These webinars are part of a series of online conversations convened by the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) that bring together scientists, practitioners and societal actors who use the frameworks of complexity and resilience thinking in their daily work to make sense of the complex dynamics of change and transformative processes.
There is a special focus on how these ideas and practices are used in current times and how local and regional processes and perspectives are being shaped by applying the theoretical concepts and tools for fostering more resilient organisations, communities and decision-making strategies. Click the links below to find out more (videos are arranged in chronological order, starting with the most recent).
Just environmental futures in cities
This webinar is part of the Urban Studies Foundation Seminar Series Award: Toward just environmental futures: exploring the equity dimensions of nature-based solutions in cities. This seminar series brings together a diversity of scholars from the fields of critical urban studies, political ecology, ecosystem services, and nature-based solutions. The webinar is the kick-off event of the seminar series.
Anticipatory Governance
Tanja Hichert from the CST and Dr Geci Karuri-Sebina from the Wits School of Governance discuss where and how the practice of Anticipatory Governance is being applied in southern Africa. This webinar forms part of the CST’s online training in Anticipatory Governance, developed in partnership with the USAID Resilient Waters Program and hosted on the UNESCO Open Learning platform.
Launch: Handbook of SES Methods
This webinar represents the 2021 launch event for the Routledge Handbook of Research Methods for Social-Ecological Systems, which provides a synthetic guide to the range of methods that can be employed in social-ecological systems (SES) research. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of diverse disciplines related to sustainability and environmental change.
Interacting risks of climate change
In this webinar, Dr Nicholas Simpson from the African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI) at the University of Cape Town presents a recently published paper on the multiple, interacting risks of a warming climate, and how we need to respond to the challenge of those interacting risks. The discussion is moderated by the CST’s Dr Joy Waddell.
River Club development
Leslie London, Chairperson of the Observatory Residents Association, and Tauriq Jenkens, Convenor of the Anti-Repression Working Group of the C19 People’s Coalition, are in conversation with the CST’s Nina Callaghan about the “Make the Liesbeek Matter” campaign, which aims to protect the Liesbeek River in Cape Town from development that threatens the site’s important heritage and ecology.
Youth Nature Futures in the Global South
In this webinar, a team from the CST and their international partners share reflections on a project that engaged youth organizations across southern Africa and Brazil. As part of “(Re)imagining youth visions: Nature-futures in the Global South”, youth groups produced various forms of art to express their relationship with nature, and how they think and feel about the future.
Cyclone Idai and community resilience
This webinar presents the findings of a project under the USAID Resilient Waters Program, assessing the impacts of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique and Zimbabwe and possibilities to strengthen community resilience. The CST’s Dr Rika Preiser is in conversation with Dr Jaap Arntzen, team leader for this project on Cyclone Idai, and director of the Centre for Applied Research, Gaborone, Botswana.
Rethinking public governance
Rushka Ely is a development practitioner with a focus on local, city, and town-scale challenges, processes, and solutions. She talks to Dr Rika Preiser about rethinking public governance for systems change, drawing on her experiences with the Western Cape’s Economic Development Partnership (EDP).
Promoting collaboration
Dr Mamohloding Tlhagale, Head of International and Stakeholder Engagement at the Water Research Commission of South Africa, talks to the CST’s Rika Preiser about promoting international collaboration, particularly within the fields of water and sanitation research, development, and innovation.
Food system transformations
This webinar focuses on the water-energy-food nexus and explores what it takes to achieve transformations in southern Africa’s food systems for more equitable, healthy, and sustainable futures. The CST’s Maike Hamann, Nadia Sitas, and Odirilwe Selomane are in conversation with Dr Inga Jacobs-Mata from the International Water Management Institute, Sherwin Gabriel from the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Steven Collins from the Resilient Waters Program.
Food system transformations
This webinar focuses on the water-energy-food nexus and explores what it takes to achieve transformations in southern Africa’s food systems for more equitable, healthy, and sustainable futures. The CST’s Maike Hamann, Nadia Sitas, and Odirilwe Selomane are in conversation with Dr Inga Jacobs-Mata from the International Water Management Institute, Sherwin Gabriel from the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Steven Collins from the Resilient Waters Program.
Food system transformations
This webinar focuses on the water-energy-food nexus and explores what it takes to achieve transformations in southern Africa’s food systems for more equitable, healthy, and sustainable futures. The CST’s Maike Hamann, Nadia Sitas, and Odirilwe Selomane are in conversation with Dr Inga Jacobs-Mata from the International Water Management Institute, Sherwin Gabriel from the International Food Policy Research Institute, and Steven Collins from the Resilient Waters Program.
Recognizing complexity
Dr Rika Preiser from the CST shares principles for recognizing the features of complex systems and discusses how these principles can assist us in engaging with sustainability challenges in practical ways. Complex adaptive systems thinking provides a way of bridging social and biophysical sciences to understand the intertwined nature of human–environment relations.
Reflections on the Ethiopian conflict
The CST’s Nina Callaghan is in conversation with Nava Derakhshani, a New York-based artist and writer. Her work explores themes of identity, belonging, and gender. During her Masters, Nava spent eight months in Tigray, Ethiopia. In this webinar, she shares her research findings on the political, historic, and spiritual ties to sustainability in the region.
Building system practitioners
Samual Njenga (Systems Thinking Africa & associate lecturer at various business schools in Africa) talks to the CST’s Dr Rika Preiser about his journey as a student of systems thinking. A key part of that journey has been a quest to build a body of systems thinking practitioners by raising awareness and equipping others with tools of systems inquiry and practice.
Systems thinking in project management
Dr Rika Preiser (CST) is in conversation with Prof Shankar Sankaran (University of Technology Sydney), Prof Nathalie Drouin (Université du Québec à Montréal and Executive Director of KHEOPS), and Prof Ralf Müller (Department of Leadership and Organizational Behavior, Norwegian Business School) about developing a Viable Governance Model for project management.
Community work in Mozambique
Zachary Lager, founder and executive director of the Local Development Catalyst Network (LDCN), reflects on over 10 years of work with rural communities in Mozambique to promote agroecological farming practices, while supporting locally led conservation efforts and enhancing access to critical resources (water, energy and food).
Business model innovation
The CST’s Dr Rika Preiser is in conversation with Walter Baets, Professor Emeritus of the University of Cape Town (UCT), and former Director of UCT’s Graduate School of Business and Allan Gray Chair in Values Based Leadership. They explore the complex aspects of business model innovation in the context of exponentiality.
Games for the Global Goals
The CST’s Dr Rika Preiser is in conversation with student activists Reinhold Mangundu, coordinator of the Progress Namibia Project, and Hans Hague, coordinator of the Namibian Youth Coalition on Climate Change. They discuss new and creative ways of using games to understand sustainability challenges.
The Age of Sustainability
Professor Mark Swilling (CST) presents his new book, “The Age of Sustainability: Just Transitions in a Complex World”. He discusses his work with Professor Edgar Pieterse from the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, and Professor Johan Schot from the Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges. Moderated by Dr Rika Preiser.
Developmental entrepreneurship
In this webinar, Phumlani Nkontwana (Fuata Africa), Dr John van Breda (CST), and Prof Johan Burger (School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University) discuss sense-making of system changes for entrepreneurship-led development. Moderated by Dr Rika Preiser.
Financing SA’s energy transition
In this webinar, Dr Nthabiseng Mohlakoana and Dr Rika Preiser from the CST are in conversation with Dr Chantal Naidoo from the University of Sussex (UK). Dr Naidoo presents her research on the role of financial systems in sustainability transitions, focusing on the energy transition in South Africa between 1994 and 2019.
Imagining biodiversity futures
Dr Rika Preiser from the CST is in conversation with Dr Laura Pereira (City University of London), Dr Federico Davila (University of Technology Sydney), and Dr Michelle Lim (Macquarie Law School Sydney), who present their work on imagining transformative biodiversity futures and creating a new action agenda for biodiversity conservation.
Humanity and the oceans
In this webinar, Professor Mark Swilling and Tanya Brodie Rudolph from the CST and Dr Philile Mbatha from UCT present their recent collaboration with researchers from across the world to create a Blue Paper for the High Level Panel for the Ocean on a transition to a sustainable ocean economy.
Nature in cities in times of crisis
The CST’s Dr Maike Hamann is in conversation with Dr Sumetee Gajjar from PlanAdapt and Jessica Kavonic from ICLEI Africa. They discuss the role of urban nature-based solutions in enhancing human well-being and resilience to climate change and other stressors in cities of the Global South.
Resilience in the food system
The CST’s Dr Rika Preiser is in conversation with Kenneth Carden of the SPAR Rural Hub Development project and Kevin O’Brien, as Group Sustainability and Risk Executive at the Spar Group Ltd. They discuss place-based approaches that respond to local contexts for building resilient food systems.
Resilience across borders
Piet Theron from the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park and Conservation Area is in conversation with Lola López and Dr Kristine Maciejewski from the USAID Resilient Waters Program. Moderated by Dr Rika Preiser, they discuss transfrontier collaboration for integrating conservation and livelihoods.
Navigating systemic risks
The CST’s Professor Oonsie Biggs and Dr Rika Preiser are in conversation with Kule Chitepo from the USAID Resilient Waters Program and Dr Deon Nel from the Global Resilience Partnership. They discuss strategies for building more resilient futures.
Wildlife economies and livelihoods
Dr Hayley Clements from the CST and Steve Collins from the USAID Resilient Waters Program share their insights on the risks that the COVID-19 pandemic poses for the resilience of southern African wildlife economies and livelihoods. This webinar is moderated by the CST’s Dr Nadia Sitas.
African post-crisis pathways
The CST’s Nina Callaghan and Professor Mark Swilling discuss post-COVID-19 crisis pathways for Africa, and specifically the choices that might lead towards a more resilient economic recovery. This webinar is moderated by Dr Rika Preiser.
Complexity in healthcare
This webinar sees Professor Joachim Sturmberg from Newcastle University (Australia) and Dr Bruno Kissling, a family doctor from Switzerland, in conversation with the CST’s Dr Rika Preiser about the complex interdependencies in global healthcare systems, and how to re-think health and resilience during COVID-19.
Resilient futures in the making
The CST’s Dr Rika Preiser is in conversation with futurists Tanja Hichert of Hichert & Associates and Dr Geci Karuri-Sebina from the SingularityU South Africa. They discuss the application of futures thinking and futures literacy in response to radical uncertainty.
COVID-19 – a nasty surprise?
Professor Wolfgang Preiser talks about his extensive experiences with other disease outbreaks, including the 2003 SARS epidemic, and implications for the novel coronavirus.