Institutions for Open Societies
Bottom-up Initiatives for
Societal Change |
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Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change Newsletter |
Dear members of the Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change Platform,
Welcome to our third quarterly newsletter! In this edition, we would like to share with you some updates about our platform: the results of the three research projects we funded, news from our platform members, the past events during block 2, and our upcoming events.
The first seminar, titled 'Entrepreneurs as Initiators for Sustainable Societal Change', is scheduled for 4 April. We also like to invite you to the PhD defense of our platform member Damion Bunders on 15 March. Please make sure to mark these and the other dates of our upcoming activities in your diaries!
Your engagement with our platform is greatly appreciated! Please feel free to forward our newsletter to interested colleagues. If you received this newsletter via a colleague and want to receive your own, click on this link and select our platform to subcribe.
Enjoy the coming spring and all the best,
The core team of the IOS platform Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change
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UPDATES FROM THREE FUNDED PROJECTS
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Entrepreneurs as Initiators of Sustainable Societal Change: An Oral History Approach
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With financial support of Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change a research proposal has been compiled. This proposal focuses on a study of actions and perceptions of Dutch entrepreneurs regarding sustainability issues since 1987.
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By interviewing innovative, social entrepreneurs, as well as a selection of game changers in incumbent industries, we want to enlarge insights in how societal change is initiated and the role of entrepreneurs in these processes. The theoretical point of departure is the Deep Transitions framework, which conceptualises the sustainable transition of the presently unsustainable systems of our society. The interviews are to be recorded, transcribed and stored for future research and education on entrepreneurship in sustainability transitions. The project’s partners are the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam, which will act as the archival depository for the output, and the Netherlands Economic Historical Archives (NEHA). The next step in this research will be a pilot study.
Bram Bouwens, Marten Boon and Joost Dankers (GKG).
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Climate-Cultures as Key to Bottom-up Initiatives (Cli-Culture) |
Under the project “Climate-Cultures as Key to Bottom-up Initiatives (Cli-Culture)”, funded by Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change during December 2023, we have organized four thematic sessions on “climate-cultures and community-led adaptation” in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. These workshops established a reading club on ‘climate cultures’ in partner countries. The next seminar is planned for 12 April 2024 at Ohio State University, USA.
More information on the project and the researchers involved can be found on the website. Visit the website and the event page of the seminar via the buttons below.
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Reimagining Maps for Justice and/or Sustainability |
Between September and December 2023, we executed our research project on imaginaries of justice and sustainability at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development. This project was realised with funding from the Bottom-up Intiatives for Societal Change platform.
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In communities concerning sustainability and justice, we noticed a proliferation of online ‘collections’ and ‘maps’. These collections are brought to life through research projects, grassroots movements and other initiatives, organising knowledge on diverse other initiatives, projects, conflicts and movements that concern transitions to justice and sustainability. Examples are the Atlas of Utopias, the Global Atlas for Environmental Justice and the Global Tapestry of Alternatives. Often, these spring from bottom-up initiatives. Being accessible online, we explored these online collections and maps and how their ideological commitments are reflected in the way they organise and represent knowledge on justice and/or sustainability. Among many things, we found links between maintenance and funding structures, but also degree of participation and centralised moderation logics. Finally, together with a cluster of computational artists, we reimagined how these collections and maps can represent knowledge in ways that afford the commitments of these initiatives in the first place.
Bethany Wilson (Graduate), Alexandra Follador (Graduate), Anestis Amanatidis (Innovation Studies), Flor Avelino (Innovation Studies).
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Bottom-up Creation of a Research Agenda for High Blood Pressure during Pregnancy in Ghana
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Diseases associated with high blood pressure during pregnancy, also known as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy such as preeclampsia, are among the major causes of maternal and neonatal mortality globally.
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| Research is vital to improve the quality of care and improve the health of pregnant women and their babies. However, the priorities of women and health professionals are not always reflected in the research agendas set. Therefore, between January and August 2024, the Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Priority Setting Partnership (HDP PSP) is taking place in Ghana. (...) |
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15 March: PhD Defence 'Gigs of their Own: Can platform cooperatives become resilient?' |
You are warmly invited to the PhD defence of Damion Bunders on 15 March 2024 at 10:30 in the Senaatszaal of Erasmus University Rotterdam. Visit the eventpage for more information about the dissertation and location.
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Karin Geuijen about the 'Spreidingswet' at EenVandaag |
On the 22nd of January, our colleague Karin Geuijen spoke at the television programme EenVandaag about the Spreidingswet, a Dutch statute that intends to improve immigration processes by better distributing asylum seekers across municipalities in the Netherlands. Karin exhorted municipalities to seize this new opportunity to improve immigration in their areas together with their community. A great example of such a community collaboration is 'de Thuisgevers'.
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4 April 2024 (16:00-17:30): Seminar 'Entrepreneurs as Initiators of Sustainable Societal Change'
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On the 4th of April 2024, between 16:00-17:30, our third interdisciplinary seminar titled “Entrepreneurs as Initiators of Sustainable Societal Change” will take place at Kromme Nieuwegracht 80, room 1.06. We will have a presentation by Johan Schot, as well as Joost Dankers and Bram Bouwens.
Johan Schot will explore the role of niches in the societal challenges we face today, by presenting 'Radical transformations in Deep Transitions' perspective'. He argues that radical transformations only can only occur, develop and be successful within local contexts. Linkages to existing interests are imperative.
Joost Dankers and Bram Bouwens will present their project 'Entrepreneurs as initiators of sustainable societal change; an oral history approach', an oral history project that focuses on the views, actions and development of sustainability issues of Dutch entrepreneurs from the perspective of the Deep Transition framework.
Please save the date in your agenda and register for the seminar using the link here. You can visit the event page via the button.
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Join the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Monthly Meetings!
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The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Research Community at Utrecht University continues to thrive, and we are happy to welcome all ecosystem friends to join our series of monthly meetings, where we delve into various topics around entrepreneurial ecosystems.
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| You can join the meetings on the following Fridays from 12:30 to 13:30: 15 March, 26 April, 17 May, 28 June. Visit the newspage for more information on location and how to apply. |
14 March: Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau (SCP) Symposium 'Mirror of Society, now and in the future'
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| To finish off their 50th anniversary, the Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau organises the symposium 'Mirror of society, now and in the future' on the 14th of March 2024. The event is in Dutch. Visit the SCP website for all the information about the symposium. |
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IOS Community Day: Our Session with Pathways to Sustainability |
On the 1st of February, Bottom-up Initiatives for Societal Change organised a breakout session at the IOS Community day. The session aimed to foster connections between our platform and research communities within the strategic theme Pathways to Sustainability (PtS), by focusing on bottom-up sustainability initiatives such as energy cooperatives, sustainable entrepreneurship, or food forests.
Read the full report via the button below! |
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Peter Lugtig's Citizen Science Methods Workshop |
On the 13th of February, Peter Lugtig conducted a methods workshop on citizen science as an empirical method for studying social phenomena. The workshop introduced participants to citizen science, explained its nature, advantages and disadvantages, and provided examples of citizen science research. Following the workshop, there was a lively discussion among the attendees on how to apply such methods to research bottom-up initiatives.
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Invitation to Display Your Work |
If you want to share your recent publications, research projects, news, or events related to the Bottom-up Initiatives theme with the UU platform members, please send us an email.
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Contribute to our Methods or Seminar Series! |
Throughout the year, we organised periodical methods workshops and seminars and will continue to organise them in the future.
Do you have a method you want to learn in one of our workshops? Or are you familiar with a method relevant to bottom-up intiatives and which you want to share with other platform members? Please email our workshop coordinator Rense Corten! Are you interested in presenting your research and discuss this in an interdisciplinary context? Please email our seminar organizer Karin Geuijen! |
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Opportunities for Collaboration |
| Do you have an idea to contribute to the platform and organize an event related to Bottom-up Intiatives for Societal Change? (e.g. a colloquium, symposium, or workhop) We like to hear from you! We have limited funds to sponsor such events. To realise your idea, we ask for a short proposal of max. 1 A4-page with the following information: |
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- Content: what the event entails in terms of interdisciplinarity, subject (in relation to bottom-up initiatives) and methodological approaches.
- Participants: list of potential UU and non-UU scholars speaking at the event.
- Organisation: when and where the event will take place, facilities required.
- Budget plan: plan on what the funding will be used for. max. 1 A4-page.
If you need support/have questions, please reach out to the platform coordinators: Rense Corten (Social Sciences) Selin Dilli (Humanities), Karin Geuijen (Law, Economics and Governance), Matthijs Punt (Geosciences).
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