The University of Eastern Finland's Sustainable Resource Society (UEF RESOURCE) Research Community held its first annual international conference on 25-26 October 2021. The successful conference will continue in November 2022.
The first annual conference held by the UEF RESOURCE Research Community brought together researchers and partners from industry, government, and civil society to discuss the challenges of sustainability transitions. The topical conference received wide international attention. More than 100 participants from over 20 countries attended the conference.
The conference helped identify new research needs in the transition to an ecologically, socially, and economically sustainable society. Simultaneously, it fostered new interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of transition research.
Multidisciplinary discussion on sustainability transitions
In particular, the Conference’s paper sessions attracted international interest. The 46 presentations in the sessions addressed the challenges of sustainability transition from a global and multidisciplinary perspective.
The topics discussed in the sessions included:
- sustainability in economy, finance, and circular economy,
- the challenges of the clean energy transition,
- sustainability of clean water, mining and minerals, and the upcoming challenges of electrifying transport,
- the significance of agriculture, forestry, and bioeconomy in the sustainability transition,
- new perspectives for sustainability in health and well-being, and
- the power of experiences, beliefs, and imagination in sustainability transitions.
The keynote presentations also proved to be popular. Professor Jan Rotmans (Dutch Institute for Transitions) gave a speech on the importance and urgency of economic, energy, environmental, and social transitions in societies and the role of chaos in these transitions. Professor Paula Kivimaa (Finnish Environment Institute) spoke about the background and current state of transition research.
UEF RESOURCE to hold its next international conference in November 2022
The topicality of transition research, the large turnout, and the broad international interest in the conference show the need to continue the conference next year.
The tentative date for UEF RESOURCE’s next international conference is 3-4 November 2022.
For further information, please contact:
Ville-Veikko Piispanen, Research Manager, UEF RESOURCE, ville-veikko.piispanen@uef.fi
Markus Sairanen, Research Assistant, UEF RESOURCE, markus.sairanen@uef.fi
