CenSoF Co-Director, Dale Southerton, gave a keynote speech for the launch of a new PhD Programme called Innovation for Sustainability at a two-day workshop at OsloMet University in early November. Titled ‘Sustainability Transitions: Future-making and sociodigital reconfigurations’, his talk summarised some key debates related to sustainability transitions, with a particular focus on systems reconfiguration. He argued that approaches in this field have failed to adequately grasp futures, while remaining stuck on questions of scale. His presentation went on to suggest that sociodigital practices represent an ideal opportunity to engage in actual reconfigurations, to consider futures-in-the-making, and to explore ways in which big and little phenomena fold together.

The new OsloMet PhD Programme launched in September and is designed to bring together a cohort of PhDs in a transdisciplinary environment that draws expertise from practitioners and disciplines as diverse as computer science (especially AI and robotics), social science (innovation and consumption studies) and design studies (especially speculative design).