Re: [gep-ed] Digest for gep-ed@googlegroups.com - 4 updates in 4 topics

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Adrian Nel

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Nov 6, 2025, 1:24:19 AM11/6/25
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Dear colleagues,

 

Apologies for cross-posting. 

 

We are excited to announce this call for presentations for a panel that has been accepted for the upcoming Biennial Conference of the Political Ecology Network (POLLEN 26) that will take place in Barcelona, Spain 29 June – 3 July 2026. The conference theme for 2026 is ‘Diverse Origins, Multiple Futures: The Stories of Political Ecology’. 

 

The panel is co-convened by Amber Huff (IDS, a.h...@ids.ac.uk) and Adrian Nel (UKZN, ne...@UKZN.ac.za), and is titled, ‘What nature, whose solutions, repair of what? Political Ecologies of Nature-based Intervention in Southern African rangelands’. Focusing on rangeland-based interventions, this panel seeks to bring together research and stories from diverse landscapes, frictional spaces and emerging ecologies of 'nature-based' restoration and repair from countries across Southern Africa. The panel abstract is pasted below, and we anticipate that the panel will be the basis of a special issue proposal.

 

If you are interested in being part of this panel, please see instructions for submitting your title and abstract via the POLLEN26 online portal. Submissions must be received no later than 23:59 CET on Friday 5th December 2025. There are limits on space, and accepted presenters will be contacted in January 2026. No submissions can be accepted by email, only through the online portal, but please do feel free to reach out to the panel convenors by email if you have any questions about the panel or submissions or experience any difficulties accessing the conference site. The panel description can also be accessed directly HERE.

 

Warm regards, 

Amber and Adrian

--

 

CfP - The Political Ecology Network Biennial Conference (POLLEN26)

‘Diverse Origins, Multiple Futures: The Stories of Political Ecology’

29 June – 3 July, Barcelona, Spain

 

What nature, whose solutions, repair of what? Political Ecologies of Nature-based Intervention in Southern African rangelands

 

Co-convenors

Amber Huff (Institute of Development Studies, United Kingdom, a.h...@ids.ac.uk)
Adrian Nel (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, ne...@ukzn.ac.za)

 

Abstract

Interest in so-called ‘Nature-based Solutions’ (NbS) has surged in recent years, framed by powerful organisations as the new panacea for reducing disaster risk, mitigating climate change and building climate resilience, enhancing biodiversity and addressing human development needs in integrated ways. But, beyond integrating existing ecosystem-based approaches to achieve multiple simultaneous goals, what NbS means – in concept and in practice – is contested across and within disciplines, practitioner and policy spaces, and, crucially in dynamic intervention landscapes. What ‘nature’ do we mean? Solutions to what problems, through whose labours, and for whose benefit? Restoration of what and to which ends?

 

With a focus on the politics around nature-based intervention in Southern African rangelands, this session aims to bring together stories from frictional spaces and emerging ecologies of ‘restoration’ and ‘repair’. As such, the convenors invite contributions to ‘research storytelling’ and welcome both creative and conventional presentation formats. We welcome expressions of interest focusing on diverse rangeland ecologies and nature-based intervention settings from throughout the Southern Africa region. From approaches like ‘Herding for Health’ to fire suppression policies, efforts to curtail zoonotic disease transmission to tree planting and afforestation to livestock and carbon value chain approaches, we are interested in linking high level framings and frameworks to experiences from such places and spaces. 

 

Contributions may engage questions such as whether and how combinations of techniques and technologies (long-existing and novel) associated with various aspects of NbS interact with sedimented histories of intervention, self-organised and communal governance arrangements; place-based struggles around land, labour, subsistence; plural values in nature and place; and the social and ecological legacies such as of colonial, apartheid, and neoliberal social and agricultural policies. What ‘big’ stories – myths, received wisdoms, dogmas, value constructs – are shaping the global imaginaries, national policy fields and the lived terrain of nature-based intervention across the region, and what counter-narratives and contrasting imaginaries are emerging on the ground in a time of intensifying change, accelerating enclosures and multiplying uncertainties? What are the circulating stories from farmers and pastoralists, ecologists, politicians, and others about things like degradation and ecological change, markets and value, carbon and other intervention technologies, human-nature relationships and ‘solutions’?  What do these stories and dynamics mean for re-thinking notions like equilibrium and resilience, scale, sustainability, nature and development? 

 

Relevant links:



On Thu, 6 Nov 2025 at 02:15, <gep...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
A M <audrami...@gmail.com>: Nov 05 05:42PM -0500

Dear Colleagues
 
Sharing this announcement for an event on *Dec 4th* on "*Alternative
Ecological Futures: Art Climate Change and the Radical Imagination
<https://www.bisa.ac.uk/members/working-groups/ecp/events/alternative-ecological-futures-art-climate-change-and-radical-imagination>"
*, organized by Charlotte Weatherill (U of Manchester) on behalf of the BISA
Environment and Climate Politics Working Group.
<https://www.bisa.ac.uk/members/working-groups/ecp> Should be a rich
discussion!
 
 
This roundtable brings together four researchers and their perspectives to
a conversation about the role of art and creativity in imagining
alternative ecological futures.
 
Building on the recent book by Carl Death, African Climate Futures,
<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/african-climate-futures-9780198960744?cc=gb&lang=en&>
this roundtable will discuss questions including: Is art a distraction
given the urgency of the climate crisis? What are the ideological functions
of art and popular culture in the contemporary moment? Whose art is made
visible and whose art is marginalised or hidden? Is it still true, as
Amitav Ghosh (2016) warned, that “most forms of art and literature” are
part of “modes of concealment that prevented people from recognising the
realities of their plight”? Is the role of artists to better communicate
future climate scenarios? What can critical perspectives on “the radical
imagination” contribute to environmental politics? How can art and
aesthetic theories and methods – across different forms including music,
literature, film and theatre – help us teach and research climate politics?
In what ways can stories help us to understand different perspectives on
the possible futures of global politics?
 
Chair:
 
-
 
Hannah Hughes (Aberystwyth University)
 
Speakers
 
-
 
Carl Death (University of Manchester)
-
 
Audra Mitchell (Balsillie School of International Affairs)
-
 
Farai Chipato (University of Glasgow)
-
 
Cara Berger (University of Manchester).
 
 
 
*Professor Audra Mitchell*
Canada Research Chair in Global Political Ecology
Balsillie School of International Affairs/Wilfrid Laurier
University/University of Waterloo
Email: amit...@wlu.ca
Website: www.audramitchell.org
<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.audramitchell.org%2Fabout&data=05%7C02%7Camitchell%40wlu.ca%7C4cec63defdf145bc8ded08de19b75cfa%7Cb45a5125b29846bc8b89ea5a7343fde8%7C1%7C0%7C638976472827924780%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=B%2FafV9eajngpXYFMOZhS2oaq%2FiNKzb8MWdb66HxXANw%3D&reserved=0>
van der Ven, Hamish <hamish.v...@ubc.ca>: Nov 05 09:21PM

Dear Colleagues,
 
I’m writing to share an update on the second virtual research medley on AI and environmental politics.
 
 
1. The session will now take place on Wednesday Dec. 3, 16:00 CEST (10:00 EST / 07:00 PST) for one hour and will feature short presentations (~10 minutes) followed by Q&A and discussion.
2. Zoom details: https://ubc.zoom.us/j/64629650176?pwd=bXre7UlvVa5MsPhfJoJHbjUtudXfnM.1
 
Meeting ID: 646 2965 0176
 
Passcode: 063857
 
1. Confirmed Presentations
 
* Dr. Paulan Korenhof (Wageningen University): Destination Earth as world-making. An inquiry into the socio-technical imaginary of Europe's Digital Twin of the Earth project
* Dr. Myanna Lahsen (Center for Earth System Science, Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE), Brazil): Pitfalls in Machine-Assisted Analyses of Political Communication
* Ms. Zane Šime (Norwegian University of Science and Technology): The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Shaping the Public Space and Multi-Level Governance Modalities
* Dr. Hamish van der Ven (University of British Columbia): The Ideational Implications of Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Governance
I hope to see many of you there!
 
All the best,
Hamish
 
--
Hamish van der Ven
Assistant Professor, Sustainable Business Management of Natural Resources
Faculty of Forestry | Wood Science
The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus
4644 - 2424 Main Mall | Vancouver BC | V6T 1Z4 Canada
Phone 604 822 4142
hamish.v...@ubc.ca<mailto:hamish.vanderven@ubc.ca>
[signature_2657229168]
Roberts, J. Timmons <j_timmon...@brown.edu>: Nov 05 09:54AM -0500

FYI, please direct questions to Mindi. And share with your great grad
students/recent PhDs. Thanks! Timmons
 
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Schneider, Mindi Leigh <mindi_s...@brown.edu>
 
IBES just launched a Visiting Assistant Professor search in the areas
of energy, sustainable design, the built environment, and/or environmental
justice. This is a two-year termed appointment with the possibility of
renewal. The Interfolio job ad is here <https://apply.interfolio.com/176395>.
Please spread the word in your networks.
 
All the best,
Mindi
(as Chair of, and on behalf of, the hiring committee)
 
Mindi Schneider, PhD (she/her; settler)
 
Associate Teaching Professor in Environment and Society
 
Director of Undergraduate Studies - Environmental Sciences and Studies
 
85 Waterman Street, Room 202
 
401-863-5909
 
 
Click here
<https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ1Xc07ubr-Yl0UGkbkU6cEPMEYaARdgVSHypqgMiuDuAE54dEQ4VUSzdZoPW9Wt00XgdJvJ1oTd>
to
make an Office Hours appointment
 
 
Commodity Frontiers Initiative <https://commodityfrontiers.com/>
 
Visiting Assistant Professor, Environment & Society
Brown University: DOF: Environment and Society
Location
Providence, Rhode Island
Open Date
 
Oct 31, 2025
Description
 
Topic Areas: Energy, sustainable design, the built environment,
environmental justice
 
 
 
Position Description: The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society
(IBES) invites applications for a Visiting Assistant Professor for the
2026-2027 and 2027-2028 academic years with the possibility of renewal.
IBES faculty have training across a wide variety of disciplines, from
humanities to natural sciences, to social sciences, and public health.
While the Visiting Assistant Professor position is open to scholars in any
discipline, candidates with expertise in one or more of the following are
particularly encouraged to apply: energy, sustainable design, the built
environment, and/or environmental justice. The successful candidate will
teach two (2) courses per semester and contribute to student advising and
university service. Principal criteria for evaluating performance are based
on teaching excellence. However, the Visiting Assistant Professor is also
expected to make other professional contributions, for example, through the
development of advanced pedagogical approaches, community engagement, or
research.
 
 
 
*Note: *For this position, Brown does not sponsor the H-1B visa
classification to scholars who need immigration sponsorship in order to
enter the U.S. and commence lawful employment under the terms of their
appointment.
Qualifications
 
PhD in relevant field.
Application Instructions
 
Please submit the following:
 
- Curriculum vitae (CV)
- Coverletter
- Three Reference Contacts
- Teaching Statement
 
 
Candidates should address in their materials (cover letter or statements)
how they would contribute to the research and/or teaching missions of our
diverse and inclusive university community.
Yixian Sun <yixia...@graduateinstitute.ch>: Nov 05 08:52AM

Dear GEP-ed colleagues,
 
 
 
Hope this email finds you well. I would like to draw your attention to the
Bath Conference on Earth System Governance to be held on 8-10 September
2026. This will be one of the largest annual gatherings for environmental
governance researchers and I hope many of you can join.
 
 
 
The next year's conference is under the theme of “Building Just and
Sustainable Futures for Planetary Integrity.” It will have six streamsthe
including five analytical lenses of the ESG Project (Architecture and
Agency; Democracy and Power; Justice and Allocation; Anticipation and
Imagination; Adaptiveness and Reflexivity) and a sixth stream on the future
of earth system governance, inviting participants to explore governance
gaps and reforms across scales.
 
 
 
The call for papers is now open until 15 January 2026. We welcome
submissions of individual papers, organised panels and also innovative
sessions. Please find more details on the call and how to submit on this
page: https://www.earthsystemgovernance.org/2026-bath/call-for-papers/.
 
 
 
I look forward to seeing you in our beautiful historical city in September
2026!
 
 
 
Best,
 
 
Yixian
--
Dr Yixian Sun
Associate Professor in International Development
Department of Social and Policy Sciences
University of Bath
www.yixiansun.com
https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/yixian-sun
<https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/yixian-sun>
Please check our SGAIN Project's website
<https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/persons/yixian-sun>https://sgain.org/
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--
Dr Adrian Nel

Senior Lecturer in Geography, University of Kwazulu- Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus.

Research Affiliate, Institute for Development Studies (NUST-IDS), National University of Science and Technology - Zimbabwe.



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