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Workshop at the University of Stirling on Education and Climate Change

In June, 2025 we were invited to the University of Stirling, Scotland, to present our project at a workshop. We discussed the links between education and youth’s understandings, practices and experiences in relation to biodiversity loss, climate change and polycrisis more generally. The workshop paid particular attention to the importance of considering the geographical and socioeconomic context in such analysis.
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  • Universal Aspirations vs. Geopolitical Divides: Imagining the World as a “Post-Millennial” in the SDG Era (Research Project)
    • Project member sitting at a table presenting
    By: Universal Aspirations vs. Geopolitical Divides: Imagining the World as a “Post-Millennial” in the SDG Era

     

    In June, 2025 we were invited to the University of Stirling to present our project at a workshop. It was organized by Sophia Georgescu who is doing research on Scottish primary school children and their experiences of biodiversity and biodiversity loss at the University of Stirling. In our presentation we focused on the way education and educational institutions play a key role in how children and youth are introduced to the idea of crisis – for example in relation to biodiversity loss and climate change. As in our research project, we focused here on high school students, university students as well as young people who have finished their education. They had all been shaped in different ways by the educational institutions they had attended.

    During the workshop Mette discussed the notion of the “global” which led to an interesting exchange of ideas concerning the problems and possibilities of terms such as “global education,” “global youth” and “global citizens.” This, in turn, generated a discussion of how schools in different localities influence the students’ own perceptions and activism. Based on his fieldwork in Danish and Tanzanian high schools Conrad brought up important questions, such as: What are the roles of schools and the school setting in supporting and shaping youths' capacities to influence and transform the climate change crisis? What are high school students' motivations for participating in climate action activities, for example by attending environmentally focused schools/school clubs? And can the concept of “being and becoming” inform our understanding of young people’s agency in climate change action? Tirza described the different imaginaires of the future that she experienced among university students in Denmark and Tanzania and discussed what these imaginaries of the future are based on and what their effects are.

    There were also brief presentations by other researchers participating in the workshop who likewise were concerned with the need to pay attention to the importance of geographical and socioeconomic context, and the role of place, when analyzing and understanding the ways in which education and educational systems can shape attitudes and understandings of environmental crises.