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PhD courses

ICIS-Maastricht University Graduate School on Sustainability Science (MUST) together with SENSE organizes PhD courses.  These courses are interesting for PhD students working on the human dimensions of global change, modelling complex societal dynamics, transitions and transitions management, and issues of sustainable development and sustainability science at large.

Knowledge production for sustainable development

Date: 12 and 13 April 2012; Place: ICIS, Kapoenstraat 2, Maastricht

Content and purpose

Sustainability issues raise questions about the interrelationships between science, policy and society. The popular idea is that science produces knowledge that, when handed over to policy and society, will automatically will do its beneficial work – as data, methods or truths. This instrumental view is misleading for several reasons. First, knowledge production cannot be simply seen as the production of truth. Our knowledge is always mediated by our values, perspectives, theories and measurement tools. In particular in the case of sustainable development, it must deal with uncertainty (about impacts and causes), complexity (in terms of mutual dependences of actors and topics) and ambiguity. Second, what counts as useful and adequate knowledge is not easily determined, with people holding different views about this. Expectations about science have changed. During the last century, the relevance of science has changed, from a provider of enlightenment, to a societal problem solver or an economic motor. Third, the boundaries of ‘science’ and ‘politics’ are not fixed but constantly negotiated. This leads to efforts to draw and protect boundaries, as well as attempts to profit from blurred boundaries, such as with experiments of co-production of knowledge. Finally, given these intricacies, scientists can have different roles vis-à-vis policy and society. In this workshop we will review and discuss these four basic aspects of knowledge production for sustainable development.

Topics and speakers:

Day 1: Dynamics of knowledge production

  • The challenges of ‘sustainability science’, Jill Jäger
  • Changing science systems, Laurens Hessels
  • Roles of scientists for policy, Roger Pielke Jr
  • Working at the science-policy interface, René Kemp

Day 2: Politics of knowledge production

  • Policy problems and boundary work, Rob Hoppe
  • Discourses and storylines about SD, Jean Hugé Lunch
  • Controversies as conflicting frames, Eefje Cuppen
  • Politics of narratives, Harro van Lente

Global Change, Complexity and Sustainability

    Content and purpose

    Indications are that, contrary to mainstream economic and policy directions, the next 30 years will not be a simple extension of the past three decades. Climate trends already exceed the worst-case scenarios of the IPCC and are accelerating, the oceans are acidifying, fisheries are continuing to decline, deserts are advancing, petroleum supplies are in doubt (peak oil), tropical deforestation is continuing, etc.

    While there is universal agreement that these ecological outcomes are the product of prevailing global ‘development’ trends and are fundamentally unsustainable, no major government, mainstream international agency or transnational corporation has begun seriously to contemplate, let alone implement, the kinds of policies and programs necessary for sustainability. The implicit assumption is that society can safely continue to ‘trade-off’ the ‘environment’ for economic gain as long as the perceived short-term benefits exceed any losses. And even once we’ve moved beyond that point, technological development will suffice to mitigate the damage and get back on course.

    This assumption, at the heart of conventional global development strategies, assumes smooth change and predictable systems behaviour. However, it is increasingly clear that complex dynamic systems including ecosystems, economies and societies under stress, are characterized more by discontinuous, unpredictable behaviour, particularly by time lags and thresholds (surprise!). Pushed beyond critical bifurcation points (‘tipping points’), these systems may fall into unfamiliar stability domains that are incompatible with human needs and purposes. Indeed, periods of chaotic behaviour leading to catastrophic (to the existing system) changes may be normal stages of systems evolution in nature. The long history of human cultures that have collapsed from the heights of achievement never to rise again underscores difficulty of avoiding or reversing the process.

    This course examines global change and the dynamics of the global system through the lenses of complexity theory, chaos theory, transition theory and panarchy. These theories generally describe the overlapping hierarchical structure of complex systems, like ecosystems (lakes, forests, grasslands, etc.), human systems (governance systems, industrial sectors, corporations, settlements, etc.), and combined (socio-ecological) systems that now make up the ecosphere.

    Students will assess historic examples of systems evolution and implosion that may help in the analysis of contemporary cases of rapid global change. Does chaos theory with its unfamiliar notions of deterministic chaos, strange attractors, bifurcation points and rapid discontinuous change (catastrophe) apply to human systems? As importantly, to what extent are these theoretical concepts useful in the interpretation and management of these complex systems behaviours?

    Accelerating ecological, economic and social changes currently threaten to push the human enterprise beyond heretofore invisible tipping points into unknown and possibly hostile territory. ‘Planning’ is based on the assumption that humans can positively influence societal evolution and create desirable futures. In short, is it possible through foresight, analysis and planning to suspend human institutions and even whole cultures at or near optimal points in their developmental cycles so as to reduce the probability of traumatic collapse?

    Learning Objectives

    This course is intended to enable students to perceive and plan for global change from the non-conventional framework provided by complex systems theory, transition theory, and panarchy. At the end of the course, participants should be able to discuss and interpret:

    1. the principal drivers and systemic weaknesses of contemporary global development models;
    2. complexity, transitions theory, and panarchy and its relevance to: (i) historical cases of systems collapse at both the ecosystem as societal levels and (ii) prevailing global ecological and economic trends;
    3. the use of scenarios and /or modeling in analyzing these systems;
    4. the relevance of such concepts as systems stability, resilience, creative destruction and adaptive management, to contemporary planning for sustainability.

    Course Organization

    The course will feature lectures and a practical session.

    Following a series of introductory lecture/discussions on complex systems, climate change and panarchy and transition theory, we will turn our attention to the analysis of specific cases of systems change through the lenses provided by these theories, and by using scenarios or models. Cases will range from ecosystems collapses that were driven by and negatively affected the connected human community to the collapse of entire human cultures.

    Faculty and Lectures October 2011