Amid some of the understandable despair about lack of action to combat climate change highlighted in the recent IPCC SR15, we want to learn from where, when and how things have changed very quickly.

Do you have a story of rapid transition? If so, please share it with us by clicking on ‘Contribute a story’ at: www.rapidtransition.org

With this form you can tell us about examples of rapid transition. They could be from the past or now, and from anywhere in the world. We are interested in all sectors of the economy. They don’t have to be specifically about sustainability, though we’d like you to tell us why they are relevant and what lessons they might offer for rapid transitions to sustainability.

Together we can then grow a shared understanding of what works to create action of the scale and speed needed. With enough evidence-based hope we can remove excuses for inaction and illuminate ways ahead for progressive, rapid change.

Please also consider signing up your organisation to the alliance and join over 50 organisations around the world that have already done so.

Our Network

For more information about us, visit www.rapidtransition.org

The Call for Abstracts for the 4th NEST conference due to take place in Lisbon at Universidade Nova de Lisboa has brought yet another increase in submissions: in total we have received 119 submitted abstracts! This is three times more applications than last year. This can be seen as a sign that Sustainability Transitions Research is growing even further into a well-known and respected research field. The organising team is now faced by a rather bittersweet dilemma: how to combine the strong interest with organizing a cozy, higly interactive meeting where all participants are able to converse at least once with each of their peers.

The organising committee will now enter the process of reviewing the abstracts over the holiday season, aiming to notify all applicants by January 16th!

Stay tuned for further updates.

The NEST PhD-Network and the STRN methodologies thematic group jointly invite PhD students and junior researchers to a Winter School on “Methodologies and Methods for Sustainability Transitions Research”.

It will take place from the 11^th to 15^th March 2019 at Fraunhofer ISI, Karlsruhe, Germany.

Please find the program here: NEST Winter School 2019 program

Participants will be expected to cover their travel and hotel costs and there is a participation fee of €150.

If you wish to attend, please fill in the Winter School Application Form and send it by e-mail to:

transitions-winterschool@isi.fraunhofer.de

The deadline for applications is 18^th January 2019.

The winter school will be hosted by Jonathan Köhler and Susan Muehlemeier.

The CfP has been published. Deadline for submitting your abstract/ proposal is December 21, 2018.

See conference website for further information.

Important dates:

21 December 2018: Abstract submission deadline

22 February 2019: Communication of decisions

22 March 2019: Early bird registration deadline

2 June 2019: Full papers submission deadline

5 June 2019: Regular registration deadline

23-26 June 2019: IST 2019 conference

Urban Transitions and Transformation

Research on urban transitions is a central element in the wider research agenda on the ‘geography of transitions’, i.e. research that explores spatial dimensions of sustainability transitions and the particularities of institutional contexts.

Anyone interested is welcome to contributing to this new thematic group. For more questions you may contact Emilia Smeds or Marc Wolfram (urban.transitions.strn@gmail.com ) to stay informed.

Future activities of the group:

•    Organise a series of conference sessions at IST 2019 in Ottawa, based on a structured research agenda
•    Establish online exchange formats: webinars, blog, social media
•    Personal exchange formats: annual STRN conference sessions, other conference sessions, workshops, seminars
•    Joint publishing: papers, special issues, edited volumes
•    Contributions from and updates about the thematic group in the STRN newsletter

Building visions, unlocking pathways, navigating conflicts

Over the past few decades the damage being done to global ecosystems by established development trajectories has become increasingly evident. In many sectors and regions sustainability transitions are gathering pace as new technologies, business models and social practices begin to transform existing systems of social provisioning. Yet the current political context is difficult. And in some areas there is increasing resistance to transformative change that promotes sustainability. Above all, progress remains slow when compared to the scale of damage being done to ecosystems and the climate.

The theme of IST 2019 – Accelerating sustainability transitions – seeks to address this challenging context by encouraging researchers and practitioners to examine obstacles to transitions processes and strategies to speed up the transformation of systems of production and consumption. It points to the importance of visions — of improved mobility systems, agricultural and food systems, buildings, cities and rural communities – to coordinate efforts and mobilize change. Raises the challenge of mapping out concrete pathways that can link the present with desirable futures. And emphasises navigation of the inevitable conflicts that accompany any serious efforts at societal change.

This 10th Anniversary event will mark the first time the IST conference has been held outside Europe. It will provide an occasion to highlight the achievements of international transition studies, to introduce researchers who are not yet familiar with transitions literatures to this vibrant community, and to explore complementarities with related research perspectives and approaches.

We look forward to welcoming you in Ottawa in June 2019.

Call for Papers, Deadline Dec-21, 2018

Conference website

Contact: ist2019@carleton.ca

Important dates:

21 December 2018: Abstract submission deadline

22 February 2019: Communication of decisions

22 March 2019: Early bird registration deadline

2 June 2019: Full papers submission deadline

5 June 2019: Regular registration deadline

23-26 June 2019: IST 2019 conference

With all this talk about transitions, this conference will reflect on this concept and delve into what we are actually trying to attain at the end of the day. “Transitions to where?” hence spans the whole spectrum of conceptualizing societal transitions, from concrete and clearly defined visions to a broader focus on large-scale normative movements.

The conference will be filled with two enriching days of keynote lectures, discussion sessions and interactive workshops. Following the tradition of the previous NEST conferences held in London (Greenwich), Lausanne (EPFL) and Utrecht (UU), this conference will give early career researchers the unique opportunity to present their work-in-progress and to get feedback from their peers as well as senior researchers. Inspiring keynote sessions and an interactive workshop format will provide space to further discuss and reflect on the conference theme.

Call for Abstracts

Contact: 4thnest@campus.fct.unl.pt

The 4th NEST conference is organized by

Adriaan van der Loos, Alexandra Polido, Anna Ruban, Inês Cosme, and Verena Hermelingmeier

The Network for Early Career Researchers in Sustainability Transitions (NEST) is inviting paper abstracts for the

4th annual NEST Conference 2019 (#4THNEST), with the theme:

“Transitions to where? Shared values and visions for sustainability transitions.”

The conference will be held on April 4-5, 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal.

Deadline for submission of abstracts is December 3rd, 2018.

See Call for abstracts for more details.

For any questions, please contact: 4thnest@campus.fct.unl.pt

The 4th NEST conference is organized by

Adriaan van der Loos, Alexandra Polido, Anna Ruban, Inês Cosme, and Verena Hermelingmeier

The 29th STRN newsletter (September 2018) is out now.

Many thanks for all your contributions!

The first impact factor of Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions (EIST) is 5.265 (for 2017).

Many thanks to Jeroen van den Bergh, Maurie Cohen, Harald Rohracher and Bernhard Truffer for their continuous support for the journal!

And, of course, many thanks to all of you reading and publishing in EIST.

Background information:

The 2017 impact factor is calculated as follows. All citations in the Web of Science in 2017 to papers published in EIST in 2015 and 2016 (295+142) divided by the total number of papers (83) that appeared in the journal in these two years. In other words, it is the average number of citations a paper published in 2015/16 has received in 2017.