CfP: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Climate and Biodiversity Crises

Over the past centuries, the industrialisation of Western societies gradually impacted nature, and environmental problems increase with globalisation during the last decades. As a consequence, we are now experiencing major crises which are linked with each other: biodiversity is disappearing faster and faster, and global warming is escalating, not only causing unprecedented damage to the Earth, but also unequally and unfairly affecting different parts of the world. In this context, our summer school proposes to bring together an interdisciplinary range of researchers interested in the various implications and interconnections of the climate crisis and the biodiversity crisis. In doing so, its aims is to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on the historical evolutions of these crises, their current realities, and future pathways for socio-ecological transformation. In short: given the current context, how can researchers from natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities address together the causes and effects of climate change and biodiversity loss, and how can they engage with civil society actors in view of the needed socio-ecological transformation?

To answer these questions, the research centre on environment and society (CERES) of the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris) and the environmental unit of the Centre Marc Bloch (Berlin) will be holding a summer school on 11-14/09/2023 in Paris, in cooperation with the Climate Change Centre Berlin Brandenburg. In that perspective, we warmly welcome any applications from junior scientists whose research engages with issues linked to climate change and/or biodiversity, and who are interested in their interconnections. Applications from pre-doctoral to doctoral and post-doctoral researchers from any relevant disciplines will be considered. The summer school will aim at providing young researchers with an opportunity to present their ongoing research and to discuss it with each other, as well as with senior researchers and civil society actors. To do so, the summer school will proceed as follows: 

  • Each participant will send in advance a text that will be passed around, and then discussed during the summer school.
  • Senior researchers will be delivering lectures on historical and current stakes of climate and biodiversity crises.
  • Daily sessions in small interdisciplinary groups will be dedicated to the development of new research ideas.
  • A dialogue between participants and civil society actors will be established.

Bringing together students, researchers and civil society actors, the Journée David Claessen, organised by the CERES, will be closing the summer school on September 14, providing the participants with an opportunity to present the first results of their group work.

How to apply? Any junior researchers interested to take part in the summer school will be asked to send an abstract of their ongoing work (300 words max.), a short academic CV, and a one-page cover letter in which they will detail their motivation and expectations. Applications must be submitted as a single pdf sent by March 1 at 12:00 (UTC+1) to summerschool_ens_cmb@protonmail.com

Selected participants will be notified as of April, and then asked to submit either a raft paper or (part of) a thesis chapter by August 15, in order for it to be read ahead of the summer school. These texts can be written in French, in German, or in English, but the language of the summer school (for presentations, roundtables, and discussions) will be English. We will organise the accomodation and the catering ourselves, so the participants will only be asked to pay registration fees covering a part of these costs (the amount of the registration fees will be specifie later, depending on third-party funding). Travel costs will be at the expense of the participants, but a few grants might be allocated to applicants whose participation in the summer school cannot be financially supported by their home institution. Please indicate in your cover letter if this applies to you.

Contact Info: Benjamin Beuerle, Postdoctoral researcher at the Marc Bloch Center (Berlin)