Fair Transitions

Over 50 scholars from a wide variety of disciplines have joined IOS Fair Transitions, a platform of the Institutions for Open Societies (IOS) at Utrecht University. 

Showing a river with trash and a person in poverty and a blooming industry at the background

The aim of the platform is to radically rethink sustainable development and envision institutions for the future that safeguard not just ecological boundaries, but also boundaries of fair and just development – on equal and symmetrical terms. By facilitating an interdisciplinary dialogue among various faculties within Utrecht University, and with actors in society, the platform explores the question:

How do institutions need to change in order to guarantee safe, inclusive and climate-resilient landscapes and social-ecological environments across the globe?

The basic assumption that underlies the platform is that environmental problems such as climate change are human or institutional problems, characterized by, or rather, constitutive of deeply unfair and unjust government arrangements. We believe that existing governmental and market institutions must change and collaborate with informal bottom-up institutions in new ways in order to achieve fairness and social justice while facing complex global challenges, such as climate change-related transformations that lead to shifts in people’s mobility, relationship between human and non-human species and access, use and control of natural resources.

Key activities:

As part of our activities, we organize lecture series, an annual conference in collaboration with the Netherlands Land Academy (LANDac) and an annual Summer School.

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Core team

  • dr. ir. Janwillem Liebrand

    Assistant Professor
    Geosciences - Human Geography and Spatial Planning - International Development Studies
    Geosciences - Human Geography and Spatial Planning - International Development Studies

  • dr. Rick Dolphijn

    Associate Professor
    Humanities - Institute for Cultural Inquiry - Media and Performance Studies
    Humanities - Department of Media and Culture Studies - Media and Performance Studies

  • dr. Julia Tschersich

    Assistant Professor
    Geosciences - Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development - Environmental Governance

  • dr. Julie Fraser

    Assistant Professor
    Law, Economics and Governance - Utrecht University School of Law - International and European Law
    Law, Economics and Governance - Utrecht University School of Law - International and European Law

  • dr. Mucahid Bayrak

    Geosciences - Human Geography and Spatial Planning - Social Urban Transitions

  • Nicholas Polson

    Project Coordinator
    Geosciences - Human Geography and Spatial Planning - International Development Studies