Transformations 2019: Learning from Transformative Action and Thinking
The Transformations to Sustainability community will be active at the forthcoming Transformations 2019 conference, which takes place in Santiago, Chile.
The theme for the conference is ‘Learning from Transformative Action and Thinking’, and discussions on on this topic will be kick-started on 15 October, when researchers from the Transformations to Sustainability community will convene a pre-conference TransAction workshop:
‘Transformation Laboratories as spaces for co-designing social-ecological transformation: learning from different contexts and approaches’
Tuesday 15 October (09:00-18:00)
Santiago,Chile
Register now
Experimental spaces for supporting collective processes of deliberation and learning about sustainability challenges, and testing possible solutions, are of increasing interest. An example of these are T-Labs (‘transformation laboratories’), which are highly facilitated, multi-stakeholder spaces of interaction and dialogue aimed at co-creating new visions and practices for social-ecological sustainability in specific settings.
Three projects from the ISC-Transformations to Sustainability programme, T-Learning, Pathways and ACKnowl-EJ, have experimented with and reframed T-Labs, enriching our understanding of transformation itself, and of specific, complex social-ecological systems and their challenges in a wide range of contexts. This TransAction Workshop will bring together a wide range of participants to engage in dialogue, exchange of experience and exploration of the T-Lab framework, and to critically assess its potential to support processes of social-ecological transformation. The framework and its methods will be applied to two cases related to extractive sectors in Latin America. The first case is mining, drawing on the knowledge of the Belmont Forum-NORFACE-Transformations to Sustainability project Gold Matters. The second case is agriculture, building upon Pathways experience. The use of T-Lab processes has great potential for exploring the role of extractive sectors in enabling and advancing transformations to sustainability in Latin America. The workshop will propose tools not only to academics but also to policy makers, practitioners, activists and everyone who is interested in designing multi-stakeholder spaces of transformation in the context of sustainability challenges in general and in extractive sectors such as mining and agriculture in particular. The workshop will be held in Spanish, and translation will be provided on a collaborative basis, as necessary.
Catch up with the Transformations to Sustainability community at the following sessions:
Wednesday 16 October
11:10-12:45 Parallel Oral Presentation Sessions I
Learning through Transdisciplinarity
- How Can Research Funding Programmes Enhance Transdisciplinary Co-Production of Knowledge. Flurina Schneider, Tobias Buser, Isabelle Providoli, Christian Eismann, Zarina Patel, Katsia Paulavets (ISC), Vivi Stavrou (ISC), Theresa Tribaldos
Relational and Psychological Dimensions of Agency
- Loss and Change: Emotional Roots in Transformation and Collective Action. Hallie Eakin, Rebecca Shelton, Lakshmi Charli-Joseph, Jesus Mario Siqueiros Garcia, David Manuel-Navarrete, Beatriz Ruizpalacios
- Seeds of Transformation: Change Strategies Towards More Sustainable Seed Systems. Almendra Cremaschi, Anabel Marin, Patrick van Zwanenberg
13 :45 – 15 :00 Parallel Oral Presentation Sessions II
The Power of Stories
- Bioleft: A Story of Emerging Change First Led by Academics but Now Co-Owned by a Complex Network of Actors. Anabel Marin, Patrick Van Zwanenberg, Almendra Cremaschi
Learning Methods & Evaluation
- Stakeholder Perspectives on Transformation Oriented Transdisciplinary Processes – What Makes Transdisciplinary Processes Valuable for Stakeholders? Tobias Buser, Merritt Polk, Silvia Tobias, Stephan Rist, Lars Lilled, Flurina Schneider, Roderick Lawrence, Pius Krütli, Christian Pohl
Actors and Actions in Natural Resource Management
- The Role of Urban Citizens in Sustainable Phosphorus Cycling: Can Urban Agriculture Act as a Seed of Transformation. Geneviève Metson
Emerging Theory of Transformational Change
- Perspectives Arising from a Multi-Year Global Analysis. Björn-Ola Linnér
Thursday 17 October
10:30-12:00 Parallel Oral Presentation Sessions III
Fundamentals in Theory and Methods
- Transformative Innovation in Peri-Urban Asia Jonathan Dolley, Fiona Marshall
Co-Producing Urban Transformative Visions for Resilience to Extreme Events: Framing and Case Studies
- Positive Futures of Urban Transformation. David Iwaniec, Marta Berbes, Elizabeth Cook, Nancy Grimm, Lelani Mannetti, Timon McPhearson, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson
- Urban Resilience to Extreme Events: Framing Cities and their Infrastructure as Social-Ecological-Technological Systems (Sets). Nancy Grimm, Marta Berbés Blásquez, Mikhail Chester, Elizabeth Cook, David Iwaniec, Timon McPhearson, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson, Charles Redman
- A Multi-Modal Approach to Framing Urban Resilience: A Valdivian Case Study. Lelani Mannetti, Elizabeth Cook, David Iwaniec, Tischa Muñoz-Erickson, Robert Hobbins
Negotiating Epistemological Frameworks and Normative Commitments Across a Transformative Knowledge Network
- Negotiating Epistemological Frameworks and Normative Commitments Across a Transformative Knowledge Network. Adrian Ely, Anabel Marin, Joanes Atela, Lakshmi Charli-Joseph, Hallie Eakin, Pravin Kushwaha, Laura Pereira, Lichao Yang
- Mobilized Publics, Contradictory Interests and Divergent Imaginations: Co-Producing Knowledge and Practices for Sustainable Urban Water Management in Gurgaon, India. Pravin Kumar Kushwaha, Dinesh Abrol, Bikramaditya Chaudhary, Prachi Jha
- Co-Producing Research and Action for Transformations to Sustainability in Argentina: Can Empowering Logics Also Be Instrumental? Patrick Van Zwanenberg, Anabel Marin, Almendra Cremaschi
- Exploring Collective Agency for Sustainability Transformations: A Transdisciplinary Process in the Xochimilco Social-Ecological System TLab. Lakshmi Charli-Joseph, Hallie Eakin, J. Mario Siqueiros-García, Beatriz Ruizpalacios, David Manuel-Navarrete, Rebecca Shelton
- Reflections on Theory, Methods and Action. Adrian Ely
14 :50 – 16 :20 Parallel T-Practice Sessions I
- Developing Theories of Change for Supporting Sustainability Transformations: A Serious Game. Theresa Tribaldos, Flurina Schneider
14:50-16:20 Parallel Oral Presentation Sessions IV
Variations of Societal Transformations Across the World
- How Do We Change the World? Making Sense of Sustainability Transformations Across Societies. Björn-Ola Linnér, Victoria Wibeck
- Stories of Transformation: A Cross-Country Focus Group Study on Sustainable Development and Societal Change. Victoria Wibeck, Björn-Ola Linnér
16:30-18:00 Parallel T-Practice Sessions II
- Deep Leverage Points for Transformations: Learning from Japanese Healing and Martial Arts (Shiatsu and Aikido). Flurina Schneider
- Applying Technologies of the Self in Transformation Labs to Mobilize Agency. David Manuel-Navarrete, Lakshmi Charli-Joseph, Hallie Eakin, Mario Siqueiros-García, Adrian Ely
- The Living Spiral Framework: Understanding, Generating and Evaluating Journeys of Transformations. Thomas Macintyre, Martha Chaves
- Building Bridges: Finding the Essential Elements of a Professional Society Supporting Sustainability Knowledge and Innovation Communities. Judit Ungvari, Josh Tewksbury, Makyba Charles-Ayinde, Susanna Ehlers
Friday 18 October
8:30-9:45 Parallel Oral Presentation Sessions V
Exploring Transformative Narratives
- Narratives of Transformation Processes: A Cross-Country Perspective. Victoria Wibeck, Björn-Ola Linnér
Actors and Actions in Climate Change Response
- Climate Action Literacies: Schools Becoming Agents of Societal Transformation. Alfredo Jornet, Karen O’Brien, Linda Sygna, Erik Knain
Social, Political & Cultural Complexities
- Participatory Complexity-Aware Approaches that Support Transformative Pathways for those Left Behind. Marina Apgar, Eric Kasper, Pedro Prieto Martin
Resilience, Capacity and Transformation
- Societal Transformation as the Key to Climate-Resilient Development Pathways. Petra Tschakert, Chukwumerije Okereke, Diana Liverman, Neville Ellis, Karen P. Henrique
10:15-11:45 Parallel T-Practice Sessions III
- Quantum Social Change: Meaning, Metaphors, and Mattering. Karen O’Brien
- Change Agents: Our Work Within Transformation Systems. Bruce Goldstein, Glenn Page, Gail Francis, Tony Cooke, Julianna Gwiszcz
View the full programme on the Transformations 2019 website.