Beyond the Backlash: Sustainability for the Future – Conference, 26 November 2026

About this year’s theme

We are currently facing rising geopolitical tensions, warfare and forced migration as well as accelerating climate change and populism worldwide. Global institutions are losing ground. The milestone 2030 is approached without needed progress on the sustainable development goals and academic expertise as well as freedom face repercussions. These increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous circumstances leave the path towards sustainable futures more urgent and more challenged than ever. 

This conference brings together researchers and policymakers to explore how we can advance sustainability 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.

A joint conference between UTRI and Linköping University

This year, we are pleased to organize a joint conference between UTRI and the profile area Societal Transformations at Linköping University. This provides an opportunity to strengthen collaboration on these issues and to jointly build pathways toward a sustainable future. You can therefore participate in the conference in person in Linköping or Umeå, or participate online if you are unable to attend in person.

At Umeå University, the conference will take place in Vardagsrummet, the Humanity Building and at Linköping University the venue is Nexus/Zenit.

Read more about the profile area Societal Transformations at Linköpings University.

Conference program

26 November

8:15 Registration and coffee at each venue

8.30 Welcome and introduction

9.00 Keynote: Advancing Sustainability Amidst the Polycrisis: The Power of Fractal Agency

Karen O’Brien

10.00 Break and poster session
See all posters

10.30 Parallel sessions block 1
See all sessions

12:00 Lunch break

13:00-14:30 Parallel sessions block 2
See all sessions

14:30 Break

14:50-16.50 Panel discussion (to be announced)

16:50 and onwards – Mingle

17:00 – 18:00 Roundtable discussion – Advancing Sustainability Amidst the Polycrisis: The Power of Fractal Agency

This roundtable offers doctoral students an opportunity to meet Prof. Karen O’Brien, discuss their research, exchange ideas, and envision future horizons for sustainability transformations. The roundtable will be held at Linköping University in a hybrid format, allowing students attending the conference online and in Umeå to participate as well. For those joining in person, snacks will be provided! This discussion will be moderated by the LiU Sustainability Transformations team.

All sessions and posters: Posters and sessions

27 November

This follow-up day is intended to continue discussions from the conference and support junior researchers. 

Junior researchers can also join the Young Transformation Fellows group for discussions on the conference themes and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

The conference program is preliminary and may be subject to changes.

Registration

Register for the conference by 20 November using this form: form for registration.

For questions regarding the registration, please contact Nordic Congress: 
erik@nordiccongress.se
+46 (0)90 - 70 60 32

For questions regarding the program/sessions, please contact: 
utri@umu.se

Interested in presenting a poster?

If you are attending the conference in Umeå or Linköping, there is still an opportunity to present a poster during the poster session (10:30–12:00). Submit your abstract by 16 November.

Abstract submission for posters

Get to know the keynote speaker!

Karen O'Brien

Photo: Malin Eivergård

Karen O’Brien is a human geographer and internationally recognized scholar whose research focuses on the social dimensions of climate change, human security, and sustainability transformations.

She has contributed to four IPCC assessment reports and co‑chaired the IPBES Transformative Change Assessment. Karen O’Brien is a co‑founder of cCHANGE, an organization supporting transformative sustainability transitions, and was co‑recipient of the 2021 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for Climate Change. She is also Zennström Visiting Professor of Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University.

About the keynote: Advancing Sustainability Amidst the Polycrisis: The Power of Fractal Agency

Turbulent times can be overwhelming, and it’s easy to feel hopeless about the potential for realizing an equitable and sustainable future. How do we challenge the deep cultural and societal patterns that underlie and perpetuate the polycrisis, while creating and reproducing alternatives?

In this talk, I will explore the role of principled power and fractal agency in advancing transformative change for a just and sustainable world. I will argue that in times of backlash and uncertainty, we need to recognize the power of small changes that connect and reinforce one another, creating new pathways toward global sustainability.