The latest Transformations to Sustainability knowledge brief explores discourses and narratives around transformations to sustainability. James Waddell finds out more.

Stories help us understand others and ourselves. They unite us by forging connections and conveying shared values, culture and history. In other words, they provide meaning to our collective life. From childhood tales to political discourses embodying our hopes and fears for the future, narratives underpin every human life.

It’s no wonder that we need narratives for our societies, nor that doctrines use the power of narratives to dominate them. The problem we face today is that we can’t seem to move past a narrative that has been told for 40 years. Of course, reducing everything to narratives would be naïve, but neither can we underestimate their influence. Indeed, the neoliberal discourse still dominates, though it has shown us time and again its considerable flaws. Its model for growth has been revealed to be unsustainable by its dependence on overexploiting resources and degrading the natural environment, and by growing inequalities within societies and throughout the world.

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we’re all interconnected, humans to other humans, humans to the natural world, humans to animals, and so on. It raises the very serious question of how to ensure a sustainable future, if only we cease disturbing the natural balances of our world. And so, in light of the crisis, couldn’t we imagine a different future, where our economies and societies have internalized the lessons of the pandemic? What if we could come out of the COVID-19 crisis with a new vision for our societies?

We’ve certainly learned the importance of public health, but we’re also reminded that we must protect our shared home. If we constantly and ruthlessly exploit our planet to quench the unquenchable thirst of a small segment of our population, we will face dire consequences. This pandemic is just one example of how unsustainable methods affect the whole of humanity.

So, the question must be asked; are we stuck in the broken narrative of neoliberalism? As George Monbiot points out in a TED conference, discredited stories are usually replaced by new stories. Yet, the neoliberal narrative shows resilience.

As the latest Transformations to Sustainability knowledge brief shows, perhaps we’re not completely stuck in this failed narrative, it’s rather that no strong alternative narrative has emerged to challenge the old one. We need a new compelling sustainability narrative to replace our failing model. With a new narrative, we can envision a transformation of our economies, technologies, institutions, but also our human values and cultural norms.

The brief – and the peer reviewed paper on which it’s based – asks whether common ground between narratives on sustainability could create a powerful alternative narrative to challenge the dominance of the neoliberal capitalist discourse. This question is asked at an opportune time, as old stories are losing their grip, but new ones have yet to emerge.

The difficulty with today’s sustainability discourses is that they share very similar endpoints but disagree on the road we must take to achieve them. The inherent contradictions between approaches, such as neoliberalist reformism on one end and radical social change on the other, are illustrated by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that embrace social justice, human wellbeing and ecological integrity while committing to continued economic growth.

Nonetheless, the brief identifies common ground between alternative sustainability narratives: ‘a view of the world as made up of systems and networks; a relationship with nature that is sustainable, regenerative and planet-centric; human interdependence and cooperation; the goals
of human wellbeing, justice and plurality; and agreement on the value of participatory governance, a new economic system, prioritizing different human values and participatory knowledge practices as potential strategies for transformation’.

It then rounds up the common ground in five memes* – or key elements for a new narrative – that can be researched and articulated to form a shared sustainability narrative: worldviews, the human relationship with nature, human relationships with each other, the goals of transformation and strategies to achieve transformation. Could they be the building blocks of a storyline that would mobilize a discourse coalition to challenge neoliberalism? For now, it seems the common ground is significant enough to offer hope for developing a new shared narrative, enabling us to guide the transformation to a more sustainable future.

* the building block of a narrative or discourse; a replicable idea that can be transmitted. (not an internet meme).

Read the knowledge brief: Finding common ground in transformative sustainability narratives

James Waddell is currently undertaking an internship with the International Science Council. James is a Sciences Po School of Public Affairs Master’s student, majoring in Energy, Environment & Sustainability. During his studies he has acquired a rich background in social sciences, public policy and environmental policy. With his passion for these fields, he has imagined working for an organization with a “public purpose” for a long time. He is glad to finally put his knowledge to good use at the ISC, mainly through his support of the COVID-19 Scenarios Project, the Bouncing Forward Sustainability project, providing French content for the website, and providing assistance for other long-term projects.

Header image: L. Brideau via Flickr.

Illegally working with pans and mercury for a gram of gold? The international research programme Gold Matters adjusts and nuances this one-sided view policymakers have of small-scale gold miners. The programme focuses on conversations with the gold miners themselves: how do they see their future? This focus can lead to new perspectives on sustainability and ways of working. ‘Amazement is very productive.’

New insights come up when cultural anthropologists Sabine Luning, Marjo de Theije and Esther van de Camp talk about the gold miners they met in various African and South American countries. The typical neoliberal, large-scale gold mining in Africa and South America might be the dominant form of mining, but there are also at least sixteen million people worldwide who depend on small-scale gold mining. It is therefore hardly surprising that some researchers have specialised in the study of this way of life.

From panning to excavators

Or rather: ways of life. Gold miners in the rainforest of Suriname or Brazil work very differently from those in Ghana, Burkina Faso or Uganda. In the Sahel countries, there is often a lack of water to work with, whereas in the Amazon countries excavated pits often flood. Sabine Luning from Leiden University: ‘The conditions and techniques vary considerably, from panning for gold in creeks to using gigantic water hoses, or even excavators that open up the land to find gold ore that is subsequently grinded and processed into gold.’

Because large mining companies pay taxes and are checked for compliance with environmental rules, they have a better reputation with the IMF and the World Bank than small-scale gold miners. The latter often have a poor reputation, says Luning. ‘Governments frequently view small-scale gold miners as criminals, who work without the required permits and cause environmental damage. For example, the fact that mercury ends up in the food chain is definitely a problem. However, there are considerable differences in working methods. In Burkina Faso, for example, the government now recognises that large-scale, transnational mining excludes its own citizens too much.’

Aim of this research

In the research programme Gold Matters, nineteen researchers from countries including the Netherlands, Brazil, Burkina Faso, the United Kingdom and Sweden are collaborating with gold miners and artists in a transdisciplinary manner. The aim: visualising how mining takes place in the landscape and how that will influence the future of people and the natural environment.

Luning: ‘In January 2020, we jointly organised the first pop-up exhibition in a Ghanaian mining community.’

“Policymakers often talk about these people rather than engaging in dialogues with them”
Sabine Luning

Such exhibitions lie at the heart of the research programme. The researchers want to inspire, for instance, miners in Brazil by showing them images of and stories from miners in Uganda. ‘Amazement is very productive,’ confirms Luning’s colleague Marjo de Theije, professor at VU Amsterdam. ‘One time I spent spent hours talking with Ghanaian gold miners about fifteen photos from Brazil because they had so many questions about these! For example, they saw the possibilities an excavator provides. The conversation was so rich! Even though they may live on the other side of the world, gold miners have something in common; they understand each other.’

Soya or gold…

The researchers also aim to reach out to policymakers through their exhibitions. Luning: ‘They often talk about these people rather than engaging in dialogues with them. Too often policy makers suffer from tunnel vision but do base their policy on this. They can make life more difficult for the gold miners, which is hard to justify.’ De Theije: ‘Gold miners in the Brazilian Amazon say: “People consider an undulating soya field beautiful. Yet far more trees need to be chopped down for that than for our work. We have no other possibilities. Either we do this work, or we become thugs”.

…Women or grinding mills

Burkina Faso and Ghana are two of the locations where Luning worked. ‘In the south of Ghana, gold miners use more technologies to process ore than in the north of the country and in Burkina Faso. Here, the grinding of the ore is not done by women but by grinding mills. Such technological innovation also causes tensions because the women loose the income they used to gain by grinding the ore.’ This is what the women and gold miners discussed with each other during a workshop: how do you balance income and health, what are the alternatives and who determines the ultimate direction of changes?

Another way of initiating important conversations is to jointly map the landscape and the mines. Luning: ‘We walk through the landscape together and discuss its characteristics, how different mining teams operate next to each other, but could also increase collaboration e.g. by jointly tackling water problems. We talk about what the land could look like in the future. That can lead to new ideas about sustainability.’

For her research, De Theije also visited various countries, including the rainforests of Suriname and Brazil. ‘Gold prospecting has a long tradition in the Amazon area. Men move through the forest from one gold site to another. If they are successful, then entire families join them, and lively communities can arise with shops, dance halls and cafes. Once the gold runs out, then all of that disappears again.’

Seventy family members

In Suriname, De Theije once met a single mother from Brazil. ‘She had saved some money during her work as a cook in a mine and had started a little cafe. She maintained good relations with the gold miners. If they needed a good tractor driver, then she knew how to bring them into contact with somebody. In the end, some seventy family members of this woman were working in Suriname!’

De Theije witnessed the changes in work methods that occurred in Suriname. ‘Fifteen years ago, men dug a hole with a spade. Now they no longer do that, but use an excavator instead. That became profitable when the gold price surged and the oil price fell. It is fascinating to see how accurately they calculate the grams of gold which must be found for using one barrel of diesel, the price of which can amount to twenty grams of gold, for example.’

COVID-19: a major setback

The researchers wanted to spread all of that knowledge and those stories among miners and policymakers, but the coronavirus crisis has seriously disrupted their plans. A case in point is Esther van de Camp, a PhD student from Leiden University, who had just initiated a new initiative when she was obliged to return home in March 2020 due to the corona crisis. ‘Gold miners were going to take photos of their work using second-hand cameras, and we were going to jointly create an exhibition for the local government and the many NGOs active there. The exhibition would also include photos from Brazil and Ghana as well.’

The researchers are now thinking of other, online ways of sharing their insightful and inspiring findings with gold miners and policymakers. That is a considerable task, but there is another challenge which should be mentioned. Van de Camp was fortunate: in total, she managed to do more than five months of field research in Uganda. During that time, she built up a good network and obtained a lot of information. However, her supervisor Luning observes that not all young researchers were so lucky. ‘Some PhDs and postdocs have not been able to complete their fieldwork and have to come up with a plan B with (too) little research material. The COVID crisis is a real disaster for young researchers who still need to build up their career and are now working at home, sometimes with young families.’

Did you know?
What should you look out for if you want to buy gold jewellery? Marjo de Theije, who wears beautiful earrings during the interview: ‘Many different standards have been developed for ethical, fair trade or fair mined gold for which people are better paid. The extra income generated is also used to help the community of mineworkers adopt cleaner technologies or establish a school, for example.’ In the Netherlands, Solidaridad is taking active steps to integrate social and ecological sustainability in the gold covenant between companies, governments and civil society organisations. On the producers’ side, they are working on improving the conditions in goldmines.

Photos: Nii Obodai & Sabine Luning.

In this interview first posted by ZO’ mag, Christophe Sawadogo, who is part of the Gold Matters project team, explores how art can reflect the social world, bear witness to transformations under way, and catalyse new conversations…

Il arrive que la toile soit une rencontre. Au sens physique du mot, qu’elle mette dans le cadre, celui qui la peint et ceux qu’il peint, la terre qui les porte et l’air qu’ils respirent. Christophe Sawadogo explore l’intersection de ces regards. Sa représentation est à la fois un témoignage et une invitation à la parole. Elle ne s’arrête pas au captage d’une information, elle incite la population à dire aussi. A cet instant là, l’art est totalement contemporain, dans cet instant qui construit de la conscience, de la liberté, de la mémoire et des perspectives pour après. Rencontre.

On vient de voir des toiles réalisées au Mali et au nord du Burkina, des toiles sur la route. Tu peux nous expliquer ce rapport que tu as avec le déplacement ?

Pour partie, je dirai mes origines. Je suis du Nord du Burkina, une zone qui voit progresser le désert, où le climat et les saisons ont une incidence sur nos vies et le mouvement de la population. Mes parents ont dû migrer en Côte d’Ivoire voisine, « où l’herbe est plus verte ». Comme la plupart de mes camarades, je faisais chaque [jour] beaucoup de kilomètres. Cela resurgit dans mon travail. Et peut expliquer les bouts de papier que je dépose sur les routes dans mon quartier, sur les sentiers des mines. De la même façon, certaines parties du Nord sont affectées par le terrorisme et des milliers de personnes quittent leurs zones d’habitation. Et j’en fais le constat avec mes petits moyens d’artiste, avec la terre, mes crayons, l’encre et le carbone.

L’œuvre d’art doit rester un miroir social, le reflet, la géographie, l’histoire d’un monde qui l’a générée. Il n’a rien à voir avec (…) la pâle copie de l’Occident, avec ses codes dominants. Christophe Sawadogo

Ta création est très ancrée dans le social. Très en phase avec le quotidien des gens.

Je travaille souvent avec des groupes de personnes. Aujourd’hui, la sécheresse, la précarité touche des pans entiers de la société. Je ne tombe pas dans le moralisme ; mais je reviens souvent à la DUDH( Déclaration Universelle des droits de l’homme). Par exemple, avec les filles du Centre Bianchi Couture, nous avons réalisé des portraits, en croisant les récits de leur quotidien et des articles de la DUDH. L’exposition a été montrée à Ouagadougou et aux Pays Bas il y a deux ans.

On vient de voir également un travail également « communautaire », à propos de l’or…

A Guibaré (Nord Burkina) et au Ghana (Tarkwa, Kejetia, Takoradi) nous avons travaillé avec des femmes, des enfants, des miniers en association avec des professeurs, des étudiants de Gold Matters. Ensemble, on a monté des ateliers de création autour du développement durable. Nous avons fait une exposition dans ce village minier de Kejetja, l’an passé.  Comment une communauté perçoit-elle l’activité ? Et comment elle va l’exprimer ?

Il y a des expériences artistiques dont tu te sens proches? Parenté d’émotion, de raison et de choix plastiques…

J’aime beaucoup les recherches des artistes du « Vohou Vohou », en Côte d’Ivoire dans les années 80 orientées vers l’intégration de l’objet local dans la construction de l’œuvre. Au Ghana, avec mon ami Nii Obodai, nous avons créé un musée africain dans ce village minier de Kejetia. Nous y avons exposé nos photos, notre peinture collective ( un mémorial), des objets divers issus de l’exploitation auriez comme les sacs, les casques, les vêtements usés le matériel à peser l’or… Oui, ce sont des pistes qui sont intéressantes, très émouvantes aussi. Ce sont des vies.

De travailler ensemble, avec des gens qui ne sont pas dans ce type d’expression, ça génère quel sentiment.

Personnellement une grande émotion. C’est beaucoup de choses, et une liberté nouvelle qu’ils prennent. Pour ma part, j’apprends beaucoup avec des personnes qui utilisent mes moyens d’expression pour la première fois, ils m’apprennent des choses inattendues sur la spontanéité….sur moi et ma façon de voir le monde ou de le rendre.

Tu travailles beaucoup sur cette proximité sociale. Comment l’art contemporain peut être perçu par les populations ? Finalement on a souvent l’impression avec les œuvres, assez hermétiques, que ça leur est un peu étranger…

J’ai la conviction qu’un art vous touche si vous y avez votre propre empreinte. Si on se reconnaît. Des acheteurs locaux sont concernés par nos créations et nous le font bien savoir. Maintenant quand je regarde les artistes, je pense à des gens comme Siriki Ky. Je suis allé le voir plusieurs fois dans son atelier. Sa vision d’initier un symposium de sculpture en pleine brousse à une quarantaine de km de Ouagadougou, m’a convaincu que l’art avait quelque chose à voir avec la main mais  aussi avec le cœur. Son initiative a été traitée de folle au départ. Aujourd’hui elle est reconnue et saluée par tous. Des artistes du monde entier viennent se mesurer à cette roche du Sahel.

Pour ta part, l’art contemporain a des responsabilités?

En tous cas, il offre aux Africains des possibilités infinies d’ afficher leurs interrogations sociales, leurs inquiétudes existentielles. L’ engagement sociopolitique et artistique se traduit sur fond de crises identitaires, migratoires, de développement endogène. Mais il y a des raisons d’espérer, dans ce concernement. A mon sens, l’œuvre d’art doit rester un miroir social, le reflet, la géographie, l’histoire d’un monde qui l’a générée. Il n’a rien à voir avec la vision d’import-export matériel ou la pâle copie de l’Occident, avec ses codes dominants.

Propos recueillis par Roger Calmé [Interview by Roger Calmé]
Photos: C. Sawadogo

By An Ansoms, Université catholique de Louvain; Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka, Université de Mons; Emery Mushagalusa Mudinga, Université catholique de Louvain; Godefroid Muzalia, Institut supérieur pédagogique de Bukavu and Koen Vlassenroot, Ghent University

Many researchers from the global North (Europe and North America) who do fieldwork in the global South engage research assistants and associates in the geographical field of research.

At best, their contribution is mentioned in a footnote of the articles or reports. At worst, they are kept invisible.

Yet these contributors are key actors in the research process. They forge access to difficult zones and find people to take part in research efforts. They are important in the collection of data, production of research reports and dissemination of results. Eventually, they help to orient, shape and produce knowledge.

Research shows that their role is seldom made visible in research outputs. In addition, they aren’t invited to be part of the research design process. And their role isn’t recognised in the institutional field of research, which is guided by publishing records.

This is problematic because of the way unequal power relations – and power abuse – determine the conditions in which knowledge is produced. Also, there’s a loss of expertise in the hands of these research associates and assistants.

Concerns over research associates and assistants in the production of knowledge aren’t new. They connect to a rich literature on research ethics which emerged within different disciplines as early as the 1960s. This research highlighted the importance of research associates and assistants in the production of knowledge, and the importance of locally embedded expertise – though often without giving them a voice.

To shed light on what’s needed to correct this, we – a group of academics from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Europe – have initiated the “Bukavu Series” – a series of blog posts and a new online cartoon exhibit.

Written by research collaborators and research assistants in the DRC, over 30 blog posts discuss how power relations in knowledge production are skewed. They give first-hand accounts of the role of research assistants and associates, their challenges and their responsibilities.

We don’t want to pretend that the Bukavu Series can solve the problem of invisibility of research associates and assistants. But this is a step in making their voices heard.

Bukavu Series

The contributions in the Bukavu Series cover a number of ethical and emotional challenges that research associates and assistants face.

They discuss the incompatibility between research projects’ expectations and field complications. These include difficulties in getting access to “the field”. They are often embedded within the methodological set-up of research projects. Resolving these complications can be difficult because of time pressures and limited budgets.

Another challenge is related to the associates’ interactions with people in contexts of violence, conflict or economic hardship. As some blog posts tell us, they often struggle with people’s expectations to be financially compensated for participating in research. But these resources are usually not provided, and associates’ struggles with respondents’ expectations often remain unacknowledged.

Research collaborators and assistants also struggle with questions around the communication of research results to their respondents and society at large. People expect to get an insight into the outcomes of the research in which they participated. But again, this is often not foreseen in the research design.

Besides the inherent ethical issues, this complicates any potential return to areas as part of future research activities.

Similarly, there’s little recognition about how doing research in conflict-affected environments can have profound effects on the mental well-being of researchers. Various posts reflect on researchers’ entanglements and traumas, shed light on strategies that might reduce these risks, and point at the lack of support by those commissioning research activities.

And there’s the challenge of visibility. Several contributors claimed the right to be recognised as full partners in research projects. Some bloggers argued that the role of research associates was almost automatically confined to that of “research assistants”, pushing them into a position of subordination.

What must change

To change this, there are a few principles that should urgently be adopted. This is not only a moral obligation but also a necessary step in the transformation of the production of knowledge and academia at large. These steps include:

• Acknowledgement upfront of the key role played by research associates and assistants alongside the lead researcher(s) right from the start of the research cycle;
• Equal participation between lead researchers, collaborators and assistants in the design of project cycles;
• Equal ownership over the generated data;
• Recognition in the final outputs of research.

More generally, contemporary problems of knowledge production cannot be detached from the broader inequalities, nor can they be considered separated from existing power relations defining academia. The relations of domination – at the root of these inequalities and ingrained in a historical trajectory – explain to a large extent the unequal representations in the production of knowledge.

There’s a need to call into question the tendency in academic circles to consider institutions located in the global North as “the” valid reference points for the production and validation of knowledge. More prominence should be given to institutions – and scholars – located in the global South in all the dimensions of knowledge production and by all those involved in the generation of knowledge.

An Ansoms, Professor in Development Studies, Université catholique de Louvain; Aymar Nyenyezi Bisoka, Assistant professor, Université de Mons; Emery Mushagalusa Mudinga, Associate professor, Université catholique de Louvain; Godefroid Muzalia, Professor au Département d’Histoire-Sciences Sociales , Institut supérieur pédagogique de Bukavu et Koen Vlassenroot, Professor in political and social sciences, Ghent University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged some of the central assumptions of research on transformations to sustainability, even while increasing the need for actionable knowledge about social transformations. The pandemic has also changed the parameters for transdisciplinary and internationally collaborative research. Twelve international, transdisciplinary projects in the Transformations to Sustainability programme share insights on how COVID-19 has impacted on their work. 2020 was continuously surprising and often overwhelming. When the twelve T2S projects convened virtually at the beginning of June 2020, apprehension was palpable and virtual meeting skills shaky. Six months later, in mid-December, the project members were overwhelmingly positive about how well they had adapted to such an unprecedented and still uncertain situation. The vast majority of 50 project representatives at the meeting were at least reasonably satisfied with or even proud of what they had achieved in 2020, under difficult circumstances.  At the meeting the project members were asked to reflect on both the main challenges and the positive impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic on their work, how they had adapted to the situation and what they saw as the emerging needs and opportunities for research on transformations to sustainability.

Researchers are humans too

T2S project members highlighted some of the universal work-related challenges during the pandemic – the pressures of working from home while looking after young children, or conversely the sheer inability to work from home due to lack of infrastructure, both of which significantly affected productivity (and personal wellbeing). On the positive side, colleagues and funders showed empathy, understanding and patience, while the teams pulled together and demonstrated flexibility, resilience and commitment to the projects.  

Co-production can only go so far in a virtual world

Fieldwork and data collection posed the major practical challenge for most projects. Unable to travel and meet in person with research participants, the projects adapted by moving interview and other data collection methods online, which to a certain extent was rather successful. Certain stakeholder communities remained very receptive to digital contact and communication with them was perhaps even easier than before. For example, one project reported having better access to women via online means. However, many T2S projects are working with the world’s marginalized communities, which are not accessible by digital means and with whom personal contact is essential; their contribution to and engagement in the projects has suffered. In this sense the T2S programme provides more evidence of how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the social inequalities that the projects aimed to alleviate. Even projects working with well-connected partners in the Global North have found it challenging to build new relationships and trust with research participants by virtual means. Co-production, so vital in research for transformations, is clearly limited in a virtual world. 

The pandemic has given a boost to methodological creativity, innovation and inclusiveness

For many project members, the constraints imposed by the pandemic were the spur to become creative in adapting or radically changing methodologies for data collection and stakeholder engagement, to learn new skills in the use of digital tools and to pause to reflect on how to do things differently in the new context. People’s readiness to meet virtually increased, and virtual meetings became more efficient. There was a sense that virtual meetings democratized the research and learning process, as many meetings and conferences went online and there were fewer barriers to participation. Some felt that communication, interaction and cross-fertilization within the projects improved because of the frequency of virtual meetings. Some also used the time not collecting data in the field to reflect more deeply on what could be learned from existing data. In contrast, others noted the pressure to participate in ever more virtual meetings, which, apart from creating fatigue, eats into time that could be used for analysis, writing and publishing. One person suggested that there be fewer meetings, but more sharing.

Fundamental challenges for social transformations research

The pandemic has made transdisciplinary work with disempowered communities more difficult. It has also exposed and called into question some of the assumptions of research on transformations to sustainability. What does transformation mean in the context of the massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic? The pandemic has lit up with a flash the complexity of the drivers of unsustainability and the uncertainties of the present and the future. Is the pandemic heralding a positive global transformation or is it a temporary disturbance that will generate vigorous and competitive efforts to rebound? Is it an unprecedented opportunity to mobilize a newly sensitized global community around transformations to sustainability or does it demonstrate that powerful, undesired transformations are well underway and not at all within our control? As one project member wrote, ‘The desire to return to ‘normal’ is a powerful discourse (as much as the idea that we will not return to ‘normal’). This is a challenge for transformation-oriented research.’ Reflecting these uncertainties and ambivalences, many projects sensed a shift in the priorities of their research participants and stakeholders, and doubts about their continuing ability or willingness to engage in a differently focused project. Some projects have shifted their focus to take advantage of new learning opportunities brought by COVID, while others caution against losing sight of important research questions unrelated to COVID. The new situation is bringing some of the researchers to reflect on the role of the scientist in such a context, and the impact they can hope to achieve.

What do the projects need now?

On a practical level, what the projects need to be able to achieve their main objectives is time, and preferably supplementary funding, particularly for the post-doctoral researchers employed on the projects; while the projects have been granted no-cost extensions, it may not be possible for the funders to extend the contracts of the post-docs, leaving both the project and the early career researchers vulnerable at a difficult time. Some feared that the delays in data collection and analysis done by post-docs may now result in unfinished projects, if the post-docs need to leave for economic reasons. Apart from that, the projects called unanimously for more cross-project sharing and discussion on:

• Collecting data and working with stakeholders, especially vulnerable communities, in the context of COVID-19
• Understandings or models of transformation and sustainability and how to measure them, particularly in the context of COVID-19
• Understandings of other concepts such as ‘development’, ‘Global South’, etc.

The main suggestions as to how to accomplish the desired exchange were through:

• Shared document for methods, practices, what worked, etc.
• Repository of literature on digital research and engagement methods and tools
• A joint publication on experiences with digital interviews/research methods
• Providing research data to open data repositories

Anticipating the challenges

The challenges the project members see ahead are multiple. They include the changing priorities of the communities they want to work with and the looming impossibility of working with remote or vulnerable communities in the future. How can such communities be empowered to engage in research in such circumstances? What ethical questions arise, in view of the imbalance of resources available to researchers in the Global North and research participants in the Global South? The needs and challenges were also seen as opportunities: to better understand the relationship between COVID-19, transformation and sustainability and to envision what ‘post-COVID’ might look like; to harness and advance digital technologies for engaged, co-produced research for transformations; to address the vulnerabilities mirrored and reinforced by COVID. Adding to other calls for transdisciplinary research funding to be longer term and more flexible than for more conventional research, the project members recommended, somewhat unsurprisingly, that funders make funding available for follow-up research. Above all, what is needed from project members and programme coordinators as the projects head into their final 18 months is patience, empathy and good communication.

Related links

• See the feedback from T2S researchers in answer to the question: What have been the most surprising, challenging or positive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on your research or work?
• See the feedback submitted in answer to the question: What new needs, challenges or opportunities are opening up for research on transformations to sustainability in 2021?

The following preprint is an interesting, systematic study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on collaborative (transdisciplinary) research:  Arnott, James and Russell, Patrice and Bath, Sean and Bednarek, Angela and Combest-Friedman, Chelsea and Fisher, Leah and George, Douglas and Hudson, Charlotte and Maillard, Lisa and Moser, Susanne and Read, Jennifer and Seiztzinger, Sybil and Soberal, Nicholas and Teicher, Hannah and Zycherman, Ariela, Collaborative Research in a Virtual World: Implications of COVID-19 for the Co-Production of Environmental Knowledge and Solutions (December 24, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3755008 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3755008

Heading photo: Frederic Huybrechs (TruePATH project).

By Sonja Fransen & Beatriz Cardoso Fernandes, UNU-MERIT, with Dominique Jolivet, University of Amsterdam (MISTY project). This article was shared as part of a United Nations University Migration Network series that explores the interrelations and acute challenges of migration, climate change, and COVID-19.

Can the global health pandemic provide a ‘window of opportunity’ to change the way we think about sustainability? A new study by researchers from the Migration, Transformation and Sustainability (MISTY). project and UNU-MERIT finds that for almost a quarter of Amsterdam residents surveyed, the coronavirus has increased their interest in sustainability.

On 17 March 2020, the Mayor of Amsterdam announced new measures to contain the coronavirus, including the closure of schools, restaurants, and cultural venues. In July 2020, researchers from the Migration, Transformation and Sustainability (MISTY) project sent an online survey to members of the Amsterdam City Research Panel asking them what impact the coronavirus crisis was having on their lives, set against the broader backdrop of sustainability (understood here in terms of social, economic, and environmental sustainability). Members of the Amsterdam City Research panel are ‘Amsterdammers’ who regularly participate in different online surveys about varying subjects related to the city. Our sample included 1,381 individuals, of whom 20% are migrants, 53% are Dutch-born with parents also born in the Netherlands, and 24% are Dutch-born with parents born abroad. The majority of the sample is highly educated, in a rather comfortable economic situation, and aged between 35 and 64 (Figure 1).

 

 

We first asked how the COVID-19 crisis had impacted respondents’ health, income, and social lives. Four months after the initial outbreak, almost 60% were feeling the negative effects of the pandemic in at least one of these dimensions — more than 16% had experienced negative effects on their health and almost 21% on their household incomes. COVID-19 restrictions hit their social lives in particular — 43% declared a worsening of social contacts. This confirms recent studies on the impact of the various COVID-19 measures on subjective well-being and social isolation of individuals. International migrants and second-generation migrants were the most affected in Amsterdam (Figure 2). Apart from these negative effects, there were some positive impacts: 12% of respondents reported that social contact with neighbours had improved, while 8% said that they appreciated the natural environment in their neighbourhoods more during the COVID-19 crisis.

 

 

Can a global health crisis affect our attitudes towards sustainability?

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for researchers to study how a global health crisis affects the way people think about sustainability issues. Academic literature shows that attitudes are not stable over time. They are dependent on one’s social environment — and a change in this environment can change the way individuals think about certain social issues. In fact, major ‘shocks’ can profoundly change individual attitudes.

In our study, almost 24% of Amsterdammers reported more interest in sustainability issues compared to the start of the pandemic. When asked why, many respondents said that the pandemic had been a ‘wake-up call’, prompting the realisation that we, as global citizens, should take better care of the environment and each other:

“The crisis makes obvious both some of the ways in which our way of life is not sustainable, and the capacity we have to adapt quickly to a new environment with increased constraints.” (Male, 31 years old, first-generation migrant)

“The coronavirus has exposed in a painful way that a limit has been reached with what the earth can handle from humanity.” (Male, 52 years old, second-generation migrant)

Some individuals also mentioned that simply spending more time at home gave them more time to think about ‘larger’ societal questions such as pollution, overconsumption, and social ties in their neighbourhoods and city. Contrary to our expectations, those who were more affected by the pandemic (socially or economically) were not more likely to become more concerned with sustainability issues. Instead, higher educated individuals and those with migration backgrounds reported increasing awareness of sustainability issues. Moreover, the neighbourhoods in which people resided played a big role as well. For example, individuals residing in the centre of Amsterdam expressed more concerns compared with those living in the suburbs. Further research on this topic will have to show why this is the case.

A turning point in our views on sustainability?

Apart from expressing their fears and concerns, many Amsterdam residents also articulated their hopes that this crisis would create a turning point in our thinking on sustainability at local, national, and global levels. Whether the global health pandemic will support lasting transformations to sustainability remains to be seen. Despite reporting increasing awareness of the importance of leading sustainable lives, few respondents (on average between 5-10%) reported changing their actual behaviour since March 2020 in terms of consumption, energy use, or recycling. This shows that changing attitudes do not necessarily translate into action.

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This article was first posted here as part of a United Nations University Migration Network series that explores the interrelations and acute challenges of migration, climate change, and COVID-19. As a build-up to International Migrants Day on 18 December 2020, the series examines these connections at local and global levels, highlights impacts on migrants, and provides evidence-based insights for United Nations member states, governments, and policymakers.