Deadline: Funded autumn school on transformative change
Organised by Future Earth.
Pathways Autumn School: Towards Sustainable and Just Futures: Concepts, Challenges, and Practices
Application deadline: 12 May 2025, Event dates: 13-17 October 2025
Join like-minded researchers for a rich 5-day programme in the beautiful French Alps:
"Humanity is facing multiple interlinked environmental, social, and political crises, including anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity loss, continued structural injustices, geopolitical threats, armed conflicts, and the rise of populism, all of them with devastating effects for the planet and human wellbeing. [...] Attempting to resolve these complex sustainability challenges requires transformative changes that are ‘fundamental, system-wide shifts in views, structures and practices’ (IPBES, 2025)"
"The School allows participants to critically explore and learn both the what and the how of conducting transformative research. What are the main concepts and frameworks mobilised in sustainability science? What does it mean to design and develop research that advances the understanding of complex socio-ecological systems and actively contributes to their transformation? How can researchers adapt or respond to fast moving technological and geopolitical shifts, which challenge the role of experts in societies?"
>> Offical website of the autumn school
What will I work on?
- Module 1 – Towards a shared glossary for interdisciplinary work in sustainability science
- Module 2 – Learning to engage with societal actors: a case study in the Alps
- Module 3 – Technological and geo-political dynamics: Key challenges for sustainability science
Who is hosting the autumn school?
The autumn school is hosted by the Pathways Initiative at Future Earth.
Future Earth is a global network of scientists, researchers, and innovators collaborating for a more sustainable planet. The organisation is a longstanding supporter of IPBES, for example generously co-sponsoring the IPBES Youth Workshop in 2024 and routinely represented at Plenary sessions.
The network's Pathways Initiative is hosted by its French hub. It seeks to enhance researchers’ capacity to engage in transformative research and actively contribute to supporting societal actors in co-developing pathways for more sustainable futures at different scales.
>> Pathways Initiative website
Who can apply?
Doctoral researchers or researchers who finished their PhD in the last 10 years (excluding periods of parental leave) who are living and working in Europe.
What is included and where do I apply?
- Accommodation, meals and teaching costs are fully covered by the organisers.
- Travel costs to the School can be covered on a case-by-case basis, primarily for participants living/working in middle income European countries.
>> Offical website of the autumn school
Read the IPBES Transformative change assessment's summary for policy makers. The chapters of the full report are being released at this time: check IPBES on Zenodo for the latest updates.
Photo by André Labetaa on Adobe Stock: Spring gentian (Gentiana verna) in Vanoise National Park, French Alps. This small plant grows on sunny mountain meadows throughout Eurasia.