What kind of innovations are needed to address the interconnected ‘nexus’ of challenges related to water, food, energy and other resources in a changing world?

This event in central London is organised by the Nexus Network, an ESRC funded initiative to support thinking about the interdependencies, tensions and trade-offs between nexus resources and issues. It is also linked to the STEPS Centre’s series of Transformations events (see below for details).

The final workshop for the Nexus Network, this event will explore the practical implications of research on innovation and the nexus.

Innovation and the nexus

Nexus challenges come in many forms, requiring social, institutional and technological changes. Another buzzword – ‘innovation’ – therefore also comes to the fore.  But incremental changes, while important, are not enough. The scope and gravity of nexus challenges call for more ‘radical’ changes – in many senses of the word.

• What in practice does it mean to transform not only existing systems of provision, but patterns of innovation themselves?
• What is the role in this regard of different kinds of democratic struggle?
• What are the implications for current institutionalised notions of expertise, currently privileged disciplinary methods and vertical structures for the organisation of research?

Participants

Confirmed and invited speakers at this workshop include Andy Stirling (ESRC STEPS Centre/SPRU, University of Sussex), Sujatha Raman (University of Nottingham), Frances Harris (University of Hertfordshire), Joe Williams (University of Durham), Jake Reynolds (CISL), Adrian Smith (ESRC STEPS Centre /SPRU), Elizabeth Shove (Lancaster University), Ruth Stevenson (Centre for Alternative Technology), Clare Brass (Royal College of Art), Andrew Simms (New Weather Institute), Tim Forsyth (LSE), Ian Scoones (STEPS/IDS), Rose Cairns (SPRU), Dipak Gyawali (Royal Nepal Academy of Science & Technology), Miles Parker (University of Cambridge) and Jack Stilgoe (UCL).

About the Transformations series

When in the past have societies made rapid transitions, and what were the circumstances that drove them? What can we learn from these times, positively and negatively to enable the transition we need to make today in the face of climatic upheaval and fossil fuel dependence?

The Transformations series, co-organised by the New Weather Institute and the STEPS Centre, aim to change the conversation about transition in the UK. Through informed public discussion and engagement we will gather opinions, capture outcomes and stimulate debate about how to facilitate the speed and scale of the transition.

See the Transformations event series page for more details.