SPRU hosts international Sustainability Transitions conference
At the end of August, SPRU – Science Policy Research Unit will host an international conference on campus that will provide a platform to demonstrate the extensive sustainability transition research taking place within SPRU and the STEPS Centre – a SPRU and Institute of Development Studies research centre.
This year's International Sustainability Transitions Conference, an annual conference organised by the Sustainability Transitions Research Network (STRN) is on the theme of 'Sustainability Transitions and Wider Transformative Change: Historical Roots and Future Pathways’. It aims to view sustainability transitions with a long-term perspective.
Sustainability transitions are transformations of major socio-technical systems of provision and use in areas such as energy, water, mobility, and food, towards more sustainable ways of production and consumption.
This is a multi-disciplinary field with inputs from economics, science and technology studies, geography, political science, management, sociology and history.
The conference will not only explore transitions in individual systems, but also investigate broader transformations of entire economies, societies and political systems. STRN is the main platform for transitions researchers.
With some 250-300 attendees, the conference has a full programme that incorporates the exploration of many new directions for transitions research as well as novel opportunities for PhD students and new comers to the field to engage in debates.
There will be keynote speeches from:
- Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the European Environment Agency, on ‘Sustainability transitions and EU policy’
- Prof Jan Rotmans, DRIFT, on ‘In Times of Transition: the role of game changers’
- Prof Frank Biermann, Earth System Governance Project will discuss ‘Transformations in Global Governance for Sustainability’ (session sponsored by Future Earth).
Each keynote is followed by a discussion session with experts in the area, providing an opportunity to widen the debate.
STRN was founded in 2009 at a conference co-organised by SPRU’s current director, Professor Johan Schot.
Transitions research is a new approach to sustainable development which has been highly influential in shaping policies in various countries.
Professor Schot has co-authored a number of seminal articles in this area including the book ‘Transitions through Sustainable Development: New Directions in the Study of Long Term Transformative Change’.
Transitions researchers view transformative change at the systems level, including major changes in production, consumption that were conceptualized as ‘sustainability transitions’.
For more information, please see the conference website.