Utrecht Winter School on Earth System Governance

Photo credit: Alister Self

From 31 October - 4 November 2018 Utrecht University co-hosted the Utrecht Winter School on Earth System Governance. Designed to function as an incubator for early career researchers, the winter school brought together 39 participants from 16 different countries. They spent five days critically discussing and reflecting on the new earth system governance research agenda - and bringing it to life through their own research.

Earth System Governance is  a global research alliance, and the largest social science research network in the area of governance and global environmental change. It explores political solutions and novel, more effective governance mechanisms to cope with the current transitions in the biogeochemical systems of the planet. From January its International Project Office will be hosted at Utrecht University.

Launch of the new Science and Implementation Plan

A new science plan has just been launched with the aim to spur the global community on to new research questions and new ways for researchers to engage with society. The winter school explored this research framework through workshops on Architecture & Agency, Democracy & Power, Anticipation & Imagination, Justice & Allocation and Adaptiveness & Purposeful Change. The objective of the winter school was to find out how the new generation of ESG researchers could use this framework to strengthen their own research.

Urban Futures Studio director Professor Maarten Hajer gave a detailed account of his ambitious Energetic Odyssey project as a Technique of Futuring - a holistic futures practice. Photo credit: Joost Vervoort.

Researchers from across ESG community during morning lecture sessions

Researchers from across the ESG research community based both in the Netherlands and abroad provided their diverse perspectives and lively discussion during the busy morning lecture sessions. 

This included Derk Loorbach (DRIFT), Aarti Gupta (WUR), Oran Young (UC Santa Barbara), Maarten Hajer (Urban Futures Studio, Utrecht University), Michele Betsill (Colorado State University) and Sonja Klinksky (Arizona State University). A full list of speakers can be found here.

Insights from journal editors and experienced reviewers

Participants spent their afternoons engaged in “writeshops”. Here, different aspects of writing and publishing were discussed, with insights from journal editors and experienced reviewers.

Participants enjoying lasergames. Photo credit: Joost Vervoort.

After each day of intense work, the group explored the city together - vegetarian food, music, dystopian (but fun) future laser labyrinths, and more.

‘A rich conceptual perspective’

The winter school was well received by participants, with one remarking that “even some weeks after finishing the school, I still find myself reflecting upon the content. I therefore feel that it provided a very rich conceptual perspective, a sort of sense to see my research”.

Even some weeks after finishing the school, I still find myself reflecting upon the content. I therefore feel that it provided a very rich conceptual perspective, a sort of sense to see my research.

Winter School organised by Utrecht University researchers

The Utrecht Winter School on Earth System Governance was co-organised by Copernicus Institute researchers Joost Vervoort, Rak Kim, Sandra van der Hel and Charlotte Ballard. It immediately preceded the Utrecht Conference on Earth System Governance, which was also co-hosted by Utrecht University and was attended by over 400 researchers.

It was made possible with the support of the Utrecht Centre for Global Challenges (UGlobe), the Faculty of Geosciences, the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development and the SENSE Research School.