UPCOMING EVENT: Launch of UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy [28 March 2023]

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Launch of the Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy

9:00-11:45, 28 March 2023  

Online and in-person at Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand

Co-organized by Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy; Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University; Office of International Affairs and Global Network, Chulalongkorn University; and Japan Society for International Development (JASID)

Please register to join the event here.

Resource governance is at the heart of sustainable development. A range of interconnected and complex contemporary resource governance challenges exist including on water, food, energy and climate change. Inclusive, transparent and accountable resource governance contributes towards attaining human security, building peace, sustaining healthy ecosystems, and ensuring social and ecological justice. Furthermore, in the age of the Anthropocene resource governance must also account for a broader ethics of human-nature relations and the concerns of more-than-human things.

Within resource governance, the imaginaries of the future act on the possiblities of the present, including in terms of whose voices are heard in debates articulating desirable or undesirable futures. Futures literacy is a capability and a skill that enables a better understanding and anticipation of the role that the future plays in society. It fosters agility of the mind, allowing uncertainty and complexity to be embraced. Being futures literate empowers people to use the futures to innovate the present, leading to creative solutions and policy shifts.

To accelerate its core founding mission to serve the public, Chulalongkorn University is pleased to launch the Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair on Resource Governance and Futures Literacy, which aims to respond to resource governance priorities through partnerships. The Chair aspires to catalyze thought leadership and activities that result in clear impacts in policy and on-the-ground outcomes. Over the coming five years, the Chair will establish a hub of researchers, policy makers, graduate students and other societal actors to catalyze inclusive and sustainable governance of resources through futures literacy-focused research, dialogue and capacity strengthening. We will proactively and constructively engage towards the inclusive, equitable and sustainable resolution of resource governance challenges emphasizing the identification of transformative pathways through building futures literacy.


Please download the program as a pdf here.

For enquiries, please contact Dr. Carl Middleton (Carl.Chulalongkorn@gmail.com).

UPCOMING EVENT: Transdisciplinarity for Global Sustainable Development [24 January 2023]

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Transdisciplinarity for Global Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Research and Teaching

Transdisciplinarity for Global Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for Research and Teaching

24 January 2023, Smart Classroom, 7th Floor, Faculty of Political Science,

Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand and online 

Co-organized by M.A. and Ph.D. Program in International Development Studies (MAIDS-GRID) and Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University; School for Cross-faculty Studies, The University of Warwick; and Chulalongkorn University UNESCO Chair in Resource Governance and Futures Literacy

Please register to join the event here.

Globally and in Southeast Asia there has been a growing interest in transdisciplinary approaches to understand and act on urgent global sustainability challenges. These have ranged from urban planning and design, to rethinking education, to responding to climate change. Transdisciplinary approaches are intended to catalyze the collaboration of researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds together with community representatives and practitioners who may include state agencies, civil society organizations, and private sector. When undertaken well, it offers the possibility of new forms of accountability between academic researchers and society, given that core to transdisciplinarity is building trusted relationships and undertaking knowledge co-production.  

Transdisciplinary approaches draw on new principles for organizing and conducting research and teaching. Whilst experience on transdisciplinary approaches is growing, there are challenges to undertaking transdisciplinary approaches, ranging from how to effectively build an interdisciplinary academic research team and foster trusted working relationships with collaborators, to how to successfully co-design and implement research projects, and how to ensure that knowledge is actionable and simultaneously solves societal challenges whilst also transferring gained knowledge to other contexts. How universities can teach transdisciplinary approaches and be organized to promote and facilitate it is also an emerging question.

The objective of this seminar is to share experience and identify promising approaches to strengthen transdisciplinary research and teaching to respond to complex global sustainable development challenges.

Speakers

Opening remarks:

  • Dr. Bhanubhatra Jittiang, Assistant Dean for International Affairs and Director of the M.A. and Ph.D. Program in International Development Studies (MAIDS-GRID)

Speakers:

  • Dr. Naruemon Thabchumpon, Associate Professor and Director of Asian Research Center for Migration (ARCM), Chulalongkorn University

  • Dr. Marta Guerriero, Associate Professor and Head of International Partnerships, Global Sustainable Development, School for Cross-faculty Studies, The University of Warwick

  • Dr. Carl Middleton, Assistant Professor and Director of Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University

Chair:

  • Dr. Jessica Savage-Wilkes, Associate Professor, Global Sustainable Development, School for Cross-faculty Studies, The University of Warwick

Concluding remarks:

  • Dr. Stephanie Panichelli, Professor and Head of School, School for Cross-faculty Studies, The University of Warwick

For enquiries, please contact Dr. Carl Middleton.