The ESRC is funding a seminar series that explores sustainability transitions (projected processes of social change to sustainable patterns of production and consumption) from explicitly social, political and economic perspectives. It examines the impact of preparing for sustainability transitions on people’s everyday lives and livelihoods and considers the role of grassroots political actors in shaping these transitions. It explores and critiques theories of transition from the specific perspective of the social; aiming to build bridges to relevant social theory and social science disciplines. The series will also explore the interrelationships between theory and practice and how they inform and shape one another. The series runs from 2011 to 2013, and there will be four seminars as part of this series and a final two-day conference at the Centre for Alternative Technology where practitioners and activists, policymakers and academics will discuss questions of steering societal transitions towards more sustainable paths. The grant (worth £17,570) was led by Dr Gavin Brown (University of Leicester) and brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Universities of Leicester, Liverpool, Salford, Sussex, Nottingham Trent and UEA.

People involved: Gill Seyfang

Funder: ESRC

For more information, please see the seminar series website.