Environments and Climate: The Role of Social Sciences and Humanities Research in Sustainability Action
PhD School at the Faculty of Humanities at University of Copenhagen
Dates and time: 17-21 June 2024 from 9:00 to 16:00
The sustainability crisis is no longer solely an issue for the STEM-field – and probably never was. In the last decades, it has become increasingly obvious that central challenges fall under the purview of SSH research. Notably how it is possible that highly exigent information for which overwhelming evidence exists does not make an immediate and strong impact on ideologies, policies, and life practices across the globe, as well as what can be done about it.
The present course addresses this challenge as a practical one. It aims to locate the time and place of SSH research in sustainability action. The course works from a genre perspective, which sees genre use as social exchanges through which we achieve social, and societal purposes, and takes genre as central to among other things ideology and knowledge transfer. From this perspective the course strives to analyze both the challenges facing SSH researchers when they address sustainability issues and the possibilities available to them. It trains the course participants in several genres of research dissemination writing and calls on them to discover their own paths towards using their research for sustainability action.
Academic Aim
- Help the course participants understand the relationship between their current research projects and societal sustainability issues.
- Teach participants to recognize and analyze the genres and the uses of genre in play in the public sphere as well as their effect
- Support the participants’ understanding of the place of SSH research in tackling societal sustainability problems
- Train participants in public dissemination on sustainability issues
Target group
PhD students in all stages of the PhD working with or interested in working with sustainability issues.
Course lecturers: Sune Auken and Daniel Nikolaj Madsen
Programme
|
Day |
Morning 9-11.30 |
11.30-12.00 |
Midday 12-14 |
Afternoon 14-16 |
|
Monday |
Introduction and opening lecture
(Sune Auken) |
Lunch |
Paper session |
Ruth Mottram (DMI), Lecture and discussion. “What does science communication on sustainability issues need from SSH researchers” |
|
Tuesday |
Pitch writing |
Lunch |
Paper Session |
Søren Beck-Nielsen (University of Copenhagen), Lecture and discussion. ”Talk as action. Language, public debate and climate change.” |
|
Wednesday |
Dissemination article writing |
Lunch |
Paper session |
Helle Kannik Haastrup (University of Copenhagen), Lecture and discussion. ”Emotion, climate change and social media: Communicating politics and activism” |
|
Thursday |
Project writing |
Lunch |
Paper session |
Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, University of Waterloo, Canada (via zoom). Lecture and discussion. “Climate Communication and Trust in Science”. |
|
Friday |
Sune Auken. Lecture and discussion. “Humor, politics, and sustainability” |
Lunch |
Humor writing
|
Closing statements, evaluation etc. |
Registration: Please register via the link in the box no later than 1 May 2024.
Language: English
ECTS: 3.5 ECTS for participation / 5 ECTS for participation with paper presentation.
Max. numbers of participants: 20
Course fee: DKK 2.500 per ECTS for PhD students from CBS.
Further information: For more information about the PhD course, please contact the PhD Administration (phd@hrsc.ku.dk).
Literature
Auken, S. (2018). Understanding Genre. Journal of Zhejiang International Studies University, 3(2), 14-27.
Auken, S., & Sunesen, C. (Eds.). (2021). Genre in the Climate Debate. Krakow: De Gruyter. Chapters 1-3, 5-6, 8
Beck-Nielsen, S. (2023). “There is new technology here that can perform miracles”. The discursive psychology of technological optimism in climate change policy debates. Journal of Language and Politics, 22(6), 826-845. doi:10.1075/jlp.23035.nie
Ceccarelli, L. (2011). Manufactured Scientific Controversy: Science, Rhetoric, and Public Debate. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 14(2), 195-228. doi:10.1353/rap.2010.0222
Cook, J., Lewandowsky, S., & Ecker, U. K. H. (2017). Neutralizing misinformation through inoculation: Exposing misleading argumentation techniques reduces their influence. PLoS ONE, 12(5). doi:http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0175799
Fritzbøger, B. (2022). A Brief Conceptual History of Sustainable Development. In Sustainable Development of Denmark in the World 1970-2020 (pp. 3-33): Springer Nature.
Gifford, R. (2011). The Dragons of Inaction. Psychological Barriers That Limit Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. American Psychologist, 66(290-302). doi:10.1037/a0023566
Haastrup, H. K. (2023). Having fun saving the climate: the climate influencer and emotional storytelling as counter-narrative on TikTok. Persona Studies, 9(1), 36-51.
Hine, D. W., Phillips, W. J., Cooksey, R., Reser, J. P., Nunn, P., Marks, A. D. G., . . . Watt, S. E. (2016). Preaching to different choirs: How to motivate dismissive, uncommitted, and alarmed audiences to adapt to climate change? Global Environmental Change, 36, 1-11. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.11.002
Kurz, T., & Prosser, A. M. B. (2021). Understanding the social dynamics of climate change through analyses of discourse. Current Opinion in Psychology, 42, 71-75. doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.03.010
Shenk, L., Franz, K. J., & Gutowski Jr., W. J. (2023). Minding the Gaps How Humanists, Climate Scientists, and Communities Can Become Collaborating Storytellers. Environmental Humanities, 15(3), 83-103. doi:10.1215/22011919-10746001
Yuan, S., & Kuehl, C. (2023). Exploring the Influence of Aggressive and Target-Framing Messages on Proenvironmental Behaviors. Science Communication, 45(2), 225-251. doi:10.1177/10755470231153634
Wahl-Jorgensen, K. (2019). Taking Emotion Seriously: A Brief History of Thought. In Emotions, Media and Politics (pp. 20-36): Polity Press.