Socio-ecological transformation ¶

We want to understand what makes transformative change possible, and what inhibits it. Many of our projects start from land-use and conservation conflicts, and from the question of what and whom a landscape is for. We investigate how such conflicts arise, how they are negotiated, and whose voices remain silenced, even in participatory processes. We also focus on narratives and discourses and want to better understand how rigid environmental narratives are reproduced and stabilized in institutional settings and beyond.

Our work is transdisciplinary. Together with colleagues across scientific disciplines and with people in policy and practice, we develop research questions and designs. We follow qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methodologies, which help us look back at how situations came about as well as ahead at how they might develop, for example through visioning exercises and scenarios. Our work often takes us to mountain regions, such as the Alps and the Caucasus, where ecological, climatic and societal changes and challenges are closely intertwined.