State of the Transformations Community

Authors

  • Bruce Evan Goldstein Associate Professor, Environmental Design Program, University of Colorado - Boulder, USA. Corresponding Author: brugo@colorado.edu
  • Kim Sensener Research and Operations, Transformations Community - Malmö, Sweden
  • Karen O’Brien Professor, University of Oslo - Oslo, Norway
  • Ioan Fazey Professor of Social Dimensions of Environment and Change, University of York - York, UK
  • J. David Tàbara Senior Researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (IEST), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain

Keywords:

Sustainability, Transformations, Resilience, Community of Practice

Abstract

A panel of previous conference organizers at the Transformations 2023 conference traced the community's evolution over the past decade and identified the Community’s emerging opportunities. Central to the discussion was the role of community building in fostering transformative change, focusing on creating an inclusive space where tough conversations can lead to visions of hope and paradigm shifts. The panelists promoted developing both the Community’s ability to cultivate individual transformations and a collective identity for transformation practitioners to amplify collaborations beyond the academic sphere, achieving more than the sum of their individual capacities. Panelists explored how to build capacity and infrastructure, with a focus on encouraging knowledge co-production and stakeholder engagement, and developing a stronger collective voice outside of academia on how to foster large-scale systems transformations. They mapped out a future for the Transformations Community that would enable its membership to continue prototyping how to enable just and sustainable transformations.

Author Biographies

Bruce Evan Goldstein, Associate Professor, Environmental Design Program, University of Colorado - Boulder, USA. Corresponding Author: brugo@colorado.edu

Bruce Goldstein, the moderator of the panel, serves as the Lead Weaver of the Transformations Community and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, in the Program in Environmental Design. He specializes in partnerships with transformations organizations to understand how communities combine forces to adapt to social and ecological challenges and foster transformational change. 

Corresponding Author: brugo@colorado.edu

Kim Sensener, Research and Operations, Transformations Community - Malmö, Sweden

Kim has an undergraduate degree in Design + Change from Linnaeus University in Sweden. During her education, she built up and coordinated a local climate student association to push for climate action. With her multidisciplinary background in design, sustainability, research and political science, Kim is striving to contribute to a future beyond sustainability.

Karen O’Brien, Professor, University of Oslo - Oslo, Norway

Karen O'Brien is a Professor of Human Geography at the University of Oslo and co-founder of cCHANGE, an organization that focuses on public engagement and action towards sustainable transformation. She played a key role in initiating the Transformations Community and chaired the first Transformations Conference in Oslo in 2013. Karen co-chairs the IPBES Transformations Assessment, aiming to bridge academic research with real-world applications. Her academic and practical endeavors are directed towards empowering stakeholders to maximize the impact of their sustainability initiatives, leading to substantive and measurable transformative outcomes.

Ioan Fazey, Professor of Social Dimensions of Environment and Change, University of York - York, UK

Ioan Fazey is a Professor of the Social Dimensions of Environment and Change and Director of Strategy for the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York, UK. He is a co-founder of the Transformations Community and chaired the 2017 conference in Dundee. Ioan’s scholarly work addresses transformations to regenerative futures in a rapidly changing world and frequently integrates shamanic practices. His current projects include facilitating the system change initiative FixOurFood, a transdisciplinary action research project seeking to transform Yorkshire’s food system in the UK. Furthermore, Ioan serves as a trustee of H3Uni, which fosters transformative thinking and capacity building.

J. David Tàbara, Senior Researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (IEST), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona - Barcelona, Spain

J. David Tàbara is an independent researcher in the field of interdisciplinary research on knowledge integration for sustainability. He co-chaired the 2021 Transformations Conference in Barcelona, adeptly transitioning it to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. David is a member of the Earth Commission Working Group on Transformations within the Global Commons Alliance and serves as an Associate Researcher at both the Global Climate Forum and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He has played significant roles in EU research projects, including GREEN-WIN, IMPRESSIONS, TIPPING+ and TRANSPATH.

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Published

2023-12-19

How to Cite

Goldstein, B. E., Sensener, K., O’Brien, K., Fazey, I., & Tàbara, J. D. (2023). State of the Transformations Community. Social Innovations Journal, 22. Retrieved from https://socialinnovationsjournal.com/index.php/sij/article/view/6955

Issue

Vol. 22 (2023): Transformative Partnerships: Proceedings of Transformations Conference '23

Section

Sensemaking and States of the Field

Categories

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Copyright (c) 2023 Bruce Evan Goldstein, Kim Sensener, Karen O’Brien, Ioan Fazey, J. David Tàbara (Author)

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