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Transformations to Sustainability is a Belmont Forum-NORFACE Joint Research Programme
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In the January 2021 edition: A year of transformations?
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This newsletter highlights many new or reshaped and revised initiatives emerging from the Transformations to Sustainability research community in the context of the ongoing pandemic. Over the past months, we've heard how fieldwork is being restarted and - in some cases - restructured around safety measures, how physical meetings have moved online, and how digital learning spaces are being developed to exchange ideas in the absence of in-person interactions.
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A series of reflections resulting from the (virtual) T2S midterm workshop explore how the new context is affecting research and processes of transformation in different places around the world. They ask the fundamental question of whether the pandemic can be seen as an opportunity for transformative change, and if so, how to move towards a transformation that is environmentally and socially just. We hope you will enjoy reading them.
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All best wishes from the T2S Secretariat team
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Challenges and opportunities for transformations to sustainability amidst a global pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to control its spread are continuing to affect all of the Transformations to Sustainability projects, and to spark new thinking about transformative processes and sustainability in times of disruption.
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A round-up of all publications and initiatives relating to COVID-19 can be found here.
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More blogs and opinion from the T2S community:
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A New Future for Conservation: Setting out the principles of post-growth conservation
As the UN biodiversity summit gets underway (virtually), take a look at this recent blog which offers inspiration and hope for positive transformations in times of disruption. Its authors include researchers and activists involved in both the first and second phases of the Transformations to Sustainability programme.
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Migration and climate change in South Asia
What happens when spatial diversification of livelihoods is not an option anymore? Amina Maharjan, Ricardo Safra de Campos and Chandni Singh (MISTY project) explore how compounding risks - COVID-19, climate change, and livelihood insecurity - are affecting migrants in South Asia.
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Resources round-up: latest publications from the T2S community
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Articles, book chapters, media coverage and more from the T2S programme projects and related research...
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Reading and viewing recommendations from our network
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Frederic Huybrechs (TruePATH) says: "This is an insightful, thought-provoking and actionable piece". It's written by a collective of critical geography and development scholars who "offer some thoughts on how we might reclaim what the university could be – a place that equips people with the knowledge they need to unlearn/unmake/dismantle the framings and worldviews that lend themselves to white supremacy and other forms of oppression more broadly.'"
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Frederic Huybrechs (TruePATH) says: "A very clear and accessible article which points to some of the pitfalls and possible contradictions related to ‘divestment'. These are questions we struggle with ourselves as we are researching the role of (micro-)finance in transformative change".
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Recommended by Vangelis Pitidis (Waterproofing Data), who highlights the focus on how informal communities in Brazil are self-organizing to protect more vulnerable members of the community from the devastating impact of COVID-19, in the absence of state intervention.
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A new mini-documentary exploring how transformative climate adaptation is exemplified by various river management programmes in Durban, South Africa, has been produced by researchers in the Leading Integrated Research in Africa for Agenda 2020 (LIRA 2030 Africa) programme, which is coordinated by the International Science Council (ISC) alongside the Transformations to Sustainability programme.
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The video shows how the LIRA project partners with other local initiatives to improve river management in a collaborative manner in Durban, South Africa. It shares inspiring examples of real local efforts that aim to advance sustainable urban development. You can watch the brief film on our website.
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Funding calls and other opportunities:
Global Sustainability: Call for papers on transformations
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Global Sustainability, an Open Access journal dedicated to sustainability research, has recently released a call for papers for a forthcoming special collection dedicated to Transformations. The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2021, and the full call is available on our website.
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Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research 2021
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The British Academy is inviting proposals for international, interdisciplinary projects which focus on the interaction between technology, nature and humanity, and which are led by UK-based researchers at any career stage, and active in any discipline within the social sciences and the humanities. Awards of 24 months in duration and up to £200,000 are available. The deadline for submissions is 21 October 2020.
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Launching a new Research and Action programme on ‘Emergent Agency in a Time of Covid’
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‘Emergent Agency in a Time of Covid-19’, a collaboration between Oxfam and the LSE’s Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme, is looking to connect with researchers and organizations who have been observing how people are responding to the COVID pandemic at a local level by acting, organizing and learning, in order to gather and exchange knowledge.
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Connect with the T2S Community
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It's 'World Commons Week' and a large number of webinars and other virtual events are taking place to exchange ideas and to celebrate and expand the research and practice of commons. We've picked out a few events that involve members of the T2S community and which you can register for now:
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The Just Transition Research Collaborative (JTRC) is organizing a webinar series to discuss key issues in the current debates on just transition to low-carbon development. The series aims to bring together a combination of researchers, activists and policy makers to discuss both the equity and justice norms underlying different concepts of and approaches to Just Transitions.
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Kicking off on 06 October at 16:00 CEST, the series will start with a discussion of different framings and the design politics of just transitions that shape current debates on low-carbon development and recovery from COVID.
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8-10 September 2021 Barcelona, Spain
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SAVE THE DATE for the next edition of the Transformations International Conference Series and Community of Practice.
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Exact date TBC - mid-2021
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