On June 4-6, 2024, the 16th Nordic Environmental Social Science Conference (NESS 2024) will be held on the theme “Co-producing knowledge for sustainability” in Turku, Finland. The Conference will be hosted by Åbo Akademi University in cooperation with the University of Turku.
The Conference will include a workshop dedicated to the governance of Nature-based Solutions “Workshop 13: Unravelling the socio-political conditions for more inclusive Nature-based Solutions.” This workshop seeks to explore research that unravels the socio-political conditions of NbS design and implementation. Special attention is given to the methods and practices of engaging relevant actors in these processes.
This workshop calls for papers that present either theoretical insights or empirical findings with lessons learnt on three main topics:
1) the opportunities and capabilities of all humans, also the most vulnerable and marginalised, to participate in collective action and thereby to influence also their own wellbeing;
2) integration of more-than-human perspective in NbS design and implementation;
3) providing alternative ways to understand and define NbS.
Abstracts (max 300 words) should be submitted to mia.pihlajamaki@luke.fi (as cc to ness2024@abo.fi) by 10 December 2023. You will get notified on acceptance/decline by 15 January 2024. Full papers are expected to be delivered no later than 20 May 2024.
What is the workshop format?
The NESS workshops follow a standing session format (similar to ECPR), which allows for substantive discussions on research in progress. The conference invites scholars from multiple disciplinary backgrounds in environmental social science. The overall objective of the workshop is to facilitate and encourage collaboration between younger and more established scholars. Each paper is expected to relate to the theme of the workshop, and the participant submits and presents a paper (or work in progress) for the discussion. Participants should only choose and attend one workshop for the duration of the conference, but you may send abstracts to more than one workshop.
The workshop format typically allows for very short paper presentations (ca 5 min) and workshop participants will be asked to comment on at least one other paper in the respective workshop, read the other papers and participate in the general discussion of the papers. The ambition with this format is that the workshops allow for in-depth and coherent discussions of the respective themes and provide opportunity for potential joint publications or other continuing collaborations between the participants.