Organising Committee Leader
Engaging Sustainability Webinar Series
Hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Agder, Norway, this research webinar series focuses on the multi-faceted social, political and economic dimensions of sustainable development and green transition as they occur in specific places across the world. Our emphasis is on policy-making, community participation and societal impact, and speakers draw from the fields of global development, planning, communication, sociology, social work, political science, management, information systems and cognate approaches.
The webinars engage with theoretical, empirical and methodological perspectives from Northern and Southern locales, contributing to a dialogue between Nordic experiences and other regions of the world, including, but not limited to, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia.
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15.12.22 Minga Mbweck Kongo - Resilience, adaptation and incompleteness: water scarcity in Khayelitsha
Minga Mbweck Kongo (HUMA, University of Cape Town) talked about informal settlement residents' resilience and adaptation to the water crisis in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, drawing from his long-term ethnographic work.
19.10.22: Terese Birkeland - Stakeholder involvement and consultation patterns in the European Commission: the case of the new battery regulation
Terese Birkeland (Department of Working Life and Innovation, University of Agder) talked about stakeholder involvement and consultation in the European Commission's formulation of the new regulatory framework for batteries.
16.09.22: Adriana Suárez Delucchi - Institutional ethnography and the political ecology of drinking water: the case of Chile
Dr Adriana Suárez Delucchi (Centre for Global Cooperation Research, Germany) talked about the struggles for drinking water in Chile, employing institutional ethnography and a political ecology perspective.
01.06.22: Stina Torjesen - Is strategic capitalism detrimental to economic upgrading? The case of the global electric vehicle battery race
Stina Torjesen (Associate Professor, Department of Management, University of Agder) defined and further developed the concept of strategic capitalism, and assessed it in relation to efforts to achieve economic upgrading (e.g. moving up the value chain) in the Global South. The emerging industry for electric vehicle battery production was used as a case study.
21.06.22: Verónica Robert - From wind to green hydrogen, from lithium to batteries: strategic resources, production and technological development i...
Prof. Verónica Robert (Universidad Nacional de San Martin, Argentina) talked about opportunities and challenges for high-value production in the hydrogen and lithium-ion battery sectors in Argentina, bringing to bear perspectives from innovation, technological change and economic development.
23.03.22: Jørn Cruickshank - Opposition to climate policies and the role of social sciences in Norway
Jørn A. Cruickshank (Professor, Department of Global Development and Planning, University of Agder) talked about the link between opposition to climate policies and the historical and contemporary trajectories of the role of social sciences in Norway, building on perspectives from planning and geography.
09.02.22: Astrid B. Stensrud - Watershed politics: a critical analysis of water sustainability in Peru
Astrid B. Stensrud (Associate Professor, Department of Global Development and Planning, University of Agder) provided a critical analysis of development practices and discourses of water "scarcity", "efficiency" and "sustainability" in the Peruvian Andes.
15.12.21: Siddharth Sareen - Accountable energy transitions: governing multi-scalar solar rollout in Portugal and India
Siddharth Sareen (Associate Professor in Energy and Environment, University of Stavanger) talked about governance, accountability and equity in solar energy transitions in Portugal and India.
17.11.21: Camelia Dewan - Green ship recycling and sustainability? Toxic development in southeast coastal Bangladesh
Camelia Dewan (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Olso) talked about ship recycling, sustainability and toxic exposure, focusing on the lived experiences of residents and workers in southeast coastal Bangladesh.
11.10.21: Morgan Scoville-Simonds - Sustainability for whom? Climate change, lithium, and the remaking of the global South
Morgan Scoville-Simonds (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Global Development and Planning, University of Agder) talked about how global narratives of climate change and energy transition shape how we relate to the places and peoples of the global South, focusing specifically on lithium extraction in Latin America.
15.09.21: Mikaela Vasstrøm & Laura Tolnov Clausen - Alternative pathways for sustainable wind power development: lessons from northern Europe
Associate Professor Mikaela Vasstrøm (Department of Global Development and Planning, University of Agder) presented research findings from her collaborative research on wind power in Norway, in dialogue with Associate Professor Laura Tolnov Clausen (Department of Global Development and Planning, University of Agder). Laura acted as the main discussant and shared experiences from Denmark and Scotland.
