Topic & Chairs

The German-South African Year of Science 2012 was dedicated to "Project Earth: Our Future" to stimulate joint research in sustainable development. In the workshop "Socio-Ecological Novelty" young scientists from a diversity of backgrounds and linked to the Junge Akademie, the South African Young Academy of Science  (SAYAS) and the Global Young Academy (GYA) tried to rethink the topic of sustainability in the frame of emerging research topics related to novel futures. Prof. Anke Jentsch (Alumna Junge Akademie), Prof.Dr. Bernard Slippers (SAYAS), Dr. Caradee Wright (SAYAS), Prof.Dr. Rees Kassen (GYA) and Dr. Silja Klepp (Junge Akademie) chaired the workshop. It was co-hosted by the senior academies German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), and received its funding by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation.

Discussion

We proceeded from the view that sustainability which focuses on indefinite availability of resources to preserve historical societal needs (preserving the past) is often outdated. There is a growing realization that we are confronted with novel, unpredictable futures both ecologically and socially, and their respective interaction. The emergence of socio-ecological novelties challenges social structures and hierarchies and requires a different frame of reference/thinking to respond and identify novel topics in sustainability research. Through seven panels organized around different topics such as"Novel ecosystems, biological invasion, ecosystem engineers", "Agricultural food production vis à vis sustainability and distribution challenges", and "Socio-ecological resilience and sustainable adaptation to climate change", a vibrant, interdisciplinary discussion on novel socio-ecological challenges took place.

Outcomes

Major aspects of our debates were that we need a new perspective that overcomes the prevalent division of Nature and Society that affects our thinking, our research and our policies. The broad occurrence of socio-ecological novelties, as well as the increasingly rapid and unpredictable changes that it will bring, challenges social structures and requires a different frame of thinking to respond effectively as a society. This necessarily includes different layers of engagement, from global justice to local relevance, and the need and challenges of interdisciplinary research. A book on science-policy relevance from all sessions and a scientific manuscript on emerging research frontiers for an international peer-reviewed journal are in the making.

Panel discussion

In the evening of March 19, a well-received public panel discussion and reception took place in the Französische Friedrichstadtkirche: "Bridging Two Hemispheres: Policy Advice and Sustainability Research in Germany and South Africa". After presenting the outcomes of our workshop, the panel discussion took a closer look on science-society relationships and the responsibilities of science. 

Workshop on Young Academies

On March 20 we closed our workshop with a wider reflection on the work and the success of young academies worldwide. We had a vibrant exchange of experiences, discussing how to include members in the work of young academies effectively, how to work together interdisciplinarily, and how to increase the outreach of young academies locally and globally. Beside the members of SAYAS, GYA and Junge Akademie, also Prof.Dr. Daya Reddy (President of ASSAf), Mrs. Dorothy Ngila (Liaison Officer of ASSAf), Prof.Dr. Jörg Hacker (President of Leopoldina), Prof.Dr. Jutta Schnitzer-Ungefug (Secretary General of Leopoldina) and Dr. Marina Koch-Krumrei (Head of the Department of International Relations at Leopoldina) attended and contributed valuable perspectives of the senior academies on the further development of young academies.

(Silja Klepp)

That fore, this workshop has two goals: on the one side, we aim at further developing critical empirical research perspectives that address social processes linked to climate change. We want to revisit the climate change and migration nexus and bring at least two bodies of critical literature into the conversation. On the one hand, the wide field of critical mobility and postcolonial theory theorizes struggles on interpretational sovereignty and asks questions on new conflicts around resources and postcolonial identities. On the other side, scholars at the intersections of critical geography, anthropology and science and technology studies have challenged the society-nature dualism with new theoretical verve. Understanding climate change as a necessarily social and natural phenomenon at the same time opens up new perspectives on human dealings with social natures that challenge naturalizing understandings of human mobility in a climate-changed world and that helps us to gain new insights into transformation processes of the 21st century more generally.

We invite international scholars to come to Bremen and discuss their empirically grounded papers from different disciplinary backgrounds addressing these and related aspects of climate change, human mobilities and spaces. The workshop will take place at the guest house “Teerhof” of the University of Bremen at the heart of the city centre.

Preliminary program

Workshop organisation:
Silja Klepp
Friederike Gesing      
Johannes Herbeck

Conference venues are the Old Town Hall and the House of Science in Bremen. Apart from scientific sessions, discussions and poster presentations there will also be a senate reception in the upper hall of the town hall and the awarding of the „Fit for Climate“ prize on 24 February.

The conference program, registration platform, contact persons and further information can be found on the website of the international conference CLARR 2014.

Professor Stephan F. Miescher is an Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

abstract

The complete edition of the magazine including the interview on page 6 is available here. 

The conference will take place from November 17th to November 18th, 2015 at the Yiri Lodge (Institute of African Studies) at the University of Ghana.

For more information please refer to the Conference Program.

Attached is the official Call for Papers in English and Spanish. Please forward it to interested colleagues.

For proposal details see the documents attached. The deadline for abstract submissions is January 30, 2016. Please send your proposals per e-mail to the organizers: Silja Kleppand Libertad Chavez-Rodriguez.

The Workshop is organized by Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy of Scientists) in cooperation with CIESAS Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Mexico and artec Sustainability Research Center, University of Bremen, Germany.

Call for Papers

• Can universities do more than improve admission requirements?
• In what ways do universities need to enhance their diversity management strategies with regard to refugees?
• How can universities communicate their knowledge and experience to society?
• How does the current situation affect questions of educational equality?

In order to address these questions, the conference will be introduced by two keynote lectures. In addition, there will be six parallel thematic workshops and a closing panel discussion open to the public. The workshops are geared towards participants from various backgrounds, for example researchers, administrators, activists, students and refugees.

For more information please refer to the Call for participants

abstract:
Global climate change, fossil fuel resource scarcity and energy security are some of the greatest challenges the world is facing today. Faced with these challenges, the high carbon development model (aka business as usual) is not a valid option any longer. Low carbon development offers an alternative development model, which aims to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change and enable sustainable development in a carbon constrained world, which focuses less on economic growth and exploiting finite natural resources and instead focuses more on fair and equitable human development within the limits of our planet.<br /> <br /> The seminar will draw on lessons from Europe and Asia, with a focus on renewable energy. This seminar will discuss the need for low carbon development and explore some of the opportunities and challenges it faces. Opportunities such as mitigating climate change and contributing to energy security will be critically discussed as well as potential trade-offs between large energy infrastructure developments and impacts on marginalized people. Renewable energy policy, such as for wind, solar and hydropower, will be critically examined and the status of the energy transition will be assessed.

You will find the presentation here

The workshop aims to develop de-colonizing and re-politicizing perspectives on climate change adaptation, de-centering Western perspectives and bringing together critical viewpoints from social research.

The Workshop is organized by Die Junge Akademie (German Young Academy of Scientists) in cooperation with CIESAS Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Mexico and artec Sustainability Research Center, University of Bremen, Germany.

Please find more information about the workshop and the organization below.

Workshop "Denaturalizing Climate Change"

The lectures will partly be in English.

You will find the details here