Organisers: Siddharth Sareen (Fridtjof Nansen Institute) and Sirkku Juhola (University of Helsinki)

Confirmed keynote speaker: Professor Karen O'Brien

Venue: Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Lysaker.

As we arguably shoot past 1.5°C global warming in 2024, present transformations gain importance. Planning to reach targets by 2030/2035/2050, while essential to enable systematic measures, too often stalls adequate action in the present, while silencing demands for urgently-needed change.

Transformation is distinct from transition. It signals systematic shifts in ways of doing things, and changing overarching relationships such as the ones between economy, energy, nature, and society. Cognate concepts have emerged in the environmental social sciences and humanities, such as sufficiency, circular economy, and degrowth. Literature on institutional change, the spatiotemporality of transitions, socioecological justice, responsible research and innovation, and stemming from place-based approaches is undergoing a renaissance of interest in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research.

Attention to present transformations invokes scholarly work on prefigurative politics, which engages and examines the dynamics of putting mechanisms into play to bring about envisioned futures. This is of interest to diverse epistemic communities, ranging from solarpunk artists engaging with utopian futures, to modellers informing energy system policies at lower spatial scales based on climate scenarios, and from system design practitioners using techniques like backcasting and foresight, to ethnographic scholars examining change dynamics in specific contexts set in complex histories.

This rich yet somewhat fragmented understanding of prefigurative politics can be productively channelled to address the issue of present transformations. This is the task we envisage undertaking collectively through this workshop and an associated edited volume. Potential participants are invited to apply with a title and abstract of up to 300 words, along with their current institutional affiliation. Abstracts should offer an overview of a prospective 4,000-word manuscript (all inclusive) that addresses the prefigurative politics of present transformations based on a specific empirical case or conceptual cross-case analysis. The choice of a sector, such as energy, food, transport, and textiles, is at the discretion of applicants, and we welcome explicitly cross-sectoral contributions.

The deadline to submit abstracts is Friday, 17 January 2025, with decisions issued by Friday, 24 January 2025.

Please submit your application as a single Word file with title, abstract, your name and affiliation, to ssareen@fni.no and sirkku.juhola@helsinki.fi

Please note that selected participants will be required to submit a draft manuscript of 3,000-4,000 words in advance of the workshop, and no later than 10 March 2025. This will enable a peer-powered process ahead of the workshop where all participants read all drafts, and engage with some contributions as discussants in an innovative format proven to be highly effective. Formal fully-funded invitations will be issued by 14 March 2025 upon receipt of contributors' draft manuscripts.

TransformERS (Transformations international Experience and Research network for Sustainable futures) is a European network funded as a COST Action during 2023-2027 by the European Union, through the European Cooperation in Science and Technology. This workshop is funded through the network's Working Group 3 on Present Transformations, co-led by Siddharth Sareen and Sirkku Juhola. Contributors of selected abstracts must be based in COST member countries to be eligible for full bursaries via the e-COST portal: https://www.cost.eu/about/members/ - applicants from outside Europe who are able to cover their own travel and accommodation costs are welcome and will also receive complementary workshop lunches and dinner.

Applicants do not need to be a member of TransformERS WG3 to submit an abstract, but will need to complete a simple, free application to access workshop bursaries if invited to participate. Participants should plan to arrive in Oslo by Monday, 14 April 2025, as the workshop will run from 9:00 on 15 April until 15:00 on 16 April, enabling evening departures on Wednesday, with a social workshop dinner on 15 April. Funding covers return travel to Oslo and up to three nights' stay at a standard COST Association per diem rate.

The workshop will take place at the beautiful Fridtjof Nansen Institute, easily accessible by public transport half an hour from downtown Oslo. The workshop offers a chance for a courtesy tour of Nobel Peace Laureate Fridtjof Nansen's villa, and a post-lunch swim in the gorgeous fjord setting of the springtime North Sea if you are adventurous!