UTRI

UTRIhttps://www.umu.se/UTRI activities en-usFri, 04 Sep 2026 21:12:50 +0200https://www.umu.se/en/events/weaving-knowledges--epistemic-crafting-in-times-of-climate-transformation_12192053/Weaving Knowledge(s) – Epistemic Crafting in Times of Climate Transformation Transformation Talk: How can design create space for different ways of knowing and producing knowledge in sustainability and environmental work?Thu, 24 Sep 2026 12:00:00 +0200As Indigenous and non-Western knowledges become more widely included in design and environmental practice, there is a risk that existing knowledge hierarchies are unintentionally reproduced. In this Transformations Talk, the concept of epistemic crafting is presented as an approach that values different ways of knowing and understanding the world.Drawing on ideas from epistemic justice, political ontology, and design practice, the talk explores how design can help people engage with different perspectives and knowledge systems. Rather than focusing on problem-solving alone, epistemic crafting views design as a collaborative process of shaping and sustaining multiple ways of being and knowing.By emphasizing relationships, humility, and attentiveness, epistemic crafting offers an approach to design that supports more just and sustainable futures while making space for diverse and sometimes conflicting worldviews to coexist.Participants: Manuhuia Barcham, Associate Professor of Interaction Design,  Faculty of Design & Dynamic Media and Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, Canada.<h2>We offer a light lunch!</h2>A limited number of vegetarian lunches will be available from 11:45. These will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis.The seminar is open to researchers, students, and staff.SAM.A.333Seminarhttps://www.umu.se/en/events/weaving-knowledges--epistemic-crafting-in-times-of-climate-transformation_12192053/2026-09-24T12:00:00+02:002026-09-24T13:00:00+02:00https://www.umu.se/en/events/humlab-talk-anabela-carvalho_12177361/Humlab Talk: Anabela CarvalhoHumlab Talk with Anabela Carvalho, University of MinhoThu, 24 Sep 2026 15:00:00 +0200Communication and political imaginaries on climate change: From eco-modernism to deep democratizationWith: Anabela Carvalho, University of MinhoThis seminar is presented in collaboration between the Higher Seminar in Media and Communication Studies, Humlab and UTRI.  AbstractDespite an increasingly dire outlook, over the past few decades pathways to address climate change have been largely constrained within the logic of market economics, which has proven inadequate. Dominant discourses have legitimized and naturalized specific policy options, facilitating their institutionalization and material expansion while simultaneously narrowing the horizon of possibilities. Ecological modernization and the green economy, for example, frame climate change as a matter of commodification and technocratic management, thereby obscuring structural and power-related drivers and reinforcing neoliberal economic assumptions. These perspectives have been amplified by political elites and widely reproduced across mainstream media. At the same time, strategies of denialism and evasion—particularly from fossil fuel corporations—have worked to appropriate the debate and delay transformative action. Together, these dynamics have fostered what may be described as a post-political deadlock, in which hegemonic claims that “there is no alternative” foreclose democratic contestation. At the same time, in a context of growing inequalities and aggravated environmental injustices, feelings of political powerlessness and fatalism among citizens create fertile ground for authoritarian and populist tendencies. This seminar will critically examine these discursive formations while also exploring alternative sociotechnical and political imaginaries that could open possibilities for social transformation and the redemocratization of climate politics. BioAnabela Carvalho (PhD, University College London) is an Associate Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences of the University of Minho, Portugal. She has an extensive experience of research on climate change communication and has authored influential analyses of the discourses of various social actors and the media in the United Kingdom, Portugal and other countries. Citizens’ engagement with climate change and (bio-)sustainability, and especially the conditions for political engagement, have been on of her main research interests. <div class="epi-contentfragment">Registration Humlab Talk hybrid</div>  Humlab / ZoomLecturehttps://www.umu.se/en/events/humlab-talk-anabela-carvalho_12177361/2026-09-24T15:00:00+02:002026-09-24T17:00:00+02:00https://www.umu.se/en/events/book-club-fiction-and-sustainability_12177566/Book Club: Fiction and SustainabilityWelcome to an open book club discussion on climate fiction, sustainability and society organised by Young UTRI and Umeå City Library.Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:00:00 +0200Welcome to an open book club discussion on climate fiction, sustainability and society! Participants read Emmi Itäranta's Memory of Water in advance and then meet for an informal but guided discussion connecting the book to contemporary academic and societal questions.Memory of Water is an acclaimed climate dystopia set in a northern future marked by water scarcity, political control and questions of knowledge, environment and power. Global warming has changed the world geographically and politically. Wars are fought over water, and China has taken power over Europe. Seventeen-year-old Noria Kaitio is to become a tea master, the same position her father held before her. It brings great responsibility and deep secrets. Only the tea master knows where the hidden water sources are.The conversation will be held in English and is open to the public. Lena Leimgruber Haraldsson will guide us through the conversation. The book is available at Umeå University Library and Umeå City Library as well as other libraries around Umeå.Sign up here by 2 October: <a title="Link to registration form" href="https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=-aZLWjH1Mk-UZzmPGead5GKiNCM0vzZGo52X1qufHOhUMjlaS1ZMMUw3STVXWjVZUEcxMFFNMFQ0MC4u">Link to registration form.</a>The book club is organised by Young UTRI in collaboration with Umeå City Library. <a title="Read more about Young UTRI." href="/link/649f243367d94c829d4d944332948e68.aspx">Read more about Young UTRI.</a>Matverkstad, Umeå City LibraryWorkshophttps://www.umu.se/en/events/book-club-fiction-and-sustainability_12177566/2026-10-06T18:00:00+02:002026-10-06T19:30:00+02:00https://www.umu.se/en/events/utri-conference-2026-beyond-the-backlash-sustainability-for-the-future_12171010/UTRI Conference 2026, Beyond the Backlash: Sustainability for the FutureWelcome to Umeå Transformation Research Initiatives' annual conference! We welcome everyone interested in engaging in research and collaborationThu, 26 Nov 2026 08:15:00 +0100Welcome to Umeå Transformation Research Initiatives´3rd annual conference. This year organised as a joint conference with the profile area Societal Transformations at Linköping University. We welcome everyone interested in engaging in research and collaboration for sustainable transformation, as we gather around the theme; Beyond the Backlash: Sustainability for the FutureWe are facing growing global challenges, including geopolitical tensions, war, forced migration, climate change, and increasing populism. At the same time, global institutions are weakening and progress towards the sustainable development goals remains insufficient, making the search for paths towards sustainable futures more urgent than ever.This conference is an opportunity for researchers and policymakers to explore how sustainability can be advanced locally, globally, and translocally despite the polycrisis. Through dialogue, collaboration, and critical reflection, we will examine how knowledge, innovation, and collective action can guide research on and for transformation in turbulent times.Take the opportunity to meet colleagues across universities and sectors, engage in critical dialogue, and develop collaborations to address major societal challenges of our time.This conference is organised jointly with Linköping University. Participation is therefore possible on site at Umeå University and at Linköping University. Read more about the conference: <a title="Beyond the Backlash: Sustainability for the Future – Conference, 26 November 2026" href="/link/0e9bd42744f7426ab1433af7c48d1604.aspx">Beyond the Backlash: Sustainability for the Future – Conference, 26 November 2026</a>VardagsrummetConferencehttps://www.umu.se/en/events/utri-conference-2026-beyond-the-backlash-sustainability-for-the-future_12171010/2026-11-26T08:15:00+01:002026-11-27T16:30:00+01:00