Deep Transitions project SEMINAR 1: Introduction to the Project, Deep Transitions, Wellbeing and Sustainability

Johan Schot (Utrecht University) & Harry Lintsen (Eindhoven University of Technology)
8th October 2021
13.00-14.30

We are excited to announce that the first in a series of six seminars on the Deep Transitions Netherlands project will take place on 8 October, organized within the framework of the Strategic Alliance between Utrecht University, TU Eindhoven and Wageningen University & Research. The seminars are intended for interested parties to exchange ideas on the design of a research program on sustainability transitions in the Netherlands, which will be implemented by April 2022.
As you have expressed an interest in participating in these seminars, we hereby provide you with an overview of the content and form of the seminar. This serves as both a reading guide for background literature and an explanation of the seminar format.

Content – Reading Guide
This introductory seminar has three goals; firstly, we will introduce the Deep Transitions Project and our goals to develop a research agenda. We will then introduce the key theoretical and methodological notions of the program based on Deep Transitions and Wellbeing & Sustainability trade-offs literature. In the third part of the seminar we use break-out sessions to organize knowledge exchange and to stimulate discussion, which will be employed as an input in building our research agenda. We whole heartedly appreciate your attendance and ideas that you can contribute as part of the discussion.
The theory and methodology section of this seminar will incorporate discussion on the connection between notions of Deep Transitions and long-term analyses of wellbeing & sustainability. In short, Deep Transitions literature employs concepts of socio-technical systems, landscape, regime rules/metarules and niche emergence as spaces of innovation to understand and explain how new meta rules emerge, are implemented and stimulate simultaneous change across multiple socio-technical systems. The literature argues that radical change in multiple systems is required to achieve climate change, resource neutrality and societal equality goals. In its explanatory framework, this literature describes shows how the meta rules of the first deep transition, based on non-renewable resources and fuels, are the main causes for the current social and ecological challenges. The current framework lacks a coupling towards the impact of deep transitions and how sustainability is operationalized across socio-technical systems however. Long term analyses of wellbeing & sustainability can offer more in-depth information on the development of various aspects of sustainability (climate mitigation, nature development, global equality and so forth) and the trade-offs between such elements in time and space.

THE DEEP TRANSITIONS NETHERLANDS PROJECT

In the Deep Transitions in the Netherlands Project, the Eindhoven History Lab collaborates with researchers from Utrecht and Wageningen Universities to analyze the sociotechnical development of the Netherlands from a long-term perspective, and to simultaneously develop system transformation investments strategies for policy makers, industries and investors.

More info: see here. 

EHL contact person: Frank Veraart

PHASE 1 Seminar schedule

• October 8th 2021: Introduction to The Project, Deep Transitions, Wellbeing and Sustainability with Johan Schot (UU) & Harry Lintsen (TUe)
• November 5th 2021: Qualitatively Researching Meta-rules and Systems with Bram Bouwens (UU) & Frank Veraart (TUe)
• December 10th 2021: Quantitatively Researching Meta-rules and Systems with Johan Schot (UU) & Gaston Heimeriks (UU)
• January 14th 2022: Interconnections between Systems with Harry Lintsen (TUe) & Erik van der Vleuten (TUe)
• February 11th 2022: Deep Transitions, Wellbeing and Sustainability Dynamics with Jan-Pieter Smits (TUE/CBS) & Harry Lintsen (TUe)
• March 11th 2022: The Second Deep Transition in the Making with Barbara van Mierlo (WUR) & Laurens Klerkx (WUR)
• March 25th 2022: Transformative Investing in the Netherlands with Johan Schot (UU) & Bram Bouwens (UU)

The Deep Transitions Netherlands Project has been supported by Dasym Investment Strategies and the Utrecht University, TU Eindhoven, WUR and UMC Strategic Alliance.