果冻传媒

We have now completed our first international CENSE NOVA (Portugal)-果冻传媒 (UK) Sustainability Training Academy (STA), which brought together 25 participants from 16 countries. The STA was held in ARRABIDA National Park of Portugal and the focus was on human-nature connectedness.
My own takeaway was the community that has emerged as a result of our many learnings, outings and discussions: we all tuned in to each other and the Park around us.
In all this endeavour I'm exceptionally grateful to our hosts at CENSE & NOVA University - Fransisco, Nuno, Yorgos and Sofia- and to the 果冻传媒 team - , Dr Jane Webb, Dr , Dr , and EUTOPIA Connected Communities for contributions and financial support! We are also indebted to Prof. Harini Nagendra, and Prof. Chris Ives from Nottingham University for your keynotes which enticed our participants for more in-depth thinking, and, of course, to all the participants who made the community so easy-going and possible!
Have a great summer, and connect with Nature!!

The Radical Imaginaries-Radical Transformations (RIRT) thematic initiative, under the Sustainability Spotlight, organised the second network-building event, led by Dr Marit Hammond (PAIS), Prof. Graeme Macdonald (ECLS) and Prof. Elena Korosteleva (IGSD). It involved two panels - a 'politics'- and 'arts'-focused involving external speakers - Prof. Albena Azmanova (City), Dr Carl Death (Manchester), Dr Natalie Pollard (Exeter) and Dr Orion Maxted (VUB) - and internal speakers - Dr Nick Lawrence (ECLS), Dr Jonathan Skinner (ECLS) and Carla Washbourne (CIM). The workshop focused on the key questions around future climate and power imaginaries, to see if just and sustainable transitions are possible, and under what conditions. The workshop's aims included building a network of like-minded scholars - it was attended by over 60(!) participants - capture ideas/ways of thinking (Thank you NiftyFox!) and produce a position paper, based on roundtable discussions at the workshop (working on it!). Thank you to all who attended, and to Cher Zou, Jason Snow and Tanya Liguori for supporting this event!

The Sustainability Spotlight, together with IGFSD colleagues, had a follow-up event at WBS, to hear research initiatives from sustainability champions, and to discuss how best the spotlight can support them, in the course of the year. Initiatives came from PAIS, WBS, WMG, Stats, Law, and Economics, offering such a breadth and depth of sustainability research across the university! Thank you to all who joined us on the day, and to Cher and Tanya - for such an efficient (and yummy) organisation and lunch!