engage in dialogue about the similarities and differences in design\, implementation\, and purpose\, and engage session attendees in exploring these questions related to how to engage diverse communities in identifying transformative outcomes and pathways\, including leverage points for change. We will consider questions that include: \n\nHow do we cultivate a shared understanding of what systems are\, how to think about defining them\, and their boundaries?\nWhat insights can collaborative systems mapping offer to addressing capacity needs/gaps and strengths/contributions?\nHow can these insights better strengthen transformative leadership within organizations and initiatives?\nHow can we use collective visioning and systems mapping/analysis to inform\, guide\, inspire?\nHow can we used these methods both in community-based collaboratives (at a variety of scales) and stakeholder-based/sectoral transformations initiative?\nHow does this field need to develop and how can we contribute to it?\n\nThis session will include these three presentations: \nTipping the Iceberg: Leveraging a food transition for Indigenous communities in the Bering Sea by combining complex systems thinking and transdisciplinary approaches\nSilja Zimmermann \nAs the world becomes more interlinked\, humanity faces ever more complex challenges. Solutions to these problems are progressively difficult to identify\, and traditional approaches are often refacing sustainability issues but do not lead to sustainable systems. Tackling these interlinked problems demands us to move beyond isolated disciplinary research and towards problem-driven\, transdisciplinary approaches. Arctic Indigenous food systems often struggle with a plethora of such complex challenges whilst at the same time being highly interlinked and involving multiple scales and actors. In other words\, increasingly complex challenges in Arctic Indigenous food systems require new strategies to find and implement successful solutions. We have carried out a systematic literature review of Arctic Indigenous food systems research and found three promising directions for future research. Building on the insights from our review\, we believe (1) the decolonisation of research practices and the Western scientific paradigm\, (2) the acknowledgement of cross-scale feedback between shallow and deep leverage points\, as well as (3) transdisciplinary action-oriented research collaborations to be of particular importance to enable effective system transformations towards futures of increased food security for Arctic Indigenous communities. To put the vision of such co-produced complexity approaches into practice\, we have teamed up with the Aleut community of St. Paul Island to co-design a transdisciplinary project that deploys methods from complex system science to gain a holistic understanding of the Indigenous St. Paul Island food system and its complex challenges to find key leverage points for sustainability transformation. Thus\, the Tipping the Iceberg project provides a unique opportunity to assess whether complex systems science combined with transdisciplinary approaches can lead to actual changes on the ground. \nBIOTRAILS Framework of Transitional Pathways and Leverage Points\nJan Christian Polanía Giese \nBIOTRAILS is a Horizon Europe project\, funded by the European Union\, which aims to generate knowledge and develop tools that will inspire and accelerate biodiversity-relevant transformative change in society. The project takes into account the complex interrelations between the indirect drivers of change in four value chains of traded products: cocoa produced in Peru; fisheries and aquaculture products supplied by the Mediterranean basin; gold mined in Ghana\, and forest-based cultural products created by indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon. This oral presentation presents the results of a preliminary analysis of the four value chains\, drawing on two theoretical concepts from systems analysis\, the “leverage points” framework (Meadows 1999) and “Attitudes-Facilitators-Infrastructure (AFI) framework” (Akenji and Chen 2016). The preliminary analysis identifies levers for successful transformational change in the four value chain systems. The results of the analysis will be discussed with a view to refining the specific leverage points relevant in each case. The ambition is that\, in a next step\, the potential interventions triggering those leverage points will be assessed to design transitional pathways and to derive a set of specific and practical recommendations for each value chain context. Ultimately\, the goal is to derive broader policy recommendations and implications for other systems. \n\n\nSystems mapping approaches for designing and critiquing change towards sustainability\nJulia LeventonI will reflect on how systems mapping approaches can contribute to designing and critiquing change towards sustainability. I will use examples from research and practice relating to creating change in the food and textiles sectors\, and to thinking about scaling of behaviour change for transformations. Using a set of illustrations\, co-created with an artist and team of researchers\, I will: consider how leverage points and systems thinking can be applied to target intervention activities and to exploring pathways of change; highlight the scope and limits of these interventions; and consider the role and positionality of research. We can also draw on this work to think about how systems thinking frameworks help organize different knowledge types into bigger pictures of transformative change.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/collaborative-systems-mapping-and-visioning/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 205
CATEGORIES:Online,Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T160000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T173000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T100057Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230711T171241Z
UID:57-1689177600-1689183000@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Decolonizing knowledge and learning systems by reconciling diverse ways of knowing
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Viola Hakkarainen\, Joel Onyango\, Gladys Kivati\, Nora Ndege\n\nViola Hakkarainen will introduce the concept of engaging with diverse ways of knowing for sustainability transformations\, and Joel Onyango\, Gladys Kivati\, and Nora Ndege will provide an in-depth case study of Learning Libraries\, an effort to decolonize institutionalized knowledge practices by developing culturally-embedded and  non-elitist knowledge systems. \nThe epistemic dimension of human-nature relationships for inclusive and just sustainability transformations\nViola Hakkarainen \nKnowledge processes such as (co-)creation\, exchange and application are in many ways central to transformations towards sustainability. One of the key questions in sustainability science is how to reconcile diverse ways of knowing in planning and implementing just and sustainable futures. Sustainability science has adopted many approaches to collaborative knowledge production. What they hold in common is the need to recognize epistemic plurality to be able to address power dynamics and create just and inclusive outcomes. However\, there are few empirical examples on how to navigate the epistemic plurality. In this presentation\, I introduce and unpack the epistemic dimension of human-nature relationships. By using empirical case examples from a science-policy interface (The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) and ecosystem governance (High Coast/Kvarken Archipelago UNESCO World Heritage Site)\, I exemplify how the epistemic dimension can be approached in research and environmental decision-making processes. I then discuss the implications of the epistemic dimension for sustainability science and show how researchers involved in the many forms of collaborative knowledge processes can draw on the epistemic dimension both to increase their own reflexivity but also to understand the contexts they conduct research in. I argue that considering the epistemic dimension is the key for critical and inclusive sustainability science which aims at minimizing its contribution to epistemic domination and injustices and through collaborative knowledge production challenges the existing status-quo and business-as-usual practices. \nLiving Libraries – Decolonising knowledge and learning systems\nJoel Onyango\, Gladys Kivati\, Nora Ndege \nAcross the developing world\, the institutionalization of learning has made access to knowledge within various learning settings a preserve for the elite and privileged. This has made local knowledge transmission almost none-existent in some communities of practice. In an effort to decolonise knowledge and learning systems in the developing world\, self-emerging and organized knowledge through storytelling and cultural histories have emerged. However\, a framework to allow the institutionalized knowledge systems to be integrated with the self-emerging knowledge paradigm\, needs various approaches. In this practice session\, we open up a dialogue on how living libraries\, as a tool and approach\, could bridge the integration of institutionalized and self-emerging knowledge systems. The session offers an opportunity for panelists and participants to self-reflect on how living libraries have emerged\, how they can be used to transform the knowledge economy in the developing world\, and how the agency of living books can be challenged to encourage reduced elitist and privilege on knowledge production\, availability and recognition. This session provides a nexus into the transformation conference 2023 by leveraging diversified knowledge frameworks and opening up the space for the transformation community to explore alternative approaches to knowing and learning in the developing world.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/living-libraries/
LOCATION:Prague Hybrid Room 206
CATEGORIES:Online,Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T180000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T100139Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230704T050848Z
UID:59-1689183000-1689184800@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Harvesting and Networking
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/harvesting-and-networking/
LOCATION:Foyer
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T183000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T114336Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230711T131720Z
UID:165-1689183000-1689186600@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Community Podcasting from the Storytelling Initiative: A Gallery of Frontline Podcasts from Around the World
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Jonathan Langdon\, Blane Harvey\, Maha Husain\, Sangeeta Singh\, Sheena Cameron\, Tahnee Prior\, Erika Xananine Calvillo Ramirez\, Daniel Valdovinos\n\n\nStories move people. Discussing transformations means moving people to transform; it is therefore crucial we focus on stories as central to a change agenda. This year’s conference theme of Transformative Partnerships for a Better World\, as well as the sub-themes of transformative leadership\, and transformative learning & knowledge practices connect with the collection of podcast documentaries we wish to share. Created through the Storytelling Initiative\, based at McGill University (Montreal\, Canada)\, these podcasts were produced by frontline communities and organizations contending with the climate and associated crises. Each podcast shares a unique story produced by these partners\, ranging from youth in South African informal settlements building leadership to contend with climate impacts in their communities\, to the use of legal mechanisms by several communities in Pakistan to halt destructive construction projects by governments\, to voices in the Arctic bringing gender into discussions of climate organizing in the region\, to Nepalese informal settlements telling stories of the climate impacts they have faced\, and how they have come together to build community responses. Audience members are invited to listen to these offerings\, and then join members of the Storytelling Initiative to reflect on the power of frontline communities and organisations building their own audio spaces to tell their stories. The Storytelling Initiative promotes a transdisciplinary and multi-sector approach with contributing organisations ranging from think tanks and established NGOs to grassroots community organisations and academic communities. This reflective session will also include sharing about the community podcasting approach used to work with these groups\, and the community of practice that emerged as a result. This presentation and the podcasts will be available as an audio gallery throughout the conference. Visitors will be invited to share their reactions to the storytelling initiative approach\, as well as the stories shared through this gallery.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/community-podcasting-from-the-storytelling-initiative-a-gallery-of-frontline-podcasts-from-around-the-world/
LOCATION:Online Room 2
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T183000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T114529Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230627T171957Z
UID:167-1689183000-1689186600@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Online Panel: Inner Transformation & Wellbeing
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Pål Dobrin\, Therese Asplund\, Kira Cooper\, Anne Taufen\, Lakin Anderson\n\n\nPresentations:\n\nHow can we cultivate individual wellbeing to support inner transformations? A wisdom tradition’s approach to personal sustainability transformations\nPål Dobrin\, Therese AsplundSince 2015 when the UN adopted 17 global goals to transform our world\, research on sustainability transformations have increasingly attract attention in its political and practical spheres\, while personal sustainability transformations although recognized\, are still scarcely studied (O´Brien\, 2018). While the last few years have witnessed an increased scholarly discussion on transformative learning as an entry point to the study of personal sustainability transformations (e.g Bostrom et al.\, 2018; Hoggan\, 2016; Rodríguez Aboytes & Barth\, 2020)\, this presentation conceptualizes personal transformation based on holistic starting points that includes but also goes beyond the cognitive domain of knowledge. By exploring personal sustainability transformations through wisdom traditions\, we present a model for conscious inner transformations including mental\, emotional\, physical\, social and global domains. Second\, we particularly invite participants for a joint conversation on the idea of separation as an underlying driver of unsustainable trajectories while simultaneously exploring the intentions of the model to increase the experience of a more relational self. In doing so\, our intention with the presentation is to further explore consciousness-driven transformations in particular with regards to linking inner and outer dimensions (e.g. Wamsler et al\, 2021; Cooper and Gibson\, 2022)\, The presentation is part of a transdisciplinary and collaborative research project between partners Empaticus – an organization with long experience of widom traditions\, contemplative practices and inner transformation and Department of Thematic Studies – unit of Environmental Change\, Center for Climate Policy Research at Linköping University with expertise in the intersection between sustainability transformations\, sense-making\, and communication. The presentation is supported by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS under Grant No. 2021 -01254. \nAssessing the effectiveness of inner transformation interventions for sustainability progress\nKira Cooper \nOptimism for inner transformations to support progress towards sustainability is rapidly increasing. However\, despite the mounting interest in leveraging individual skills\, capacities\, and worldviews to support conditions for long-term viability\, there remains significant gaps in understanding. This study addresses one such gap by presenting a novel sustainability assessment framework for inner transformation. Through a case study analysis\, this research assesses how a series of mindfulness-based events addressed criteria for collective flourishing. Results of the analysis demonstrate a range of potential synergies and trade-offs between inner transformation offerings and requirements for social and ecological wellbeing. Additionally\, the study explores how normative conceptions of both inner and outer transformations might be contextualised anew to be in service of more just\, viable\, and inclusive sustainability transformations. \nPeople Who Play Together\, Stay Together: Constructive Sensemaking\, Community Health\, and Collective Efficacy\nAnne Taufen
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/online-panel-inner-transformation-wellbeing/
LOCATION:Online Room 1
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T193000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T120018Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T170734Z
UID:169-1689186600-1689190200@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Online Panel: Just Transformation
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Florence Reed\, Hedda Reich\, Rita Golstein-Galperin\, Maayan Agmon\, Issabella Orlando \nPresentations \nWorking Together to Create a Just and Sustainable World Through Transformative Farming Training that Nourishes Communities and the Earth\nFlorence Reed \nClimate change and biodiversity loss threaten the very existence of human society\, while hunger and poverty continue to plague humanity. Though conventional farming practices are a leading cause of climate change\, smallholder farmers with little money or education are transforming the world’s food system into one that stabilizes the climate\, restores degraded lands\, and lifts people out of hunger and poverty. Meet some of these unsung heroes partnering with Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) and learn how millions more could join their ranks to transform the world’s food system. Over 25 years\, SHI has partnered with affiliated organizations in Belize\, Honduras\, Nicaragua and Panama to provide direct technical assistance to over 3\,200 smallholder farm families (16\,000 people)\, catalyze the regeneration of over 26\,000 acres of previously degraded land and plant over 4 million trees. Of our 3\,000 graduated families\, 91% continue using the agroecology practices they learned. An important key to long-term success is the strong partnership built between smallholders and SHI extensionists through weekly visits over the course of four years. Visits and trainings are tailored to each participant’s goals\, preferences\, and abilities with new skills and knowledge building upon each other and that of the farmers. If the world’s 500 million smallholder farms shift to agroecology\, they’ll sequester six billion tons of carbon annually\, which is equivalent to closing every coal-fired plant on earth. The cost to deliver agroecology extension programs such as SHI’s to all 500 million smallholders would be approximately $60 billion per year for 12 years\, or 10% of the $600 billion per year that governments of the world spend on industrial agriculture. Redirecting this government spending away from degenerative farming to regenerative agroecology training could thus improve the lives of 2.5 billion people while also mitigating climate change and restoring degraded lands. \nA new path to Sustainability and Justice? Questioning the role of deliberative mini-publics in transformations.\nHedda Reich \nDeliberative mini-publics (DMPs) are increasingly expanding as a democratic innovation in Western democracies. They are discussed as one potential solution to respond to the current challenges of representative democracies\, including the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. In the fight against the climate crisis\, the IPCC emphasises the need for societal transformations\, addressing social justice\, power dynamics and underlying values. Even though some researchers mention the transformative potential of DMPs\, there is a knowledge gap in understanding the connection between DMPs rooted in deliberative democratic theory and transformations to sustainability and justice.\nTherefore\, the discussion will revolve around the following research question: What is the role of deliberative-mini-publics in Transformations to Sustainability and Justice?\nBy synthesising the two scholarships of deliberative democracy and transformations to sustainability and justice\, I examine how the two scholarships view DMPs’ role in transformations. I identify synergies and tensions regarding their perspectives using literature and interviews with researchers with specialist knowledge in these two scholarships. The findings suggest that the two scholarships’ underlying assumption and normative bias are important explanatory variables for how they view DMPs’ role and transformative potential. Deliberative Democracy sees the potential and function in the openness and quality of the deliberative process\, mostly questioning DMPs’ connection to the broader system. Transformations to sustainability and justice view DMPs’ potential in addressing deeper leverage points such as underlying norms and values.\nThese presented findings could trigger exciting discussions regarding synthesising these two scholarships and the role of new democratic innovations\, such as DMPs\, in transformations that move beyond theoretical implications. Researchers\, practitioners\, and policymakers are welcome to join the session to critically discuss how they see DMP’s potential role in transformations and what parameters and mechanisms such innovations can address to tackle urgent sustainability challenges.\nKeywords: deliberative democracy\, deliberative mini-publics\, transformation to sustainability and justice \nAcademic Impact Centers – Time for Paradigm Shift\nRita Golstein-Galperin\, Maayan Agmon \nUniversities historically have played a pivotal role in transforming leadership and societies at large. In the last decades we’re witnessing rise of impact economy\, merging business and social issues – notably known as “double/triple bottom line”. The role of the academia in enhancing impact leadership is pronounced through the umbrella term “academic impact center”. coined by Oxford University (2017)\, and refers to a broad range of university-based initiatives such as “social innovation initiatives”\, “social entrepreneurship programs”\, and “impact labs” However\, the unique contribution of the transformative role of the academia through the impact lens is yet to be fully described. To fill this gap\, we have conducted a qualitative comparative study aimed to understand the best practices to support the leadership of the academia in promoting impact. We mapped out 107 impact programs from 29 countries across five continents from diverse disciplines (economics / business administration / public policy / social work / design). No uniformity between was found between the institutions in terms of the essence of the centers\, their goals\, their leadership and audience\, the content of the activity\, and even the degree of student involvement. The findings were organized in a typology that correspond with three main themes: Who are the people involved? What is the focus of the activities? And how is the center organized and managed? The presentation will outline the diversity of the field\, raising the main dilemmas and tensions. Following this discussion\, participants will have a better understanding of the guidelines underlying the centers’ theories of change that further leverage their role as change agents and transformative leaders. We welcome people from both newly developed centers\, as well as those aspiring to refine their vision as transformative leaders. \nTransforming Through Cultural Development & Community Partnership\nIssabella Orlando \nI’m a firm believer that in order for transformation to occur\, something has to break: old patterns\, paradigms that no longer serve the world\, that maybe never did. I’ve observed and considered some of these kinds of paradigms through my work and research in arts & culture. My critical eye is borne from my master’s thesis\, which yielded the discovery of a new paradigm in development studies in which culture is mobilised to serve sustainable economies\, namely through initiatives led by and in partnership with communities. Through this research and work in private-public cultural partnerships\, I’ve realised that the cultural development programme today often fails to involve with people on the ground in local communities\, and become more deeply passionate about breaking the bad habits of an old paradigm and spreading awareness of a new one. This new paradigm entails the formation of culture-driven\, grassroots\, regenerative economic opportunities for growth and enterprise that protect the cultural and natural resources of communities around the world. It requires a break from top-down programming\, imposing Western ideals of productivity and prioritising brands and institutions first and communities second. It instead champions getting on the ground and listening to voices that have been traditionally disregarded: indigenous peoples\, local populations\, elders\, and young people\, especially young women. Their ideas\, needs\, understandings and generational traditions become the building blocks for culture-led development\, and the role of brands and institutions becomes to support and co-facilitate. The outcomes are as varied as the cultures it could work with; existing examples range from women’s weaving circles turned to heritage-led textile production houses to local knowledge of natural landscapes\, heritage sites and sustainable agriculture turned to excursions in sustainable travel. In any case\, true partnership with local communities\, not just institutions\, and a shift from the norm is absolutely required.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/online-panel-just-transformation/
LOCATION:Online Room 1
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T183000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T193000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T120122Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230705T222034Z
UID:171-1689186600-1689190200@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Online Panel: Transformative Policy & Knowledge Practices
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Gilbert Michaud\, Flurina Schneider\, Kajsa-Stina Benulic\, Niko Schäpke\n\n\nPresentations\n\nOperationalizing Demand for Renewable Energy Projects in Laggard States\nGilbert MichaudAs part of the unfolding energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables\, large\, utility-scale solar and wind projects are increasingly being deployed throughout the United States (U.S.). While smaller forms of renewable energy\, such as rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems\, have been around for decades\, relatively less is known about the impacts of these larger projects\, which have been the subject of recent and heated debate in rural areas. As part of a broader and smarter site selection strategy for industry and utilities\, this research works to quantify and identify the openness to large renewable energy projects throughout the U.S. states of Indiana and Ohio. This project reviews\, for the first time\, statewide land use policies for the townships\, cities\, and counties across these two states. It also looks at the largest employers and their stated commitments to renewable energy\, among other climate goals. On the quest for pathways to decarbonize the electricity grid\, understanding how and where to site large renewable energy projects is fundamentally important\, especially as local opposition groups intensify. Operationalizing the magnitude and location of these public and private demand-side drivers of renewable energy projects offers great practicality to developers\, economic and regional planners\, and many other stakeholders\, particularly in less progressive states that lag in terms of statewide renewable energy incentives or streamlined project approval procedures. \nTransdisciplinary and Transformative Research in different contexts: Insights from Asia\, Africa and Latin America\nFlurina Schneider \nTransdisciplinary research (TDR) has been developed to generate knowledge that effectively fosters the capabilities of various societal actors to realize sustainability transformations. The development of TDR theories\, principles\, and methods has been largely governed by researchers from the global North and has reflected their contextual conditions. To enable more context-sensitive TDR framing\, we – a team of Southern and Northern scholars – sought to identify what contextual characteristics affect the design and implementation of TDR in six case studies in Asia\, Latin America\, and Africa\, and what this means for TDR as a scientific approach. Our analysis showed that contextual characteristics prevalent in many Southern research sites – such as highly volatile socio-political situations and relatively weak support infrastructure – can make TDR a challenging endeavour. However\, we also observed a high degree of variation in the contextual characteristics of our sites in the global South\, including regarding group deliberation\, research freedom\, and dominant perceptions of the appropriate relationship between science\, society\, and policy. We argue that TDR in these contexts requires pragmatic adaptations as well as more fundamental reflection on underlying epistemological concepts around what it means to conduct “good science”\, as certain contextual characteristics may have bearing on core epistemological values of TDR. \nRural perspectives on inclusive transformation towards decarbonization in Sweden\nKajsa-Stina Benulic \nIt would take nothing less than transformative actions to decarbonise our fossil-ridden world\, to pointedly paraphrase IPCC. The nature of transformative actions mean they will not go by unnoticed and furthermore\, they may benefit some groups of people while others see comforts and riches diminishing. Enter the concept of just transformations\, commonly used to highlight the risk that people and societies directly tied to fossil-intensive practices and industries are going to be disfavoured in a transformation towards decarbonisation. In Sweden\, the climate policy action plan has taken a slightly broader outlook on justice dimensions\, at least in language\, by using the concept inclusive transformation. It states that the needs of people at risk of being disfavoured\, for example those living in sparsely populated areas\, should be considered. Yet\, little has been done in research and politically to investigate said needs. To begin to cover this gap\, we have carried out 7 focus group discussions and 1 interview with participants recruited through a partnership with the NGO Rural Sweden\, and the study association of the workers. I will share results on how the “just” in just transformations takes on many different meanings to rural citizens\, and that a narrow definition of just transformations as losses due to a shift away from fossil-intensive industries does not capture all of these. Rather\, to capture all relevant meanings of just transformations one must include several forms of justice\, such as procedural\, distributional\, spatial\, and recognitional. I suggest that doing so unveils more groups at risk of being disfavoured during low-carbon transformations. I will also discuss how the results from the focus group interviews will be incorporated into a study circle exploring personal transformations to be carried out over one year\, with participants from a local association of Rural Sweden. \nChanging the climate of collaboration and communication – towards a typology of relational spaces at the science-policy interface\nNiko Schäpke \nUNFCCC climate change conferences (COPs) annually convene tens of thousands of actors from various climate related fields. The conferences hold enormous convening power (Mar et al. 2023). COPs not only host negotiations on political agreements and their implementation. Beyond formal negotiation they as well hold huge potential to build communities\, mutual learning and develop collective action. Interaction takes place in so called side events\, with expert panels as dominant interaction format (ibid.). Yet\, COPs have been critiqued as a ´trade fair´ (Lövbrand et al. 2017)\, a ´circus´ (Freyne 2021) and a ´theatre´ (Death 2011). Decision makers described the culture of communication and collaboration as siloed\, power-laden\, male and western-dominated and competitive. A sense of urgency and orientation towards collective action is lacking\, necessitating to change underlying mindsets and communication culture (Wamsler et al. 2021). Building on this insight\, RIFS Potsdam and multiple partners set up the Co-Creative Reflection and Dialogue Space (CCRDS) in the side-event space. CCRDS was based on a relational paradigm\, working to emphasize interdependency between participants and shared world\, and cultivating empathy in such relationships (Wamsler et al. 2022). CCRDS convened some 60 workshops at COPs 25\, 26 and 27. Workshops followed generic guidelines for interactive\, horizontal\, embodied and action-oriented communication. Concrete forms widely differed including arts- and ritual based\, future-oriented\, and deep dialogs\, meditation and story-telling\, hosted by Youth and Gender-Initiatives\, Faith groups\, NGOs\, research institutions and others. Our workshop-comparison aims for a typology of relational spaces\, relating three analytical dimensions: 1) transformative capacities (e.g. sensemaking\, empathy\, awareness); 2) deep leverage points (e.g. world views\, values and motivations); 3) experiencing relatedness\, including it´s formability and action-relevance. Triangulative analysis combines participant surveys\, expert interviews\, participant observations and group reflections. The analysis focuses action-oriented insights\, i.e. concrete hosting practices and underlying essentials\, in relation to the analytical dimensions.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/online-panel-transformative-policy-knowledge-practices/
LOCATION:Online Room 2
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T190000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T210000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230620T132732Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230712T131701Z
UID:610-1689188400-1689195600@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Evening Reception at Vila Lanna
DESCRIPTION:Reception is already included in registration fees\, but please indicate if you’ll be in attendance through this form. \nLogistics:\nThe nearest metro station is Hradcanska and then it is a 10 minute walk – you can take the green line from Mustek. You can also take the number 18 tram from outside the conference venue to tram stop Kralovsky Letohradek\, and then its about 13 minutes to Vila Lanna. Various of the organisers will also be coming\, and will give tips on walking all the way there\, or on fun routes that combine public transport and a bit of sight-seeing.
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/evening-reception-at-vila-lanna/
LOCATION:Vila Lanna\, V Sadech 1/1\, 160 00 Praha 6-Bubeneč\, Prague\, Czech Republic
CATEGORIES:Prague
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T193000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20230712T200000
DTSTAMP:20260723T050640
CREATED:20230607T120248Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20230619T170951Z
UID:174-1689190200-1689192000@transformationsconference23.bemodos.com
SUMMARY:Silence Spaces and their (self) transformative potentials for the socio-ecological transformation
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Valerie Voggenreiter\, Felix Beyers\, Fanny Langner\n\n\nWhat does it take for a sustainable society? What is missing to rethink our future? Silence holds self-love\, connection to one another and promotes resilience of social structures in times of radical change. Thus\, solution-oriented approaches and answers can be found in silence. But where do we find silence in times of constant acceleration and endless growth? With the project “Silence Space”\, silence is given a symbolic space\, which wants to include all areas of life\, the public institutions as well as educational landscapes\, companies and organizations. Conference participants are thereby invited to enter the experiment of a modern\, non-confessional temple to explore the Silence Space. Silence offers space for inner transformation and thus can trigger greater change – because external and internal transformation processes are mutually dependent. Silence here is not to be merely understood as the absence of noise\, but an attitude. Do you remember how much potential there is in yourself?
URL:https://transformationsconference23.bemodos.com/event/silence-spaces-and-their-self-transformative-potentials-for-the-socio-ecological-transformation/
LOCATION:Online Room 1
CATEGORIES:Online
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR