The School of International Studies Environment Research Cluster is excited to host an international workshop within the European project RETOOL – Strengthening democratic governance for climate transitions. The workshop contributes to research on climate movements, democracy and change within the RETOOL project, and will explore the interactions between climate movements, democratic transformations, the politics of knowledge, and processes of political and social change. The aim of the workshop is to build our understandings of how contestation, politicisation and collective emotions have influenced, and continue to influence, climate and environmental policies and politics in Europe, and how these experiences can inform a climate democracy that allows us to forge responses to climate change and environmental degradation with stronger democratic processes and public participation in decision-making.
A central question guides the workshop: what lessons can be drawn from social movements and activism, past and present, to reinforce democracy in climate governance? The workshop aims to promote dialogue between historical, sociological, socio-legal and political science approaches, with a broad interdisciplinary orientation.
Submission guidelines:
We welcome both empirically grounded research and theoretical or conceptual contributions that connect historical analysis, political science and sociological debates over climate/environmental movements and politics.
Abstracts must be written in English, with a maximum length of 400 words, and should be accompanied by a short biographical note (max 150 words).
Proposals should be sent by 9th January 2026 to alice.dalgobbo@unitn.it with the subject line ‘International workshop abstract’. Notification of acceptance will be sent by 31 January 2026.
The workshop will be held in English.
The workshop will take place at the University of Trento, School of International Studies (via Tommaso Gar 14, Trento), on 11–12 June 2026. There are no fees for workshop participation. The organisers will contribute to cover accommodation and meal costs. Participants are expected to cover their own travel costs.
A selection of papers may be considered for publication in a collective volume edited within the RETOOL project.
https://eventi.unitn.it/en/women-and-feminist-movements-palestine
https://eventi.unitn.it/it/investigating-gender-participation-gap-among-students-germany
https://eventi.unitn.it/it/la-prospettiva-civica-litalia-vista-da-chi-si-mette-insieme-cambiarla
https://eventi.unitn.it/en/novel-foods-technological-pathway-food-system-transformation
https://eventi.unitn.it/en/alternative-what-rethinking-afns-global-north-and-south
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/117489/protesting-jordan-stanford-up
https://socioecologico.com/2023/02/15/socio-ecological-transitions-seminar-sets-a-y-2022-2023-2/
https://socioecologico.com/2022/08/02/socio-ecological-transitions-seminar-sets-a-y-2022-2023/
Jointly organized by ESA Research Network 25 on Social Movements, ECPR Standing Group on Participation and Mobilization, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, CoACT - Research Group on Collective Action, Change and Transition, University of Trento
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/en/evento/sociologia/107525/critical-margins-politicizing-the-crisis
https://socioecologico.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/socio-ecological-transition-seminars/
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/103297/union-movement-towards-movements
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/102065/easy-data-same-old-platforms
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/90225/food-practices-in-movement
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/90225/food-practices-in-movement
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/90225/food-practices-in-movement
This book is published under a Creative Common License [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)] and can be freely downloaded at this link
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/75188/reflexive-consumption
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/74320/vibrationshintergrund
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/66269/street-citizens
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/63554/contentious-episode-analysis
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/58701/organizing-alternative-economy-movements
https://webmagazine.unitn.it/evento/sociologia/57821/potere-digitale