Posters and parallel sessions

Posters

Thermal Performance of PCM-Enhanced Wallboards under Subarctic Conditions: A Pilot Study in Umeå, Sweden

Bokai Liu, Researcher at the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University

Buildings play a critical role in global energy use and carbon emissions, particularly in cold climates where heating demand is high. This poster presents a pilot experimental study on the use of phase change materials (PCMs) in wallboards to improve thermal performance under subarctic conditions in Umeå, Sweden. Four wallboard types were tested, including a conventional gypsum board, a commercial PCM board, and two laboratory-developed boards with high PCM content. Results show that PCM-enhanced wallboards can significantly reduce indoor temperature fluctuations by storing and releasing heat, thereby improving thermal comfort and potentially lowering heating energy demand. However, performance differences between materials highlight the importance of design and material stability. The study demonstrates how smart material integration in building envelopes can contribute to more energy-efficient and climate-resilient buildings, supporting broader sustainability transitions by reducing reliance on active heating systems and enabling low-carbon building solutions.

Nordic Speculations: Finnish Arctic Narratives and the Imaginary of the Polycrisis

Lena Leimgruber, PhD Student in English Literature at the Department of Language Studies, Umeå University

As the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal horizon approaches, this poster explores how contemporary Finnish fiction can contribute to thinking about transformation and sustainability in the context of the ‘polycrisis’ of climate change, geopolitical instability and pressures on academic freedom. It argues that speculative narratives function as critical laboratories for imagining alternative ecological and social futures, particularly in relation to the Arctic, which is no longer represented as an empty periphery but as an active, relational space shaped by more-than-human agencies. Focusing on Iida Turpeinen’s Beasts of the Sea, Inkeri Markkula’s Wo das Eis Niemals Schmilzt and Leea and Klaus Klemola’s Expedition Kyla, the poster examines how these texts critique neo-colonial Arctic imaginaries, foreground environmental memory through glacial metaphors and address extinction and scientific responsibility. Together, they show how fiction can support sustainability thinking by challenging extractive logics and fostering ethical awareness of interdependence between humans, environments and non-human life.

Parallel sessions

The parallel sessions will be divided into two blocks between 10:30–12:00 and 13:00–14:30. The information is preliminary and may be subject to change. Further details will be added as they become available.

Beyond Polarisation: Junior Researchers on Transformation and Sustainability

Felizitas Messinger; Hilde Weiser; Karolina Eriksson; Lena Leimgruber Haraldsson; Lieuwe Jan Hettema; Mikaela Wikström Ruona; Pia Palo; Sergio Bravo Josephson; Stefan Westin; Verah Nafula Luande, Umeå University

This session is initiated by the UTRI Young Researcher Network, in response to the issues of polarisation we face across our different fields. We see it, for example, in media discourses and spatial politics of the green transition, in ideas of sustainability in language and technology education, in the shaping of municipal Sámi language policy, in children’s food interactions and their discourses around sustainable food, and in literary imaginaries of climate change and colonialism in the Arctic.

The session is organised as an interactive workshop directed towards junior scholars. The aim is to explore how, as emerging researchers, we, through our different research practices, work to critically engage with and imagine transformation beyond polarisation. We will explore concepts such as agonism, dialogue, and deliberation and hope to create connections that extend beyond the conference itself: to offer a space for junior researchers to engage with shared challenges, tensions and possibilities.

What is the role of higher education in driving sustainability transformation?

Johanna Lönngren, Associate professor in science and engineering education at the Department of Science and Mathematics Education, Umeå University.

At higher education institutions, we often talk about what others should do to contribute to sustainability transformation. Higher education itself, however, has remained relatively immune to calls for transformation that goes beyond surface-level changes (e.g., replacing one course with another or adding some "green" content).

This workshop explores critical perspectives on the role of higher education for driving sustainability transformation through research, education, and societal collaborations. It also invites participants to reflect on our own responsibilities in maintaining status quo or contributing to transforming higher education.

Narratives of transformation (workshop format)

Associate Professor Matilda Marshall, Ethnology, Umeå University; Professor Maria Lindgren Leavenworth, English Literature, Umeå University; Associate Professor Elena Lindholm, Spanish, Umeå University; Climate strategist Viktoria Vingmarker, Umeå kommun.

How can narratives be used to communicate research on sustainability and societal transformation in a way that is relatable for the general public? In this workshop we invite participants to explore a near future and visualize how their research has contributed to a sustainable future. Through practical exercises, we will create narratives and contemplate how narrative and creative methods can be used in our academic and pedagogical practice.

All are welcome, no prior experience is required!

Personal and Holistic Perspectives on Sustainability Transformations

Associate Professor Therese Asplund, Dept of Thematic Studies, Unit of Environmental Change, Linköping University; PhD student Nico Mira, Division of Ageing and Social Change, Linköping University; Owner Principal of Full Circle Discovery Cynthia Contie, Concordia University -- Portland, USA; Senior Lecturer Ann-Louise Sandahl, Art Education and PhD Art History and Visual Studies, Dalarna University

More information and chair to be announced.

Separate abstracts:

Therese Asplund

Title: Contemplative Pathways to Sustainability Transformations: Exploring the Personal Sphere of Change

Research on sustainability transformations increasingly highlights the importance of the personal sphere—subjective beliefs, values, and worldviews—as a prerequisite for systemic change (O’Brien, 2018; Ives et al., 2020; Woiwode et al., 2021). Despite its transformative potential, this inner dimension remains underexplored, particularly regarding how deeply held perspectives may shift. This presentation examines contemplative practices as pathways for fostering inner sustainability transformations, asking: In what ways may such practices reshape individual, social, and environmental relations? It draws on empirical material from a 10-week course on the inner dimensions of personal sustainability, co-developed with project partners. Findings suggest that contemplative approaches can support transformations beyond cognitive and affective change, enabling embodied and experiential senses of interconnection and belonging that extend beyond the individual self. The presentation concludes by inviting dialogue on the potential of contemplative practices for advancing personal and collective sustainability transformations. The presentation is supported by the Swedish Research Council FORMAS (Grant No. 2021 -01254).

Nico Mira

Title: Negotiating Intergenerational Fairness: The Ambiguous Role of Solidarity under Societal Transformation

This paper examines how intergenerational solidarity is mobilised in Swedish institutional discourse to structure intergenerational fairness under societal transformation. Amid climate change, demographic ageing, and growing uncertainty about the future, the intergenerational contract is increasingly contested, raising concerns about social cohesion and welfare sustainability. While policy debates - reinforced by the European Union’s 2026 strategy on intergenerational fairness - position intergenerational solidarity as key to renewing fairness, its meaning and function remain ambiguous. Focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic as a critical juncture, the study analyses Swedish policy documents and stakeholder interviews using type-building qualitative content analysis. It identifies how solidarity is framed and develops a typology of discursive relations in which it enables, constrains, or bypasses fairness claims. The findings demonstrate that intergenerational solidarity is not a neutral ideal but a discursive mechanism that structures and legitimises competing visions of intergenerational fairness in efforts toward sustainable futures.

Cynthia Contie

Title: Sustainability Education as Transformative: Holistic Healing as a Guide

Holistic theorists point to a disconnect within oneself, in our relations with others, and in our relationship with Nature as the root cause of global unsustainability. Holistic reconnection is thus prescribed as the transformative cure. Transformative Sustainability Education is uniquely positioned to play a key role in such a restorative reconnection process for learners. The “reconnection-as-cure” perspective assumes inherent core health and balance, which need only be restored, not created. This parallels the assumptions and practices of holistic healing. Can longstanding holistic healing frameworks thus serve as a guide for burgeoning Transformative Sustainability Education? This paper explores this question via a literature review and an analysis of past studies. Conclusions are that holistic healing arts, particularly those of Indigenous Peoples, can indeed serve as a guide for Transformative Sustainability Education. Supporting learners through the emotional aspects of the reconnective transformation is an important topic for future study.

Ann-Louise Sandahl

Title: Visualising a Post-Anthropocentric Future

The dominant anthropocentric meta-narrative, positioning humans as rulers over living systems, has contributed to ecological exploitation and the climate crisis. Although deeply normalized, this narrative is increasingly challenged within interdisciplinary ecocritical research, which calls for less anthropocentric modes of understanding and representation. In a time of polycrisis, sustainable and inclusive ways of visualizing dense relations between humans and the more-than-human are urgently needed. This presentation explores how a post-anthropocentric, ecocentric visual language can be articulated and how visual practices may transform understandings of human–more-than-human relations. Drawing on contemporary ecocritical art, it examines strategies that replace hierarchical, human-centered narratives with non-hierarchical, horizontal, relational perspectives in which the human is decentered. Selected examples from contemporary visual culture illustrate how post-anthropocentric imaginaries circulate beyond the art field. The analysis is informed by posthumanities and green and blue humanities, emphasizing relational ontology and ecological interdependence. Post-anthropocentric visual meaning-making is framed as a practice enabling sustainability.

Spatial Planning under Pressure: presentation of a book project

Carina Keskitalo, Örjan Pettersson, Urban Lindgren, Cornelia Rodeker, James Benedict Brown, Olof Stjernström, Linda Lundmark, Marco Eimermann, Umeå University

Spatial planning is key in determining not only how our cities are planned but also more generally the attribution of land to different uses. Planning is thereby crucial in order to respond to climate change such as increasing flood risk, but also in relation to a shifting security context whereby preparedness and self-sufficiency is becoming increasingly important. These pressures intersect with a demographic and habitation change towards few very high-populated as well as many very sparsely populated municipalities with an aging population. This session focuses on presentations that analyse the pressures on spatial planning that this situation results in. The session is based on a book project and will include up to ten short presentations.

The Future of food in the polycrisis: Addressing dietary transitions and the role of plant-based foods in a changing world

Moderator: Prof Armando Perez-Cueto; Presenter 1, Arturo Turillazzi (PhD candidate); Presenter 2 Jean-Paul Garin (PhD candidate); Presenter 3 Maxence Blanchet (PhD candidate), Umeå University

Food systems are central to the current global “polycrisis”, contributing to climate change, public health challenges, and geopolitical instability. At the same time, they are highly complex, involving interconnected actors, environments, and practices across multiple scales, which calls for a systemic approach. Key barriers to healthier and more sustainable eating behaviours arise at the individual level (e.g., taste, perceptions) and are reinforced by structural factors such as policy environments and socio-economic conditions. Current evidence points to a dietary shift towards foods that are both environmentally sustainable and beneficial for health, particularly those of plant origin. However, despite scientific consensus, this shift faces public resistance and contestation in social discourse. This panel explores dietary transitions, especially towards plant-based diets, within the broader transformation of food systems. Within this framework, the EU-funded projects HealthFerm and LOCALITY generate scientific evidence to support sustainable and healthy food transitions in Europe. Drawing directly on findings from these projects, the discussion will address consumer-accepted policy measures, sensory and behavioural drivers of food choices, and the role of social and cultural contexts in shaping dietary change.

Degrowth in the North

Researcher Elias Isaksson, Department of Political Science, Umeå University. Speakers to be announced.

For decades, green growth has been the dominant response to escalating environmental problems. However, as emissions continue to rise and seven of the nine planetary boundaries have been transgressed, green growth has failed to deliver on its promises. The search for alternative pathways is therefore urgent, and in this context, degrowth and other growth-critical theories provide an increasingly important perspective on the challenges of a sustainable transition.

This session explores how degrowth ideas can be applied to northern contexts through three different interpretations of “northern”: wealthy countries in the Global North; Northern European welfare states; and the sparsely populated, resource-rich region of Sápmi/northern Sweden. How applicable is degrowth to these contexts, and what are the implications for degrowth theory and strategies when they are taken into account?

Three invited speakers will briefly introduce the themes, but the primary focus of the session will be on the exchange of ideas among participants.

Teaching for Sustainable Development 2.0

Lars Larsson, Dan Borglund, Umeå University

Since 2018 the Centre for Educational Development (UPL) at Umeå University has offered the course Education for Sustainable Development. It is time for a new course that invites university teachers to explore and consider sustainability in and through education beyond 2030. As stated in the conference theme presentation – the needed progress towards sustainable living is absent. What then do we do as university teachers? This is the main concern that the new course intends to address.

At this session we invite participants to learn about the tentative purpose, aims and approaches of the new course, and from there engage in creative and constructive discussion about possibilities as well as concerns. The session will be organized as a workshop where the output will provide input for the ongoing development of the course, planned to be offered in autumn 2027.

Sustainable materialism in the arts, design and architecture

Cindy Kohtala, Professor in design for sustainability, Umeå Institute of Design. Preliminary panel members also: Sara Rylander, Associate professor, Department of Creative Studies (Teacher Education). Karey Helms, Associate professor of design, Umeå Institute of Design. Alejandro Haiek Coll, Associate professor, Umeå School of Architecture.

Globally scientific expertise is being questioned while the planetary boundaries are increasingly breached. Research on sustainability transformations points to the materiality of the change needed. Our everyday practices need to materially change to have lighter footprints; we exercise choices democratically through changing infrastructures; and designers and artists change the symbolic meanings of material things through creative experiments. We are four researchers in design, art, craft and architecture research who work in the field, in studios and in workshops. We engage directly and materially with sustainability issues hands-on through creative productions, ourselves and with others. Such hands-on engagement has been claimed to be necessary as material participation (after Marres) and sustainable materialism (after Schlosberg). Yet it has also been labelled as too niche, situated and even too romanticized. We confront these issues in this panel discussion which we run as a “fishbowl”, meaning that audience members actively evolve the dialogue.