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The 2022 KU Social Sciences International Conference: Roles of Social Sciences in Sustainability Transformation in the Global South

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Registration

Now - 29 May 2022

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Description

About the conference                   

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Date of Conference      

09 June 2022

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Contact Us

sockuintercon@gmail.com

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Author guidance for papers and posters      

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Call for papers and posters      

Conference theme

 

There remains little doubt that if the world is to achieve its sustainability goals in the decades to come, much has to change in the various societal systems that cause environmental degradation, drive climate change and promote inequality. There is also little doubt that accomplishing the required transformations in the ways we extract, produce, consume, share, manage and learn, represents an unprecedented challenge for societies rich and poor. While our ultimate goals are becoming increasingly clear, important questions remain about the best possible ways to achieve them. Our options are plentiful, ranging from transforming socio-ecological and socio-economic practices at the local scale, via replacing unsustainable technologies by sustainable ones, to altering the globally prevailing economic and political paradigms that keep us focused on the accumulation of wealth and reluctant to share. But which strategies are likely to be the most effective and feasible? And how are transformations of practices, socio-technological systems and paradigms best triggered and governed? Can we achieve them with help of traditional policy instruments or do we need more revolutionary means? Can we rely on governments to pull us through, or do we need to build broader coalitions of transition drivers and managers first?   

Such and other questions are even more acute in the Global South, where, compared to the Global North, vulnerabilities to the adverse effects of environmental degradation and climate change tend to be larger and the conditions for the successful realization of sustainability transitions less favourable. The pandemic and the unfolding climate crisis have mercilessly exposed the fact that despite all recent progress the Global South has seen in economic development, health care and other realms, conditions in many parts remain extremely fragile and vulnerable to backlash, with governments – not helped by the world’s richer nations minding their own interests first – struggling to cope.

It is also in the Global South where, arguably, the need for new knowledge that can support sustainability transitions, is greatest. To develop that knowledge is a challenge in itself, and may even require a transformation of existing practices and systems of knowledge creation and sharing, not only in government but also in academia and other sectors. An important role in this would seem to be reserved for the social sciences. Not only because sustainability transformations are, in many cases, very much a matter of organizing societies’ responses to particular challenges, but also because the social sciences, perhaps like no other disciplines, should be able to play a connecting role between ecology, technology, economy and governance. 

Kasetsart University’s Faculty of Social Sciences’ first international conference seeks to engage with these daunting challenges of transformation and knowledge creation. The conference, which is organized in collaboration with the Office of the Royal Society of Thailand, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ubon Ratchathani University, Faculty of Human Ecology, Bogor Agricultural University,  Centre for Asian Studies, University of Ghana, and Eastern Regional Organization of Public Administration, particularly aims to investigate how social sciences across the Global South may contribute to the conception, design and implementation of the many sustainability transformations that will need to be completed if countries and people across the Global South are to continue to experience sustainable improvement in their lives and livelihoods. 

We warmly invite you to join us in this effort, be that as partner, contributor, or member of the audience. 

 

 

IMPORTANT DATES

 

18 March 2022 Deadline for submission of full papers and poster abstracts
18 April 2022 Results of peer review announced to authors
1 May 2022 Deadline for submission of revised papers
13 May 2022 Final decision on revised papers announced to authors
17 May 2022 Early bird registration for oral and poster presenters closes
20 May 2022 Deadline for submission of full posters
29 May 2022 Regular registration for oral and poster presenters closes
8 June 2022 Registration for non-presenting participants closes
9 June 2022 Conference day
29 July 2022 Proceedings ready for download

 

 

Keynote speakers and special lecturers :