Speakers

Dr. Josie Chambers is a transdisciplinary social scientist investigating approaches to transforming our collective imagination and political possibilities amidst widespread social and environmental injustices. She is especially interested in the role of creative multi-media and co-production methods to help people navigate tensions among divergent notions of possible or desirable futures, in ways that question power relations and facilitate transformative societal change. Her analysis of many initiatives co-producing research and action for sustainability transformations around the world identified six modes of co-production for sustainability, and introduces the notion of co-productive agility as a way to navigate emerging tensions and power dynamics.

Dr. Jasper Montana works on the relationship between science and society in times of environmental and social change. He is an interdisciplinary social scientist working with theories and approaches from science and technology studies to understand and intervene in the systems of knowledge and governance adopted for nature conservation and biodiversity loss. He is especially interested in these dynamics across scales of meaning making, from the local to the global, and how worlds collide in negotiating the multiple boundaries between science and policy, and between science and other knowledge systems. His work has explored these tensions in global expert processes for biodiversity and sought to navigate them through convening international communities to revisit the foundations of biodiversity science and policy.

Professor Markku Ollikainen is Professor Emeritus of Environmental Economics and Research Director at the University of Helsinki. He has extensive scientific experience on designing economic instruments and mechanisms to improve the state of the environment. He has studied a wide range of environmentally related market mechanisms such as emissions trading, water quality trading, offsetting, and environmental auctioning. Thematically, he has focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and water protection issues. Ollikainen has published more than 300 research reports, two international textbooks and more than 100 original research articles in peer reviewed journals. His H-index is 37 with more than 5700 citations to his work (Google scholar). He was the Chair of the Finnish Climate Change Panel 2014-2023, and a member since 2012. He has been deeply involved in the policy advice for the Finnish Government on climate issues.

Mikaela Vasstrøm is Associate Professor at the Department of Global development and Planning, University of Agder, Norway. Since the PhD from Copenhagen University in 2012 she has worked with different perspectives on nature-society relations and emerging conflicts and controversies of green transitions. During 2018-2023 she led the research project WINDPLAN exploring challenges and opportunities for wind power development in Norway, Denmark and Scotland, and questions of (lack of) social acceptance and emerging contestations of energy justice. Currently she is WP leader in two research projects related to offshore wind and regional energy justice (WINDREG) and Co-production of peatland knowledge (REPEAT). She has worked extensively with participatory action research  across levels of governments and beyond the “usual suspects” to address critical utopian future orientations in contexts of nature conservation, renewable energy, and sustainable development.

Latest papers: 

Vasstrøm, M., & Lysgård, H. K. (2021). What shapes Norwegian wind power policy? Analysing the constructing forces of policymaking and emerging questions of energy justice. Energy Research & Social Science, 77, 102089. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102089

Vasstrøm, M., & Paaby, K. (2021). Hvordan skapes rom for «omvendt deltakelse» i bærekraftig lokal samfunnsutvikling–aksjonsforskningens roller og bevegelser. Forskning og forandring, 4(2), 106-127. https://doi.org/10.23865/fof.v4.3311

Dr. Christina Voigt is Professor of Law at the University of Oslo, Norway. She is an internationally renowned expert in international environmental law and teaches, speaks and publishes widely on legal issues of climate change, environmental multilateralism and sustainability.

From 2009–2018, she worked as principal legal adviser for the Government of Norway in the UN climate negotiations and negotiated the Paris Agreement and its Rulebook.

Professor Voigt is Chair of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (WCEL) and Co-chair of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee. She also is a mother of two young boys, Victor and Oscar.