News
Johan Schot lid van de KNAW
18/05/2009
On Friday 15th May the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences (KNAW) announced they had chosen 28 new members. On of them is Johan Schot, co-founder and director of KSI.
Congratualations for this recognition of his scientific merit. It is encouraging -especially for the young researchers of our network- that this honour can fall upon a scientist who spent most of his career on societal research questions.
Session on Economics of Transitions to Sustainability at EAERE
29/04/2009There will be a special session Economics of Transitions to Sustainability on the 17th Annual Conference of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE), to be held in Amsterdam, June 24-27, 2009. The session, organised by KSI member Jeroen van den Bergh (ICREA, UAB and VU), departs from the claim that transition management requires an approach that differs from the economic view on environmental policy. Although mainstream economics seems to conflict in certain ways with the approach called for by many involved in transition research, it certainly has something to offer to the study of transitions. Indeed, various sub-disciplines of economics have generated a wealth of concepts, theories and empirical methods that are potentially suitable for use and elaboration in the context of 'transition research'. Studies on economic development, long waves, conflict resolution, public investments, and transitions from communist to market-democracy systems seem especially relevant to the study of sustainability transitions.
We invite authors to submit papers for this special session.
More info at the conference website.
Price winning paper
26/03/2009
Derk Loorbach has won the Best Paper Award for the international conference 'Sustainable Development, a challenge for European Research' hosted by DG Research in Brussels. Together with Niki Frantzeskaki and Wil Thissen (TUDelft) he will present their paper 'A transition research perspective on sustainability'.
Niki and Derk will also host a panel on 'Governance of transitions and transitions in governance' at the international conference of the IRSPM network, April 6-8 in Copenhagen. In this panel they will present a paper together with Jan Kooiman (Amsterdam University) on 'Transitioning governance'.
At the 7th IHDP open meeting, April 26-30, Derk organises a panel together with Rob Raven (TU eindhoven) and Anna Wieczorek (IHDP-IT program) in which they address the international dimension of transition and strategic niche management. The panel will also include the participants and results from the workshop on this subject organised in New Delhi last fall. Information on the panels and papers can be found through the websites or via email.
Power to the Cows!
20/03/2009
Sustainable dairy husbandry is very well possible, provided we think and act differently. A very high standard of animal wellfare can be combined with considerable ecological improvements without compromising economic feasibility. That is the conclusion of the report 'Kracht van Koeien', presented to the Dutch minister of agriculture Gerda Verburg on March 17.
'Kracht van Koeien' is a system innovative research project in which KSI researcher Bram Bos participates. Read more about the project or download the full report (Dutch) on the cow project website at Wageningen University.
Braungart on new chair in Rotterdam
18/03/2009
Prof. dr. ir. Michael Braungart will come to the Netherlands for the newly established Chair: 'Cradle to cradle in relation to sustainable system innovations and transitions in theory and in practice'. He will be based at DRIFT, Erasmus University Rotterdam.
On April 7th (16:00-19:00) an introductory symposium will be held. We hereby invite you to attend it, see programme. On this occasion Prof. Jan Rotmans will explain 'How to transit from current paradigms to a new industrial revolution?'
Please register by sending an email to drift@fsw.eur.nl with the subject line C2C, and simply indicating your first and last name and affiliation (deadline: March 31).
Special issue 'Technological Forecasting and Social Change'
02/2009
As a co-production of IHDP-IT and KSI, this month a special issue of TFSC on transitions in Asia has been released.
Reference: Volume 76, Issue 2, Pages 215-290 (February 2009).
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Sustainability transitions in developing Asia: Are alternative development pathways likely? [Link]
Frans Berkhout, David Angel, Anna J. Wieczorek, Pages 215-217
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Asian development pathways and sustainable socio-technical regimes [Link]
Frans Berkhout, David Angel, Anna J. Wieczorek, Pages 218-228
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Environmental rationalities and the development state in East Asia: Prospects for a sustainability transition [Link]
David Angel, Michael T. Rock, Pages 229-240
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A hard slog, not a leap frog: Globalization and sustainability transitions in developing Asia [Link]
Michael Rock, James T. Murphy, Rajah Rasiah, Paul van Seters, Shunsuke Managi, Pages 241-254
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Enabling sustainability transitions in Asia: The importance of vertical and horizontal linkages [Link]
Xuemei Bai, Anna J. Wieczorek, Shinji Kaneko, Shaun Lisson, Antonio Contreras, Pages 255-266
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Socio-metabolic transitions in developing Asia [Link]
Heinz Schandl, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Clemens Grunbuhel, Fridolin Krausmann, Pages 267-281
International conference 2009
15/02/2009
In 2009, instead of the annual conference, KSI will hold an international scientific conference. It is entitled "Dynamics & Governance of Transitions to Sustainability", will bring together a rapidly growing community of researchers and practitioners interested in broad societal transitions towards sustainability. The common goal is to inform strategies for the governance of sustainability through a better understanding of the dynamics of transitions. Thanks to the large number of high-quality abstracts that were submitted, the programme has been extended with half a day, so it runs from 4 to 6 June, in Amsterdam.
Online registration is now possible, and free of charge.
You can find further information on the conference web site.