Tag: Transformation

Announcement: Inaugural lecture – “Transforming Together: Fast Forward to a Fair Future “

27 February 2026 /

Welcome to the inaugural lecture and panel discussion with Uppsala University’s Zennström Visiting Professor in Climate Change Leadership 2026, Karen O’Brien.

Register now

Karen O’Brien is co-founder of cCHANGE and Professor Emerita of human geography at University of Oslo. Building on decades of research on the social and human dimensions of environmental change, her current work focuses on connecting theory with practice to scale equitable and sustainable transformations. We are delighted about her appointment as the ninth Zennström Visiting Professor in Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University.

The inaugural lecture is a welcome for Karen. The event will be held in English and takes place on Monday 16 March 2026 starting at 13:00 in Hambergsalen, Geocentrum (Villavägen 16) Uppsala University.

Programme of the event

  • 13:05 Welcome message by Anders Hagfeldt, Vice-chancellor Uppsala University
  • 13:15 Lecture by the Zennström professor 2026 Karen O’Brien

    Scaling transformative change for a just and sustainable world
    The scale of the climate crisis challenges us to think, organize, and act differently. To do so, we may need to relate differently to ourselves, each other, nature, and the future. Drawing on my past research on climate change impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation and the recent Transformative Change Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), this talk will focus on the importance of engaging with the practical, political, and personal spheres of transformation, as well as my current work on fractal approaches to scaling transformations to sustainability. Finally, I will consider some of the implications for climate change leadership, with an emphasis on why we matter more than we think.

  • 13:50 Panel discussion “Transforming Together: Fast Forward to a Fair Future” 
    Panel I: Anna Rosling, Mats Målqvist and Daniel Lindvall. 
    Panel II: Laila Mendy, Oskar Lindgren and Charlotte Bunge
    Moderator: Mikael Karlsson
  • 14:30 Discussion with all participants and the audience
  • 15:00 – 16.30 Mingle with fika

Please note that registration is mandatory and the number of seats is limited. The deadline for registration is 8 March 2026.

Zennström Climate Change Leadership

10 December 2020 /

The Zennström Climate Change Leadership visiting professorship acts as a catalyst for public debate, research and education to directly address some of the most challenging questions that climate change poses to humanity. Since 2015 four Zennström Professors in Climate Change Leadership have been working with academics, students, civil society and public and private partners to both understand the scale of the civilisational transition needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to begin to develop routes towards that transition and prepare for adaptation.

Our current projects largely fall within four areas built upon the research themes of the Chairs of the Zennström professorship. These include:

Our First Three Professors: Keri Facer, Doreen Stabinsky, and Kevin Anderson
Stefania Barca, the fourth Zennström professor in Climate Change Leadersship, Foto Mikael Wallerstedt

Climate change leadership is a dynamic field, crossing disciplinary and societal boundaries, with the aim to catalyse innovative and bold approaches to meet the complex challenges of climate change. This dynamism and energy is derived from the increasing demand for knowledge and practices to meet challenges across all sectors of society, from the local to international level. Climate change leadership is characterised by knowledge co-production between academia and society at large, to ensure effective and just institutional and socio-technological transformations.

The overall goal of the initiative is to actively shape an inter- and transdisciplinary intellectual environment that combines education, research and outreach in innovative ways and applies knowledge into equitable climate action. The climate change leadership environment engages with new forms of vibrant, trans- disciplinary and exploratory forums with world-leading climate scientists, key climate negotiators, business and civil society leaders, policy-makers, social entrepreneurs and, not least, students and young leaders.

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