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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170524T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170524T140000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170412T091915Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170503T160817Z
UID:11661-1495630800-1495634400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:The Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative: Launch Event
DESCRIPTION:Seminar & launch event with Ruth Hall (Institute for Poverty\, Land and Agrarian Studies) and Ian Scoones (Institute of Development Studies/STEPS Centre). All welcome – registration is not required.\n \nDeepening inequalities\, failed livelihoods\, mass (under)employment\, climate chaos\, and racist anti-immigrant attacks characterise many settings across the world. Forms of ‘progressive neoliberalism’ have failed to stem disillusionment\, disenfranchisement and marginalisation. The rise of populist\, nationalist movements has been one very visible response. These may aim to ‘take back control’ in favour of ‘the people’\, or put one ideology ‘first’\, while excluding others\, generating tensions across society. All are responses to crises in contemporary capitalism\, yet they are rooted in specific histories\, institutional and social structures and political dynamics. \nYet the reactions to exclusionary politics are incredibly diverse\, across and indeed within countries. In the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI)\, we are interested in changes ongoing in rural areas that both give rise to a particular form of politics\, but also offer alternatives. ERPI seeks to foster a debate about regressive\, authoritarian politics as well as alternatives\, documenting\, analysing and theorising these in order to advance new emancipatory politics that challenge exclusionary\, violent and populist visions. In this launch event\, we will discuss briefly the 3 core themes of the Initiative – understanding the current conjuncture: rural roots and consequences; resisting\, organising and mobilising for an emancipatory rural politics; and understanding\, supporting\, creating\, deepening and scaling up alternatives. ERPI builds on the successful Land Deals Politics Initiative (LDPI)\, and will initiate a small grants programme to encourage research and action\, linking to a number of planned events in the coming year. \nFor more information about ERPI\, see the Institute of Social Studies website. \nRuth Hall is a professor at the Institute for Poverty\, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape\, South Africa\, and has worked on land reform\, land rights and land governance in South Africa and beyond. Ian Scoones is a Professorial Fellow at IDS\, and co-director of the ESRC STEPS Centre. Both are founding members of LDPI and ERPI.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/emancipatory-rural-politics-initiative-launch-event/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170515T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170515T190000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170301T095856Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170525T125536Z
UID:11541-1494869400-1494874800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Annual Lecture: Achim Steiner
DESCRIPTION:DOOMED TO FAIL OR BOUND TO SUCCEED? Sustainable Development and the Green Economy Agenda – Revisited \nAchim Steiner delivered the 2017 STEPS Annual lecture at the University of Sussex on 15 May. \nSteiner is former Executive Director of UNEP and now director of the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. In April 2017 it was announced that he would serve as the next Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). \nVideo\n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajQwBH27hJY[/embedyt]\nLecture slides\n  \n STEPS Annual Lecture 2017: Achim Steiner – Doomed to fail or bound to succeed? Sustainable Development and the Green Economy Agenda – Revisited  from STEPS Centre\n\n\n\nabout the lecture\nThe Annual Lectures are the only part of the STEPS Summer School on Pathways to Sustainability that is open to the public. You can also view materials from past Annual Lectures. \nSummary\nThe lecture will explore whether the ‘sustainable development’ and ‘green economy’ agendas remain relevant in terms of what happens next. Assessing the seemingly contradictory signals of the past 3 years – from recent multilateral breakthroughs\, such as the SDGs/Agenda 2030 or the Paris Agreement on the one hand\, to an increasingly negative narrative on their actual impact and implementation and the relevance of  multilateralism in global problem-solving on the other – may give rise to a new policy discourse on sustainable development and globalisation. \nInequality and sustainability are at the heart of current critiques of economic policy and globalisation. Can the transition towards an inclusive\, green economy succeed in driving the necessary changes required to meet the SDG target or the timelines of the Paris Agreement?
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-annual-lecture-achim-steiner/
LOCATION:Fulton A Lecture Theatre\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RH\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Governance & policy
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170512T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170512T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170503T110626Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170503T110626Z
UID:11873-1494594000-1494599400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Charles Tonui on the co-management of mangrove forest in Gazi Bay\, Kenya
DESCRIPTION:‘The Role of Community Based Organisations and Associations in Co-management of Forests in Kenya: The case of Mikoko Pamoja Community Based Organisation (MPCBO) and Gogoni-Gazi Community Forest Association (GOGACFA) in the Co-management of Mangrove Forest in Gazi Bay\, Kenya’ \nSTEPS Seminar with Charles Tonui\, African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)\, Kenya. All are welcome to attend and no registration is necessary. \nThe Constitution of Kenya provides for people to contribute to the national tree cover target of 10%\, and the forest policy and legislation (Act 2005; Draft Act 2016) acknowledges that forests provide essential raw materials for domestic and industries and a variety of non-wood forest products. It acknowledges further that community based organisations and associations play important roles in sustainable management\, conservation and utilization of forests in Kenya. \nThe mangrove forest in Gazi Bay on the southern coast in Kenya is suffering from degradation and deforestation. Mikoko Pamoja Community Based Organisation (MPCBO) and Gogoni-Gazi Community Forest Association (GOGACFA) and partners including the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KEMFRI) have responded by not only co-managing and co-conserving the mangrove forest through the Mikoko Pamoja project in Gazi Bay\, but also by generating income through a carbon offsetting programme. They have achieved some success but also faced several challenges which have hindered effective and efficient co-management of the mangrove forest. Leveraging of institutional\, policy\, finance\, and capacity building support to communities will improve their participation in the co-management of the mangrove forests in the Southern coast in Kenya. \n\nCharles Tonui currently works as a research assistant at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS). Charles’s academic background is in environmental planning and management. He participates actively in action research\, policy analysis\, planning and implementation of community-based adaptation and low-carbon development initiatives in the East Africa region. Charles is also a member of the research team on the STEPS Centre project Market-based mangrove afforestation and reforestation in Kenya and India.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-charles-tonui-co-management-mangrove-forest-gazi-bay-kenya/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Resource politics
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170510T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170510T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170406T121407Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170406T123808Z
UID:11652-1494421200-1494426600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Seminar - Ruth Hall: The Reinvention of Land Reform in South Africa: State\, Market and Citizens
DESCRIPTION:Institute of Development Studies seminar with Ruth Hall\, Institute of Poverty\, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS)\, South Africa \nThis event will be accompanied by a live audio stream and online discussion. \nLand reform\, one of post-apartheid governments’ main transformatory programmes\, has itself been transformed over the past twenty years\, reflecting changing policy agendas and ideological positions. Initially defined by a focus on multiple livelihoods for the rural poor\, land reform was soon transformed into a plan for the limited deracialisation of commercial agriculture rather than a process of restructuring to overcome agrarian dualism. In recent years this has been moderated by a retreat from allocating private title while still pursuing the capitalisation of black farmers under state leasehold – itself a return to prior models of state trusteeship. \nThe imposition of state control over farm size and production models has been revived\, with a new insistence on ‘production discipline’. In the midst of these changes\, land reform has succumbed to dualistic thinking and exhibits long historical continuities in official government thinking about land allocation\, tenure and the modernisation of African agriculture. While discursively framed as part of a radicalisation of the reform process\, the redistribution process appears to be narrowing\, shaped by a combination of state control\, state neglect and elite capture. \n\nRuth Hall is a professor at the Institute for Poverty\, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape\, South Africa\, and has worked on land reform\, land rights and land governance in South Africa and beyond. She is a regional coordinator of the Future Agricultures Consortium\, in partnership with IDS and others.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/seminar-ruth-hall-reinvention-land-reform-south-africa-state-market-citizens/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture,Resource politics,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170502T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170502T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170502T075440Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220411T105344Z
UID:11846-1493730000-1493735400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Todd Crane - Interdisciplinary science and subjectivities in research for development
DESCRIPTION:‘Interdisciplinary science and subjectivities in research for development: What are the implications of methods and measures?’ \nSTEPS Seminar – all welcome \nSocio-ecological research continues to grapple with how to represent social and biophysical phenomena in integrated and balanced ways. Methodological choices\, especially regarding representation of the social\, have important implications for the robustness of the science\, subjectivities that emerge from different modes of representation and for the politically situated nature of the scientific endeavour. \nTodd Crane has recently published several papers addressing these issues\, but he will not give any definitive answers because he doesn’t have them. Instead\, seminar participants are invited to think through these issues with him\, especially in terms of how to integrate these considerations in research practice\, both reflexively and analytically. \nTodd Crane is a Senior Scientist at the Sustainable Livestock Systems group at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi\, Kenya. Trained as an anthropologist\, he specializes in climate change adaptation and mitigation issues in sub-Saharan Africa\, including cross-scale governance\, adaptation as socio-technical process\, and low-emissions dairy development. His work in research for development often involves collaboration with biophysical scientists. It also involves working with institutional actors looking for simple solutions and easily measured indicators for complex problems.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-todd-crane-interdisciplinary-science-subjectivities-research-development/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Food & agriculture,Research methods
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170424T103000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170424T183000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170313T101924Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170510T154954Z
UID:11582-1493029800-1493058600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Rapid Transitions: how did we do that?
DESCRIPTION:Join in on Twitter: #RapidTransitions \nIn the face of environmental crises and global inequality\, how can we work together for more sustainable futures? What can we learn from great transitions and transformations of the past? \nThis event brought together activists\, academics and practitioners to explore what we can learn from history and how we accelerate change in the present\, and launched a new booklet\, How did we do that? The possibility of Rapid Transition. \nVideo\nIn the video playlist\, we asked speakers to share their views on rapid transitions\, including Caroline Lucas\, Rob Hopkins\, Richard Murphy\, Andrew Simms\, Andy Stirling\, Pete Newell\, Paul Allen and Molly Conisbee. \n[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/embed?listType=playlist&list=PLI8qkz1i11OR1rUcO55Wd0VQNzhkxaRPZ[/embedyt]\n\nDownload the booklet (PDF\, 1 MB)\nBooklet: How did we do that? The possibility of Rapid Transition\nby Andrew Simms and Peter Newell\nSTEPS Centre & New Weather Institute\, 2017 \nIs rapid transition possible? Sometimes events or new knowledge throw up reasons why we must make change happen quickly. At the present moment\, climate change and chronic social inequality seem to demand radical change – but what kind of changes will work\, and how can they be achieved? \nThis booklet collects stories of rapid transitions and different kinds of transformations to show what we can learn from history and the present day about how people adapt to rapid change. \nDownload the booklet (PDF\, 1 MB) \n\nMore about the event\nSpeakers: \n\nCaroline Lucas\, co-leader\, Green Party of England and Wales\nPaul Allen\, Centre for Alternative Technology\nRob Hopkins\, Transition Network\nRuth Potts\, Schumacher College\nMolly Conisbee\, University of Bristol / Bread\, Print & Roses\nAndrew Simms\, New Weather Institute\nPeter Newell\, University of Sussex/ESRC STEPS Centre\nLeo Murray\, 10:10\nPhil Johnstone\, SPRU\, University of Sussex\nRichard Murphy\, Tax Research UK\nBradon Smith\, The Open University\, Stories of Change project\nChris Rowland\, OVESCO\nKayla Ente\, Brighton and Hove Energy Services Co-op (BHESCo)\nRuth Potts\, Schumacher College / Bread\, Print & Roses\nSarah Woods\, playwright & artist\n\n\nAbout the Transformations series\nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details. \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/rapid-transitions-how-did-we-do-that/
LOCATION:Brighton\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Technology & innovation
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170403T130000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170403T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170313T090049Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220411T105410Z
UID:11580-1491224400-1491229800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS Seminar: Where are the missing co-authors? Authorship practices in participatory research
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a STEPS Seminar with Louise Fortmann (University of California at Berkeley)\, on 3 April 2017 at the Institute of Development Studies.\n \nThe increase in publications based on participatory research has raised questions about crediting the contributions of non-academic collaborators. \nUsing qualitative and quantitative methods\, trends and patterns in authorship and acknowledgment practices were analyzed for a sample of 262 journal articles in English reporting on participatory research on rural livelihoods published from 1975-2013. Six percent of the researchers recognized the intellectual contributions of their non-academic collaborators with co-authorship and 51 percent with acknowledgment.  Researchers who did co-author with their collaborators were motivated to do so in order to recognize intellectual contributions\, practice research ethics and work towards epistemic decolonization.  Co-authorship can be an important component of epistemic justice in participatory research. Participatory researchers should always discuss authorship with their non-academic collaborators. Non-academics’ contributions to scientific knowledge need to be taken into account in understandings of the practice of science. \nLouise Fortmann is Professor Emerita of Natural Resource Sociology at the University of California at Berkeley. Her work has focused on property\, gender\, community-based natural resource management\, and the democratization of science in east and southern Africa and the US. She is the editor of Participatory Research in Conservation and Rural Livelihoods: Doing Science Together. Her inability to milk a cow has been a persisting source of amusement to villagers.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-seminar-missing-co-authors-authorship-practices-participatory-research/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Research methods
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20170317T100000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20170317T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170313T094226Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170313T143534Z
UID:11581-1489744800-1489770000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Transforming Innovation: Addressing Nexus Challenges with Radical Change
DESCRIPTION: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? \nThis 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). \n \nThe final workshop for the Nexus Network\, this event will explore the practical implications of research on innovation and the nexus. \n\nInnovation and the nexus\nNexus 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. \n\nWhat in practice does it mean to transform not only existing systems of provision\, but patterns of innovation themselves?\nWhat is the role in this regard of different kinds of democratic struggle?\nWhat are the implications for current institutionalised notions of expertise\, currently privileged disciplinary methods and vertical structures for the organisation of research?\n\nParticipants\nConfirmed 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).\n \n\nAbout the Transformations series\nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/transforming-innovation-nexus/
LOCATION:Central London
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170316
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170317
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20161130T110224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170315T160350Z
UID:11212-1489622400-1489708799@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Sustainability in Turbulent Times
DESCRIPTION:‘Sustainability in turbulent times: How can research\, policy and business meet global challenges?’\nCUSP/Nexus Network/CECAN conference\nVenue: Central London \nTwitter: Follow the conference at #SITT2017 \n \nOver the next few years\, the British exit from the EU\, a new US administration\, and unpredictable waves of populism and authoritarianism are likely to recast key environmental and social policies and to have profound effects on the prospects for sustainable prosperity. International frameworks of governance and collaboration will need to be redesigned\, and the legitimacy of some forms of expertise and evidence are being called into question. \n \nWith a focus on the food-water-energy nexus\, the conference\, run by the ESRC-funded Nexus Network (in which STEPS is a core partner)\, the Centre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) and the Centre for Evaluating Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN)\, will \n\nexplore the future of environmental policy\nexamine the relationship between prosperity\, inequality and sustainability\npin-point the role of expertise and emotion in policy making\nconsider practical approaches to navigating complexity.\n\nSpeakers\nSpeakers and chairs include Achim Steiner\, Director\, Oxford Martin School and former Executive Director\, UNEP\, Tim Jackson (Director\, CUSP)\, Natalie Bennett (Green Party)\, Mike Hulme (Kings College London)\, Andrea Westall (FDSD)\, Craig Bennett (Friends of the Earth)\, Rebecca Willis (Green Alliance/Lancaster University\, Mary Creagh MP (Chair of Environmental Audit Committee)\, Michael Jacobs (UCL)\, Andy Richardson (Head of Corporate Affairs\, Volac International)\, Charlotte Burns (York)\, James Wilsdon (Director\, the Nexus Network)\, Jane Elliott (Chief Executive\, ESRC)\, Dame Athene Donald (Master\, Churchill College\, Cambridge & Chair\, HEFCE Interdisciplinary Advisory Group)\, Ian Boyd (Chief Scientific Adviser\, Defra)\, Beck Smith (Senior Policy & Advocacy Adviser\, Save the Children)\, Nigel Gilbert (Director\, CECAN)\, Clare Matterson CBE (Special Adviser\, Wellcome Trust)\, Kathryn Oliver (University of Oxford)\, Andy Stirling (Nexus Network / SPRU / STEPS Centre) and Dipak Gyawali (Director\, Nepal Water Conservation Foundation). \n\nResources\nFor a selection of our work\, projects\, events and blog posts related to the Nexus Network\, see our Nexus project page. \nFor more information on the conference\, see the event page on the Nexus Network website.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/sustainability-in-turbulent-times/
LOCATION:Central London
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Resource politics
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20170206
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20170207
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20170201T161235Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170201T161235Z
UID:11213-1486339200-1486425599@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Food Agendas in a Post-Brexit Future: BSUFN Symposium 2017
DESCRIPTION:Brighton\, UK (buy tickets) \nThere has been much talk of the ways in which the United Kingdom leaving the European Union\, or ‘Brexit’\, will impact British farmers due to changes to the Common Agricultural Policy.  We believe that Brexit will have far reaching effects across the food systems in many ways\, in the UK\, Europe and beyond. From policy implications for food safety standards and nutrition labels\, to international trade and markets\, to controls on chemical pesticides and the regulation of genetically modified (GM) organisms\, and to diet and public health\, and more. \nTo reflect current discussions about Brexit and its implications\, the Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network (BSUFN) Annual Symposium 2017 will consider food agendas in a post-Brexit future. This may reflect anticipated impacts of Brexit on the UK food system as well as implications for food agendas in other countries and regions of the world. Topics may explore the future of food in the immediate aftermath of Brexit\, likely to be 2019\, or a more distant horizon. \nSTEPS speakers at the event include Adrian Ely and Erik Millstone. You can follow the event on Twitter using the hashtag #BSUFN17. \nSee the programme for more information (BSUFN website) \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/food-agendas-in-a-post-brexit-future-bsufn-symposium-2017/
LOCATION:Brighton\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20161103T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20161104T170000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160816T194258Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170315T103145Z
UID:8824-1478160000-1478278800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Emancipatory Transformations: Engaging Radical Democracy in Kurdistan
DESCRIPTION:A public event and workshop on 3-4 November in Brighton\, UK focused on the remarkable political transformations happening in Rojava (Western/Syrian Kurdistan) in the midst of bloody conflicts and a humanitarian crisis. \nIn the region\, citizens are experimenting with ‘democratic confederalism’ and ideas from feminism and ecology as part of an ambitious project of radical democracy and social justice. The workshop aims to help participants learn\, explore\, share\, and think of future possibilities for direct democracy and democratic confederalism. \nThe workshop is part of a series of Transformations events exploring what we can learn from rapid transitions and transformations. \n\n3 November: Public event \nRevolutions in Rojava and Beyond: Perspectives on Democratic Transformations \nBrighton Dome Studio Theatre\nNew Road\, Brighton\nBN1 1UG\n4pm to 8pm \nScreening of short activist-produced films\, followed by a panel discussion with Janet Biehl\, Ercan Ayboğa\, and Dilar Dirik. \nFilms: \n\nBeyond War – a tour of Rojava (watch on YouTube)\nKurdistan: La guerre des filles (watch on YouTube)\n\nPanel: Janet Biehl and Ercan Ayboğa on Revolutions in Rojava and Beyond\n \nMore information (Eventbrite) \n\n4 November: Invite-only workshop\nEmancipatory transformations: engaging radical democracy in Kurdistan \nWorkshop at the University of Sussex. More info/questions: Amber Huff (a.huff@ids.ac.uk) \nVideo from the event\nAndy Stirling: Introduction \nAndy Stirling (SPRU)\, co-director of STEPS\, introduces the workshop with a short talk on STEPS Centre thinking about how transformations relate to democracy. \n \nDebbie Bookchin: Confederalism and its critics \nThe journalist and author Debbie Bookchin introduces democratic confederalism\, the idea at the heart of Rojava’s political system\, and traces its history and evolution\, including the ideas of libertarian municipalism proposed by her father Murray Bookchin. \n \nSolidarity statement\nAround the time of the workshop\, arrests were made in Turkey of leading figures from the HDP\, an opposition party\, and around 170 media outlets were shut down by the Turkish government. The workshop produced a solidarity statement in response to these events. \nRead the solidarity statement (Google Docs) \n\nBlog commentaries\nRojava\, where water is more expensive than oil\nCemal Özkahraman\, 21 December 2016 (openDemocracy.net) \nLearning from Rojava: exploring democracy in the midst of the Syrian war and beyond\nPatrick Huff\, 12 September 2016 \nTrump and Brexit: what’s the alternative?\nIan Scoones\, 11 November 2016 \n\nAbout the events\nThe many conflicts ravaging the Middle East pose profound questions regarding seemingly intractable and intersecting questions of democracy\, political and ethnic pluralism\, gender oppression\, and ecological despoliation; questions that confront not only the region\, but in varying forms\, the entire world. As such\, they highlight common challenges for humanity. These questions have received some radical and innovative answers in Rojava (Western/Syrian Kurdistan) where an ambitious project of radical democracy and social justice is being implemented despite formidable challenges\, including a total war against ISIS. \nCentral to this project are the principles of democratic confederalism\, plurinationalism\, revolutionary feminism and social ecology as integral dimensions of the radical wing of the wider Kurdish freedom movement. The Rojava revolution therefore represents a novel form of emancipatory praxis that has profound implications for the region and beyond. \nIts attempted conjunction of direct democracy\, communal economy\, gender equality and ecological consciousness under the most unfavourable local and regional conditions in a region ravaged by sectarian conflict calls for engaged and critical dialogue by academics and activists. This is necessary in order to address both its achievements and limitations\, to unearth and engage with many questions that remain suspended between a precarious present and uncertain future\, and to ask what broader lessons it holds for our understanding of transformative democratic practice in the Middle East and beyond. \n\nWorkshop\nThis workshop aims to bring together a diverse group of researchers and activists to mutually learn\, explore\, share\, and think of future possibilities for direct democracy and democratic confederalism through the examination of real-world grounded examples from contemporary movements in Rojava (Western Kurdistan) and Bakur (Northern Kurdistan)\, with careful consideration of the historical context and dynamics of contemporary and past struggles and challenges. \nThemes include: \n\nThe significance of understanding transformations to democracy for understanding transformations to sustainability\nConfederalism and its Critics\nContextualising democratic transformations in Kurdistan\nConceptualising transformations\nEcology\, Economy and Development\nComparative perspectives on transformative practice\n\nThese events have been organised through collaboration between the ESRC STEPS Centre\, members of the Sussex Kurdish Community\, Brighton Kurdistan Solidarity\, and members of the UK-based Kurdish Solidarity activist community. \n\nAbout the Transformations series\nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/emancipatory-transformations-engaging-radical-democracy-in-kurdistan/
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20161022T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20161022T184500
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160929T135616Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160929T135616Z
UID:11211-1477157400-1477161900@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Is the future nuclear? Battle of Ideas debate with Andy Stirling
DESCRIPTION:Frobisher Auditorium 1\nBattle of Ideas\, Barbican Centre\, London \nSTEPS co-director Prof Andy Stirling (SPRU) will debate the role of nuclear power in the future of energy\, at a debate hosted by the Battle of Ideas\, the flagship festival run by the Institute of Ideas in London. The event is open to Battle of Ideas ticket holders. \nAlso on the panel are Malcolm Grimston\, Joe Kaplinsky\, Prof Gerry Thomas and Martin Wright\, and the chair is Rob Lyons. \n \nFrom the Battle of Ideas website: \n“In an age when climate change has become a defining issue for governments\, nuclear power might be expected to be enjoying a new golden age. Nuclear is low-carbon\, unlike coal and gas\, and doesn’t suffer from the unpredictability and intermittency of wind and solar. Apart from one disastrous incident at Chernobyl in 1986\, nuclear has proven to be remarkably safe. Even the accident at the ageing Fukushima plant in 2011\, caused by an unprecedented tsunami and exacerbated by an unfortunate plant design\, caused no deaths from radiation exposure. Yet that golden age of nuclear still seems elusive.” \nSee full event & ticket details
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/is-the-future-nuclear-battle-of-ideas-debate-with-andy-stirling/
LOCATION:Books
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160928T070000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160928T213000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160811T133332Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180322T170455Z
UID:8804-1475046000-1475098200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Who is the digital revolution for?
DESCRIPTION:Panel at the event: Ann Light\, Kat Braybrooke\, Tim Jordan\, Caroline Bassett and Andrew Sleigh.\nLighthouse\, 28 Kensington Street\nBrighton\, BN1 4AJ\, UK \nThis public event on 28 September 2016 explored how society and digital technology can shape each other for the common good. The event\, part of the Brighton Digital Festival\, is part of of our Transformations series of events. \n \nMaterials produced from this event\nBlog: What can we learn from digital transformations?\nby Nathan Oxley and Adrian Smith\, 7 October 2016 \nStorify: Tweets and images from the event (Storify.com) \nPhotos: Picture gallery (Flickr.com) \nAbout the event\nFor many of us\, digital technologies have been revolutionary. Yet at the same time\, some feel disenchanted with the consequences. \nThe digital is cast increasingly as an instrument of surveillance\, or a tool for disciplining ‘gig economies’\, and a material burden upon our environment and climate. \nIn this event\, we want to re-enchant the digital. We’ll reconnect with the utopian spirit of early pioneers\, and discuss aspirations and activities today for a sustainable\, democratic\, weightless\, and liberating digital society. A panel of writers and researchers will each give their view on how we can become re-enchanted with digital technologies. \nYou’ll have a chance to discuss the developers\, users and movements from around the world that are making digital technologies more co-operative\, easier to repair and repurpose\, and working with people to develop digital technologies for sustainable developments. \nWe’ll also look back at lessons from the last 40 years\, such as the free software movement\, hacklabs\, Web utopias\, and Scandinavian models for worker-controlled systems design. Who\, what\, and where are the heirs to that pioneering spirit\, and how is it manifesting today? \nThe event is part of the 2016 Brighton Digital Festival. \n\nChair\nAndrew Sleigh\, Producer\, Lighthouse and Maker Assembly \nSpeakers\nAnn Light\, Professor of Design & Creative Technology (Engineering and Design)\, University of Sussex (@StrangertoHabit) \nTim Jordan\, Professor of Digital Cultures\, University of Sussex \nCaroline Bassett\, Director\, Sussex Humanities Lab \nKat Braybrooke\, Researcher\, University of Sussex (@codekat) \nAdrian Smith\, Professor of Technology & Society\, Science Policy Research Unit and STEPS Centre\, University of Sussex (@smithadrianpaul) \nOrganiser info\nFor more details and other events in the Festival\, visit the Brighton Digital Festival website. \nThis event is organised by the ESRC STEPS Centre\, Sussex Humanities Lab and the Creative Technology Research Group and is part of a series on Transformations. \n\nAbout the Transformations series\nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details. \n\nImage: Camden Restart Party in Dartmouth Park by Restart Project (Flickr cc by-nc 2.0) \n 
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/who-is-the-digital-revolution-for/
CATEGORIES:Technology & innovation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160920T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160920T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160718T144049Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163120Z
UID:8787-1474376400-1474381800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Kolya Abramsky: ‘Towards a Class-Based Approach to Global Energy Transition: Shifting Energy Demand\, Expanding the Renewable Energy Sector and Phasing Out Fossil Fuel’
DESCRIPTION:STEPS Seminar – all welcome \nConvening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\nLibrary Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE \nAbstract: Terms such as “energy democracy” and “climate justice” have gained increasingly widespread usage and acceptance over the last 5 years. In order to give weight to these slogans\, it is necessary to understand the class relations behind the global energy sector\, and the sector’s worldwide division of labour. As a key means of production and consumption in the world-division of labour\, the energy sector as a whole\, both in the short term and in the long term\, are determined (and determinant of) class relations. \nThe energy sector is already an important site of struggle throughout much of the world. These struggles are likely to intensify in the years ahead. The question of “energy transition” is a central axis of class struggle in the world-economy in the years ahead. Like all class struggle\, its outcome is highly uncertain and unpredictable. \nAbout Kolya Abramsky\nKolya Abramsky is a freelance researcher\, educator and consultant on the global energy sector. Over 15 years\, he has focused on the social relations in the sector\, including land\, work\, ownership and choice of technology. Formerly\, he was the International Energy Officer for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa; coordinator of the World Wind Energy Institute (Denmark); Visiting International Scholar/winner of Manfred-Heindler Award for Energy and Climate Change Research at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Science\, Technology and Society\, at the Interuniversity Research Centre for Technology\, Work and Culture in Austria. He has edited two books: Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition to a Post-petrol World\, and Restructuring and Resistance: Diverse Voices of Struggle in Western Europe. He has advised policy makers and addressed universities in five continents. He initiated and built\, jointly with Focus on the Global South\, the website Understanding China’s Energy Landscape. He has a Sociology MA from State University of New York\, Binghamton.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/kolya-abramsky-towards-a-class-based-approach-to-global-energy-transition-shifting-energy-demand-expanding-the-renewable-energy-sector-and-phasing-out-fossil-fuel/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160909T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160909T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160718T142442Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160718T142442Z
UID:11207-1473426000-1473431400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Tania Li: 'What is politics?'
DESCRIPTION:STEPS Seminar\, all welcome  \nConvening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\nLibrary Road\, Falmer\, Brighton BN1 9RE\n \nListen to the seminar\nHear Tania Li’s seminar below\, including questions and answers with the audience. \n \nAbstract: My seminar will cover a broad sweep of issues under the general rubric of building systemic governing. In my discipline of anthropology\, there was once a field called “political anthropology\,” with a focus on systems of social organization (hierarchies\, clans\, kingdoms) and social order. This field has exploded: we now have a politics of everything – a politics of food\, gender\, the city\, land\, resources…. As the object of study has dispersed\, it has become difficult to discern what the term “politics of” actually signals. Some theorists declare that we are in an era of post-politics\, in which experts rule in multiple domains of life\, and we have been convinced that “there is no alternative” to the capitalist system.  Few of us work in contexts where we can say the big questions are settled\, yet explicit mobilization to contest inequality and injustice is less common that we might expect. How can we make sense of this? \nIn this talk\, I propose a definition of politics that recovers its theoretical specificity. I argue that a capacity for engaging in a critical politics is permanent and broadly distributed\, but its expression is often interrupted. Hence we need to attend not only to instances in which an explicit critique is articulated\, but also to instances when critical insights are truncated\, potential connections are not forged\, and individuals do not communicate or organize with others.  Studying something that isn’t there – explicit critique and effective mobilization – is of course a difficult task. But posing explicit political practice as a counter-factual (something we might expect to find)\, rather than a teleology (something that will inevitably unfold)\, opens up an important terrain of empirical inquiry. I illustrate with examples from three sites in rural Indonesia that I have examined ethnographically. \nAbout Tania Li\n\nTania Murray Li teaches in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Toronto\, where she holds the Canada Research Chair in the Political Economy and Culture of Asia. Her publications include Land’s End: Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier (Duke University Press\, 2014)\, Powers of Exclusion: Land Dilemmas in Southeast Asia (with Derek Hall and Philip Hirsch\, NUS Press\, 2011)\, The Will to Improve: Governmentality\, Development\, and the Practice of Politics (Duke University Press\, 2007) and many articles on land\, development\, resource struggles\, community\, class\, and indigeneity with a particular focus on Indonesia. \nVisit Tania Li’s webpage at the University of Toronto
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/tania-li-what-is-politics-2/
LOCATION:Room 221\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160907T080000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160909T190000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160905T092500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160905T092500Z
UID:8899-1473235200-1473447600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS at the SPRU 50 conference - Transforming Innovation
DESCRIPTION:
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-at-the-spru-50-conference-transforming-innovation/
LOCATION:University of Sussex\, Falmer\, Brighton\, United Kingdom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20160705T150000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20160705T160000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160628T080415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163153Z
UID:8744-1467730800-1467734400@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Webinar: Transformative Knowledge Networks – solutions-oriented research in practice
DESCRIPTION:Tuesday\, 5 July 2016 \n16:00 – 17:00 CEST (14:00 – 15:00 UTC) \nResearch on global change and sustainability increasingly goes hand in hand with calls for profound change and social transformation – but what do we know about these processes in different\, concrete contexts of application? What can social science-led research contribute to generating solutions and transformative change towards sustainability and social justice? \nJoin researchers from the Transformations to Sustainability programme for a webinar discussion on solutions-oriented research in practice. Find out more about how the networks intend to contribute to transformative change towards sustainability and social justice\, ask questions and share ideas on solutions-oriented research involving co-design and co-production. \n \nThe webinar includes contributions from STEPS member Adrian Ely\, involved in the Transformative Pathways to Sustainability project with the STEPS Global Consortium. \nRegister to join the discussion \nSpeakers include: \n\nMathieu Denis\, Executive Director\, International Social Science Council (ISSC).\nAdrian Ely\, Transformative pathways to sustainability: learning across disciplines\, contexts and cultures (PATHWAYS) network; STEPS Centre (Social\, Technological and Environmental Pathways to Sustainability)\, United Kingdom.\nAshish Kothari\, Academic-Activist Co-Produced Knowledge for Environmental Justice (ACKnowl-EJ) network; Kalpavriksh Environment Action group\, India\nHeila Lotz-Sisitka\, Transgressive Social Learning for Social-Ecological Sustainability in times of Climate Change (T-LEARNING); Rhodes University\, South Africa\n\nThe discussion will be moderated by Susi Moser\, Senior Advisor to the Transformations to Sustainability programme. \nThe Transformations to Sustainability (T2S) programme supports research to help advance transformations to more sustainable and equitable societies around the globe. \nA full programme and biographies of all speakers will be available soon.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/webinar-transformative-knowledge-networks-solutions-oriented-research-in-practice/
CATEGORIES:Understanding sustainability
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160705T113000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160705T130000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160623T123247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163207Z
UID:8722-1467718200-1467723600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:IDS 50: Sustainability transformations: the intersecting roles of state\, market and society
DESCRIPTION:Part of the Institute of Development Studies 50th Anniversary Conference: States\, Markets and Society\, this panel session will examine the politics of sustainability transformations through different cases\, drawing on the work of the STEPS Centre and the emerging STEPS Global Pathways to Sustainability Consortium. \nThe panel will open with an overview of the different ways ‘transformations’ are understood\, and how sustainability transformations require a focus on coalition building across diverse actors. This will be followed by three case study presentations from three different regional settings and on three different sustainability challenges (waste and water\, low-carbon energy\, and agri-food) examining how\, over time\, state\, market and society have interacted in the construction of pathways – promoting some and sidelining others – and how a wider political economy analysis has helped to illuminate which combination of factors are important in facilitating transformations to sustainability. \nChair: Ian Scoones\, IDS and Director of the ESRC STEPS Centre \nPanellists \nRitu Priya\nCentre of Social Medicine and Community Health\, Jawaharlal Nehru University\, New Delhi\, India \nCosmas Ochieng\nAfrican Centre for Technology Studies\, Kenya \nAnabel Marin\nCONICET\, CENIT\, Argentina \nAttendance\nThis event is only open to participants with tickets to the IDS 50 Conference. Registration information is here. \n\nAbstracts\nRitu Priya: Water and waste: Developmental conflicts\, contestations and dialogue towards urban sustainability transformations in India \nState-led development of urban water and waste disposal systems\, uncritically adopting Euro-American technological systems\, resulted in chronic urban water shortages and limited waste disposal capacities. Since the 1990s\, both problems have compounded to crisis point due to escalating urbanisation and consumption patterns. Consequently\, a plurality of citizen/civil society-led initiatives emerged: rights-based policy and legal contestations\, culturally attuned techno-social innovations\, ‘green technology’ promotion\, social innovations in decision-making\, and adaptive community innovations. However\, conventional techno-social systems continue to be dominant\, perpetuated through public–private partnerships. This presentation shares learning and questions from grass-roots initiatives on the politics of sustainable transformations. \nCosmas Ochieng: Innovation and transformation histories in the Kenyan solar sector: Lessons for low-carbon development pathways in Kenya \nAccess to modern energy services remains a significant challenge in Kenya\, with only 30 per cent of households having access to electricity. The Kenyan government has tried to address this problem through a range of policies focused on accelerating access to ‘green and inclusive’ sources of energy\, especially geothermal\, wind\, hydro and solar power. Arguably\, the adoption and use of these technologies has been most successful in the solar sector. This presentation examines the ‘innovation history’ of the Kenyan solar market over the last three decades with a view to shedding light on how the tri-partite relationship between the state\, markets and society impacts low-carbon development pathways in Kenya. \nAnabel Marin: The politics of access to seed in Argentinian agriculture \nArgentina is currently in the middle of contentious and currently stalled debates about the reform of intellectual property (IPR) law for seeds. IPR regimes govern transformation pathways in important ways because strict property rights can undermine the scope to support more diverse\, sustainable agricultural futures. This paper will discuss important opportunities for a different system of property rights for seeds that emerges from the particularities of the country. These opportunities are related to the presence of a strong domestic seed industry using a distinctive business model that is different to that of large MNCs. Alliances between domestic business interests and activists are forming with shared interests in creating more sustainable agricultural futures\, with an alternative IPR regime shaping pathways. \n  \n\n\nMore about transformations\nBook: The Politics of Green Transformations\nMultiple ‘green transformations’ are required if humanity is to live sustainably on planet Earth. Recalling past transformations\, this book examines what makes the current challenge different\, and especially urgent. \nContributing authors \nErik Millstone\, Andy Stirling\, Matthew Lockwood\, Adrian Smith\, Adrian Ely\, Mariana Mazzucato\, Stephen Spratt\, Hubert Schmitz\, Ian Scoones\, Melissa Leach and Peter Newell. \nOrder the book from Routledge \n\nTransformations event series\nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/sustainability-transformations-the-intersecting-roles-of-state-market-and-society/
LOCATION:Room 100\, Institute of Development Studies\, Library Road\, Falmer\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Understanding sustainability
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160705T100000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160705T123000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160704T101035Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20220411T105445Z
UID:8758-1467712800-1467721800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Andy Stirling on Nexus Methods (7th ESRC Methods Festival)
DESCRIPTION:ESRC Methods Festival\, Room 3.16\nUniversity of Bath\, UK \nSTEPS co-director Andy Stirling (SPRU) is speaking on Nexus Methods as part of the 7th ESRC Methods Festival. \nThe presentation is split into two parts: \n\nThe depth\, scope and diversity of ‘nexus’ challenges to methodology\nAn illustrative practical response: the STEPS pathways approach and multicriteria mapping\n\nAbstract: Confused notions of ‘the Nexus’ are a burgeoning instrumentalising fashion. Yet imperatives are growing\, to address complex global interactions between natures\, technologies and societies – and consequent harms\, opportunities and injustices. Resulting challenges span expedient distinctions between ‘systems’\, ‘sectors’ and ‘settings’. They transcend reified notions of ‘place’\, contrived divisions between ‘levels’ and ‘scales’\, ‘science’ and ‘society’ and cherished boundaries between ‘quantitative’\, ‘qualitative’ and ‘hybrid’. With biases\, drivers and power relations in research also part of the focus – ‘method’ and ‘action’ are inseparable. Aims are not just to inform policy\, but invigorate democratic struggle. This session will explore practical implications for methodology. \nThis event is only open to registered participants at the ESRC Methods Festival. \n\nFind out more\nThe Nexus Network \nDiscussion paper: Transdisciplinary Nexus Methods by Andy Stirling (2015) \nSTEPS Centre: Methods and Methodologies portal
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/andy-stirling-on-nexus-methods-7th-esrc-methods-festival/
CATEGORIES:Research methods
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160627T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160627T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160621T115021Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163237Z
UID:8691-1467032400-1467037800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:STEPS: to a systemic ecology of mind - seminar with Ray Ison
DESCRIPTION:Convening Space\, Institute of Development Studies\nLibrary Road\, Falmer\, UK \nThis seminar will cover a broad sweep of issues under the general rubric of building systemic governing capability in the context of the Anthropocene. Prof Ison’s starting point will be to lay down a challenge as to whether those present have a systemic ecology of mind. \nHe will then unpack what he considers to be significant limitations in much contemporary scholarship because of failures to understand: the ‘feral concept’ of system; praxis\, or more specifically systems praxis; complexity\, or complex adaptive system; transformation and governance\, or governing. He will ground the seminar in examples from recent research projects that employ\, or are concerned with\, social learning and systemic inquiry. \nRegardless of framing choice\,  governing in the circumstances of ‘the Anthropocene’ requires major innovations in governance and institutional designs such as social learning and systemic co-inquiry.  Water/river governance research undertaken within the ASTiP (Appied Systems Thinking in Practice) Group at the Open University will be used to exemplify governance innovation. Recent research in Victoria\, Australia will be used to exemplify how  systemic co-inquiry can be harnessed for more effective NRM. \nIn the discussion we can explore implications for the STEPS programme. \n \nAbout Ray Ison\nRay Ison has an international reputation in\, and has been a major contributor to\, ‘cybersystemics’. What is this field you may well ask? Ray’s rationale for using this term was explained in the presentation last year at ISSS2016 in Berlin of his Presidential Address for the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS)\, and also in a special ‘systemic inquiry’ at Herrenhausen Palace\, Hanover. \nAmongst other matters raised at these events was the significant institutional complexity in the cybersystemic field and the lack of intellectual and political influence for investment in and the furtherance of cybersystemic scholarship – particularly in key policy and research funding fora associated with the UN\, Brussels\, Washington and the like. This is despite the growing awareness that the issues of our time\, the Anthropocene\, if you will\, are systemic in nature and thus require systemic responses\, i.e.\, transformations. \nRay has been Professor of Systems at The Open University (OU)\, UK since 1994.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/steps-to-a-systemic-ecology-of-mind-seminar-with-ray-ison/
LOCATION:Convening Space\, IDS\, Library Road\, Falmer\,  Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Governance & policy,Seminars
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Halifax:20160622T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/Halifax:20160622T120000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160621T133858Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163254Z
UID:8694-1466593200-1466596800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Webinar: African Farmer game
DESCRIPTION:The African Farmer game will be presented at a webinar organised by CORE Group’s Social and Behavior Change Working Group. \nRegister online to attend this webinar. It will be held from 11am – 12pm Eastern Time. \nPresenters \nJohn Thompson\, Senior Research Fellow\, Rural Futures Cluster; Institute of Development Studies\nJames Jackson\, Designer/Developer; African Farmer Project \nAbout the seminar\nThe African Farmer Game (www.africanfarmergame.org) is a computer-based simulation designed to give players the experience of living as a small farmer in Sub-Saharan Africa\, where they must make complex decisions about their domestic and agricultural practices\, household nutrition\, and marketing and related livelihood activities in an uncertain and risk-prone environment. \nIn this webinar\, we will present the latest release of the single-player version of African Farmer. We will start by briefly reviewing some key characteristics of simulation games and give an account of earlier simulations from the 1980s and 90s which inspired and informed the design of the current game. We will then describe the main learning objectives behind African Farmer and the different strategies that players may pursue to achieve various goals to improve their farm’s productivity and their household’s well-being. \nIn walking through the key elements of the new single-player version – including its nutritional components – we will demonstrate how the design of African Farmer has been shaped by the specified learning objectives. We will discuss the importance of thorough debriefing in order to promote critical reflection and enhance learning among players at the end of the game. \nWe will also offer some thoughts on how the African Farmer game design might be modified to shift the emphasis to food and nutrition and how related technologies might play a useful role within a broader strategy of training and awareness-raising to promote social and behaviour change for improved health. \nWe will conclude with our reflections on how the game has been received thus far and outline our plans for the future. Webinar participants are invited to download and try out the latest version of the single-player game at www.africanfarmergame.org/coregroup.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/webinar-african-farmer-game/
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160615T103000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160615T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160609T145032Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163309Z
UID:8653-1465986600-1466001000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Rapid transition in finance and economics: recent and historical perspectives
DESCRIPTION:Monsoon Room\nLady Margaret Hall\, Oxford\, UK \nSee event page (Lady Margaret Hall website) \nThis event is part of a series of Transformations events\, organised by the New Weather Institute\, the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex\, and the ESRC STEPS Centre. \nCharge: Free\, but please register in advance by email to Lindsay.Mackie@lmh.ox.ac.uk \n\nDetails: Creeping climatic upheaval and corrosive global inequality are like two threads pulling apart civilisation’s fabric. Internationally coordinated action is further threatened by doubts over Europe’s future due to the referendum on UK membership.  To survive and thrive we face an unprecedented challenge of rapid transition. But the way we live is locked-in by multiple factors including an economic system\, dominated by finance that fails the poorest\, is obsessed with environmentally destructive growth and resists change however broken. This seminar\, part of a series organised by the New Weather Institute with the University of Sussex and the STEPS Centre explores the circumstances in which rapid\, progressive economic change might happen. \n\nProgramme\n10.30 – 12.00\nIntroduction: Alan Rusbridger\, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall \n1. Rapid transition: new perspectives \nProf Danny Dorling\, University of Oxford\nProf Mary Mellor\, Northumbria University\nProf Peter Newell\, University of Sussex\nChair: Lindsay Mackie\, New Weather Institute \n12.00 – 12.30 Break \n12.30 – 2.00\n2. Economic transition: historical perspectives \nProf Victoria Chick\, University College London\nDr Geoff Tily\, Senior Economist\, TUC\nMaurice Glasman\, London Metropolitan University (Oxford University & Queen Mary’s College London\, Visiting Lecturer)\nChair: Andrew Simms\, New Weather Institute \n2.00-2.30 Plenary & conclusion: insights for rapid transition \n\nAbout the Transformations series\n \nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/rapid-transition-in-finance-and-economics-recent-and-historical-perspectives/
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160615T103000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160615T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160609T145032Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160609T145032Z
UID:11201-1465986600-1466001000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Rapid transition in finance and economics: recent and historical perspectives
DESCRIPTION:Monsoon Room\nLady Margaret Hall\, Oxford\, UK \nSee event page (Lady Margaret Hall website) \nThis event is part of a series of Transformations events\, organised by the New Weather Institute\, the Centre for Global Political Economy at the University of Sussex\, and the ESRC STEPS Centre. \nCharge: Free\, but please register in advance by email to Lindsay.Mackie@lmh.ox.ac.uk \n\nDetails: Creeping climatic upheaval and corrosive global inequality are like two threads pulling apart civilisation’s fabric. Internationally coordinated action is further threatened by doubts over Europe’s future due to the referendum on UK membership.  To survive and thrive we face an unprecedented challenge of rapid transition. But the way we live is locked-in by multiple factors including an economic system\, dominated by finance that fails the poorest\, is obsessed with environmentally destructive growth and resists change however broken. This seminar\, part of a series organised by the New Weather Institute with the University of Sussex and the STEPS Centre explores the circumstances in which rapid\, progressive economic change might happen. \n\nProgramme\n10.30 – 12.00\nIntroduction: Alan Rusbridger\, Principal of Lady Margaret Hall \n1. Rapid transition: new perspectives \nProf Danny Dorling\, University of Oxford\nProf Mary Mellor\, Northumbria University\nProf Peter Newell\, University of Sussex\nChair: Lindsay Mackie\, New Weather Institute \n12.00 – 12.30 Break \n12.30 – 2.00\n2. Economic transition: historical perspectives \nProf Victoria Chick\, University College London\nDr Geoff Tily\, Senior Economist\, TUC\nMaurice Glasman\, London Metropolitan University (Oxford University & Queen Mary’s College London\, Visiting Lecturer)\nChair: Andrew Simms\, New Weather Institute \n2.00-2.30 Plenary & conclusion: insights for rapid transition \n\nAbout the Transformations series\n \nWhen 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? \nThe 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. \nSee the Transformations event series page for more details.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/rapid-transition-in-finance-and-economics-recent-and-historical-perspectives-2/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20160613
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20160614
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160520T142852Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163404Z
UID:8574-1465776000-1465862399@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Reimagining development in Least Developed Countries: what role for the SDGs?
DESCRIPTION:The challenges and opportunities that the Sustainable Development Goals create for least developed countries will be discussed at an event in London next month. \n \nThe Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group\, the International Institute for Environment and Development and the ESRC STEPS Centre will host a dialogue on Monday\, 13 June to discuss the challenges and opportunities that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) create for LDCs and seek ways forward above and beyond the current implementation debate. \nThe one-day event in London\, Reimagining Development in LDCs: what role for the SDGs? will include sessions on inclusive urbanisation and sustainable energy transitions for low carbon futures\, as well as a round table debate on the politics of the transformations at the heart of the SDG agenda. \n \nA new global agenda and opportunity for LDCs\nAcross the LDCs there are real opportunities for radical shifts in development pathways. The LDCs are not yet locked into unsustainable systems of production and patterns of consumption and rapid transformation towards sustainable models of development is possible. \nThe SDGs can provide an important political opportunity for mobilising ideas\, plans and funds for alternative pathways to development\, framed by the SDG ideals. \nThe Istanbul Programme of Action sets out a comprehensive agenda for LDCs: a review will be carried out in late May resulting in a declaration that is expected to reconfirm and strengthen the commitment of stakeholders in the light of last year’s global agreements on the SDGs and climate change\, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (PDF). \nThe SDGs could provide a real opportunity for radical transformation in LDCs. But national SDG implementation processes could all too easily get bogged down in endless debates over bureaucratic procedures of target-setting\, delivery and monitoring\, and fail to achieve change. \nThe dialogue will bring together experts from across the globe to discuss how to ensure the implementation debates focus on the politics of transformation for which the SDGs have created space. \nContact\nThis event is by invitation only. To find out more\, email tessa.jennett@iied.org. \n\nRelated publications\nThe Paris Agreement and the LDCs\, Achala Abeysinghe\, Brianna Craft\, Janna Tenzing (20-16\, IIED Briefing \nA whole-landscape approach to green development in Africa\, Mariteuw Chimère Diaw (2015)\, IIED Briefing \nFinancing inclusive low-carbon resilient development in the least developed countries\, Dave Steinbach\, Nanki Kaur\, Neha Rai (2015)\, IIED Report \nImpact of climate change on Least Developed Countries: are the SDGs possible?\, Helena Wright\, Saleemul Huq\, Jonathan Reeves (2015)\, IIED Briefing \nTransforming global development: An LDC perspective on the post-2015 agenda\, Least Developed Countries Independent Expert Group (2014)\, IIED Report \nOther resources \n\nNews: What does the Paris Agreement mean for LDCs?\nBlog: What’s happening to aid to the Least Developed Countries?\, by Andrew Norton\nBlog: Will the Sustainable Development Goals make a difference?\, by Ian Scoones\nFeature: Unheard voices: what do the Least Developed Countries want from COP21? Nine interviews with leaders\, experts\, and civil society representatives from the LDCs on the reality that they face\, the actions being taken\, and the role for climate finance.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/reimagining-development-in-least-developed-countries-what-role-for-the-sdgs/
LOCATION:Central London
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Urbanisation
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160608T130000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160608T143000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160519T142927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160519T142927Z
UID:8553-1465390800-1465396200@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:CANCELLED: Towards a class-based approach to global energy transition
DESCRIPTION:Sorry – this seminar has been cancelled. We will try to reschedule it for later in the year. \nSTEPS Centre Seminar\, IDS Convening Space \nTerms such as “energy democracy” and “climate justice” have gained increasingly widespread usage and acceptance over the last five years. In order to give weight to these slogans\, it is necessary to understand the class relations behind the global energy sector\, and the sector’s worldwide division of labour. As a key means of production and consumption in the world-division of labour\, the energy sector as a whole\, both in the short term and in the long term\, are determined (and determinant of) class relations. The energy sector is already an important site of struggle throughout much of the world. These struggles are likely to intensify in the years ahead. The question of “energy transition” is a central axis of class struggle in the world-economy in the years ahead. Like all class struggle\, its outcome is highly uncertain and unpredictable. \nKolya Abramsky is a freelance researcher\, educator and consultant on the global energy sector. Over 15 years\, he has focused on the social relations in the sector\, including land\, work\, ownership and choice of technology. Formerly\, he was the International Energy Officer for the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa; coordinator of the World Wind Energy Institute (Denmark); Visiting International Scholar/winner of Manfred-Heindler Award for Energy and Climate Change Research at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Science\, Technology and Society\, at the Interuniversity Research Centre for Technology\, Work and Culture in Austria. He has edited two books: Sparking a Worldwide Energy Revolution: Social Struggles in the Transition to a Post-petrol World\, and Restructuring and Resistance: Diverse Voices of Struggle in Western Europe. He has advised policy makers and addressed universities in five continents. He initiated and built\, jointly with Focus on the Global South\, the website Understanding China’s Energy Landscape. He has a Sociology MA from State University of New York\, Binghamton.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/towards-a-class-based-approach-to-global-energy-transition-shifting-energy-demand-expanding-the-renewable-energy-sector-and-phasing-out-fossil-fuel/
LOCATION:Convening Space\, IDS\, Library Road\, Falmer\,  Brighton\, BN1 9RE\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Seminars
ORGANIZER;CN="ESRC STEPS Centre":MAILTO:b.ayre@ids.ac.uk
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160531T203000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160602T220000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160523T124111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163423Z
UID:8599-1464726600-1464904800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:'Transformations' events at the Hay Festival
DESCRIPTION:At the Hay Festival in Wales\, three discussion events in our ‘Transformations’ series will investigate how change happens in different arenas\, and how rapid and just transitions can be achieved to create more sustainable futures. Tickets can be purchased online in advance from the Hay Festival website. \nHow Quickly Can We Change…Culture? \n31 May 2016 at 8.30pm\nwith Clare Brass\, Molly Conisbee and David Boyle \nHow Quickly Can We Change… Economics? \n1 June 2016 at 8.30pm\nAndrew Simms\, Victoria Chick and Richard Murphy \nHow Quickly can we Change… the Built Environment? \n2 June 2016 at 8.30pm\nHoward Johns\, Lindsay Mackie\, John Barrett\, Andrew Simms \nMore info \nFind out more about the ‘Transformations’ series of events.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/transformations-events-at-the-hay-festival/
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy,Understanding sustainability
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160524T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160524T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160518T193234Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T163448Z
UID:8541-1464116400-1464123600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Havin Guneser on Abdullah Öcalan’s Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization
DESCRIPTION:Brighthelm Church and Community Centre\, North Road\, Brighton\, BN1 1YD\, UK \nOrganised by the STEPS Centre and Sussex Kurdish Community. \nHavin Guneser is a Kurdish writer\, journalist\, a women’s rights activist\, and a spokesperson for the International Initiative Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan-Peace in Kurdistan. She is also a translator and publisher of the works of Abdullah Öcalan\, a leading figure of the Kurdish liberation struggle\, who has been imprisoned by the Turkish state on Imrali Island since 1999. \nRegister online (Eventbrite) \n \n\nDuring his incarceration Öcalan has reflected on his own life and the struggle of the Kurds for democracy and rights\, has examined lessons from history and has brought together insights from across a range of academic disciplines to produce a radical critique of the foundations of modern society. \nIn Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization\, Öcalan describes\, ‘the historical struggle\, that can be traced back to at least five thousand years’\, as ‘essentially one between state-civilization and democratic civilization.’ Öcalan identifies the patriarchal structures and environmental destruction that have been the hallmarks of what has been presented as social ‘progress’; ‘The only way that cities can become fit for human dwelling\,’ he writes\, ‘is to transform them into ecological villages’.  \nThe Frankfurt School and Foucault\, Nietzsche and Max Weber\, Immanuel Wallerstein and Murray Bookchin are deployed to dismantle the claims of a Positivist approach to understanding society which turns science into an ideology. The Soviet attempt to form an alternative to capitalist modernity foundered on the rocks of ‘economic reductionism.’ What lessons can be learned? \n“In this book Abdullah Ocalan destils 35 years of revolutionary theory and praxis and 10 years of solitary confinement in Turkish prisons. These reflections represent the essence of his ideas on society\, knowledge\, and power”.  \nThese are the ideas that are inspiring resistance in Rojava in Syria and across the border in Turkey\, where a new autonomous democracy\, with women in the forefront\, is being created at great sacrifice.  \n\nManifesto for a Democratic Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings (2015)\, translated by Havin Guneser\, with a preface by David Graeber\, is published by New Compass Press. Read a review by Dr Felix Padel. \nAll are welcome at this event and there is no entry fee. Register online (Eventbrite)
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/havin-guneser-on-abdullah-ocalans-manifesto-for-a-democratic-civilization/
CATEGORIES:Governance & policy
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160524T190000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160524T210000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160518T193234Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20160518T193234Z
UID:11198-1464116400-1464123600@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Havin Guneser on Abdullah Öcalan’s Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization
DESCRIPTION:Brighthelm Church and Community Centre\, North Road\, Brighton\, BN1 1YD\, UK \nOrganised by the STEPS Centre and Sussex Kurdish Community. \nHavin Guneser is a Kurdish writer\, journalist\, a women’s rights activist\, and a spokesperson for the International Initiative Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan-Peace in Kurdistan. She is also a translator and publisher of the works of Abdullah Öcalan\, a leading figure of the Kurdish liberation struggle\, who has been imprisoned by the Turkish state on Imrali Island since 1999. \nRegister online (Eventbrite) \n \n\nDuring his incarceration Öcalan has reflected on his own life and the struggle of the Kurds for democracy and rights\, has examined lessons from history and has brought together insights from across a range of academic disciplines to produce a radical critique of the foundations of modern society. \nIn Manifesto for a Democratic Civilization\, Öcalan describes\, ‘the historical struggle\, that can be traced back to at least five thousand years’\, as ‘essentially one between state-civilization and democratic civilization.’ Öcalan identifies the patriarchal structures and environmental destruction that have been the hallmarks of what has been presented as social ‘progress’; ‘The only way that cities can become fit for human dwelling\,’ he writes\, ‘is to transform them into ecological villages’.  \nThe Frankfurt School and Foucault\, Nietzsche and Max Weber\, Immanuel Wallerstein and Murray Bookchin are deployed to dismantle the claims of a Positivist approach to understanding society which turns science into an ideology. The Soviet attempt to form an alternative to capitalist modernity foundered on the rocks of ‘economic reductionism.’ What lessons can be learned? \n“In this book Abdullah Ocalan destils 35 years of revolutionary theory and praxis and 10 years of solitary confinement in Turkish prisons. These reflections represent the essence of his ideas on society\, knowledge\, and power”.  \nThese are the ideas that are inspiring resistance in Rojava in Syria and across the border in Turkey\, where a new autonomous democracy\, with women in the forefront\, is being created at great sacrifice.  \n\nManifesto for a Democratic Civilization: The Age of Masked Gods and Disguised Kings (2015)\, translated by Havin Guneser\, with a preface by David Graeber\, is published by New Compass Press. Read a review by Dr Felix Padel. \nAll are welcome at this event and there is no entry fee. Register online (Eventbrite)
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/havin-guneser-on-abdullah-ocalans-manifesto-for-a-democratic-civilization-2/
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160518T180000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160518T193000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160419T195022Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20161110T225049Z
UID:8485-1463594400-1463599800@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Future of food: burgers...or bugs?
DESCRIPTION:SILO Restaurant\, 39 Upper Gardner Street\nBrighton\, UK \nHow and what we eat\, the journey it’s been through and how much is left is over has a huge impact on the world’s resources. With population growth\, climate change\, diet-related diseases and huge inequality in the food system\, do we need to take a fresh look at what’s on our plate? \nFrom eating edible insects\, to algae or lab-cultured meat\, to developing local\, small-scale farming and tackling waste reduction\, how can we adapt and what will be the future of food? Come discuss and taste some bugs! At Brighton’s zero-waste restaurant\, SILO. The event includes contributions from STEPS members Dominic Glover and Erik Millstone. \nChair\n\nTom Clarke\, Science Editor\, Channel 4 News\n\nSpeakers\n\nDominic Glover\, Institute of Development Studies (IDS)\nProfessor Erik Millstone\, University of Sussex\, Science Policy and Research Unit (SPRU)\nVera Zakharov\, Love Food Hate Waste Coordinator\nDouglas McMaster\, SILO Restaurant\n\nEach of the discussants will the address the question ‘What could the future of food look like?’  \nThe discussion will be opened up for wider audience participation and Q&A session. The event will finish with food tasting\, including edible bugs! \nThis Brighton Fringe event is jointly organised by IDS and SPRU. \n\n \nPowered by Eventbrite
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/future-of-food-burgers-or-bugs/
CATEGORIES:Food & agriculture
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20160516T173000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20160516T193000
DTSTAMP:20260403T224314
CREATED:20160405T091733Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20170209T211313Z
UID:8422-1463419800-1463427000@steps-centre.org
SUMMARY:Can we govern the climate?
DESCRIPTION:Public lecture by Harriet Bulkeley\, Professor of Geography\, Durham University \nFulton A Lecture Theatre\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\, Brighton \n \nThe recent conclusions of COP21 in Paris appear to offer another hopeful juncture on the long road to reaching a global agreement on how society should respond to climate change. Commitment has been renewed\, new goals articulated and\, perhaps most surprisingly\, a host of other actors have been brought into the multilateral domain to add momentum (and legitimacy) to the ongoing international effort. While the impacts and implications of the Paris agreement continue to be pored over\, what is clear is that the ideal of a multilateral agreement universally adopted and cascaded into implementation through the public arena has given way to a much more complex political imagination in which actors public and private\, local and global jostle for attention and the fate of one seems to be irrevocably bound up with the others. \n \nWithin the research community the emergence of this domain\, what is termed global environmental governance\, has been subject to debate for over a decade. A substantial body of work attests to the role of a range of actors\, from cities to corporations\, and the multitude of governing arrangements of which they are part in responding to climate change. While we have learnt a great deal about who is now engaging in climate governance\, their motivations\, interventions and the challenges this poses\, I want to suggest that this work remains limited in helping us understand where\, how and with what consequences climate governance takes place. Focusing on the actors and institutions involved\, we are left with only a partial understanding of the situations\, processes\, practices and socio-material configurations through which the governing of climate change is (and is not) taking place – in short\, we have a limited engagement with how climate governance is being accomplished. \nThis matters critically for our ability to answer a simple but central question: can we govern the climate? Drawing on research conducted in the UK over the past decade that has sought to examine the ways in which governing climate change is being accomplished in a range of arenas that cut across traditional divides between the state\, private sector and community\, I will make the argument that addressing this question means opening up our analyses of global environmental governance to new conceptual entry points. Understanding whether we can govern the climate means that we ask (again) how governing is configured in relation to climate change. Using examples from the banking\, retail\, and energy sectors as well as community initiatives and urban responses to climate change\, the paper explores the ways in which the governing of climate change is authorised\, ordered\, articulated and made to matter through distinct socio-material assemblages and diverse publics. Such an approach not only opens up what it might mean to govern climate change\, but also the range of sites and practices through which it can and is being accomplished. From this perspective\, governing the climate is not a single project\, but an unfolding and ongoing programme embedded in different economies and societies in multiple ways. Accomplishing climate governance requires not that we seek to harmonise and integrate all such responses\, but rather that we enable multiple socially and environmentally progressive transitions to be realised. \nAbout Harriet Bulkeley\nHarriet Bulkeley is a Professor of Geography\, Durham University. Her research focuses on the processes and politics of environmental governance. Her recent books include Governing the Climate: new approaches to rationality\, power and politics (Ed. CUP 2014) Transnational Climate Governance (CUP\, 2014)\, An Urban Politics of Climate Change (Routledge 2015)\, and Accomplishing Climate Governance (CUP\, 2016). She is currently involved in researching the politics and practice of smart grids in the UK\, Australia and Sweden and continuing work on urban responses to climate change through the JPI Urban and ESRC project Governing Urban Sustainability Transitions (GUST 2014 – 2017). Harriet has undertaken commissioned research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation\, Friends of the Earth\, UN-Habitat and the World Bank. In 2014\, she was awarded the King Carl XVI Gustaf’s Professorship in Environmental Science and a Visiting Professorship at Lund University\, Sweden. \n\nThis lecture is the only public part of the programme of the STEPS Centre’s 2016 Summer School on Pathways to Sustainability.
URL:https://steps-centre.org/event/can-we-govern-the-climate/
LOCATION:Fulton A Lecture Theatre\, University of Sussex\, Falmer\, Brighton\, BN1 9RH\, United Kingdom
CATEGORIES:Climate change & energy,Governance & policy
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR