Talks and presentations

Invited talks

Responding to the ecological crisis: rethinking social science research and education to transform the economy. Climate Conference, Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Utrecht University, 11 April 2024.

Responding to the ecological crisis: rethinking Economics to transform the economy. Sustainability Dialogue ‘Economics, (de)growth and sustainability: interconnected or incompatible?’, Utrecht University, 7 March 2024.

Community Supported Agriculture. Panel intervention at Institutions for Open Societies Communty Day: The Future of Democracy, Panel on Bottom-up Initiatives for Sustainable Transitions, Utrecht University, 1 February 2024.

Future Food Systems: Evolution or Revolution. Keynote talk. Future Food Annual Symposium, Utrecht University, 13 December 2023.

La transformazione é negli occhi di chi guarda? Riflessioni su un concetto conteso. Public event ‘Transformation – a contested concept’, Centre for Advanced Studies, Eurac Research Bolzano/Bozen, 16 October 2023.

¿Cuál memoria colectiva para cuál futuro en Sogamoso? Reflexiones a partir de un proyecto de investigación. Public lecture, VIII Encuentro de Patriminio Cultural, Foro: El paisaje como expresíon de la cultural en le territorio, Sogamoso, Colombia, 6 October, 2023, held online.

The impact of community-led initiatives: rethinking the frame of reference. Panel session ‘Telling better stories of collective impacts of community-led sustainability initiatives’, Transfomation Conference 2023, 11 July 2023, held online

Sustainability transformation beyond capitalism: theorizing negation and affirmation in prefigurative grassroots initiatives. Research Seminar, Institute of Geography, Münster University, 30 June 2023. 

Sustainability transformation from the bottom up: grassroots initiatives in and beyond capitalism. Research Seminar, Institute Social Sciences University of Lisbon, 22 June 2023, held online.

Degrowth and agri-food systems: current debates and future research directions. Public lecture as part of the course ‘Beyond Sustainability: Theorizing Post and Anti-Capitalist Food Futures’, Wageningen University & Research, 25 May 2023.

Capitalism in Sustainability transition research: issues and approaches. Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), 6 December 2022, held online.

Las memorias colectivas, las construcciones sociales del lugar y la politica de los imaginarios del futuro en transiciones hacia la sostenibilidad en Sogamoso, Colombia. Research seminar, 7 September 2022, Red de Transiciones en América Latina y el Caribe, held online. Video recording here.

(Un)making capitalism in transformation to sustainability: The case of grassroots agri-food initiatives. Research seminar, Department of International Relations, Technical University of Darmstadt, 4 July 2022, held online. 

Unmaking unsustainability: global environmental change, capitalism, and societal transformation from the grassroots in agri-food systems. Political Ecology Summer School, 30 June 2022, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia, held online. Video recording here.

The schismogenic hypothesis: conceptualizing grassroots sustainability transformation as conscious self-determination by differentiation. Research seminar, 11 April 2022, Konrad Lorenz Institute, Vienna.

'Unmaking capitalism' per una trasformazione verso la sostenibilitá: il caso delle iniziative agro-alimentari comunitarie. Research seminar, 6 April, 2022, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento. 

Unmaking unsustainability: global environmental change, capitalism, and societal transformation. Public lecture, 4 April 2022, Collegio Internazionale, Ca' Foscari University, Venice.

Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: grassroots initiatives between wishful thinking and concrete reality. Study Association of Sociology’s Interdisciplinary Night – Climate Change, Tilburg University, 15 March 2022.

The ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of degrowth: introducing an alternative socioeconomic model, Algemene Financiële en Economische Politiek, Ministerie van Financiën, 30 November 2021, held online.

Un marco conceptual para reconocer la diversidad postcapitalista en sistemas agroalimentarios, Semillero de Investigaciones Interdisciplinarias en Cultura y Naturaleza-SIICUNA, Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, 29 November 2021, held online.

Geographical perspectives on grassroots innovations: diffusion and place-making. Geography of Sustainability Transitions Research Network Webinar Series, 19 May 2021, held online. Video recording here.

Agricultura periurbana en Sogamoso: espacios, visiones, cultura. VI Encuentro de Patriminio Cultural, Foro: Patrimonio cultural y turismo, una alianza necesaria, 9 April 2021, Sogamoso, Colombia, held online. Video recording here.

A degrowth transformation? The unmaking of capitalism in Territorio Campesino Agroalimentario Nariño and Cauca (Colombia). Research seminar, 8 April 2021, Technology, Innovation & Society group,Technical University Eindhoven, held online.

Transformation to sustainability: theoretical roots and (some) research directions. CreaTures Project Research Seminar, 9 February 2021, held online. Video recording here.

Degrowth and degrowth transition. AltVisions Festival 2020, 4 September 2020, Stroom Den Haag, The Netherlands.

The politics of (un)making sustainability transformation beyond capitalism. Transformation to Sustainability Workshop, 28 May 2020, International Social Science Council, held online.

Why sustainability transition research cannot ignore capitalism. Keynote talk. 7 May 2020, 5th Conference of the Network of Early Career Researchers in Sustainability Transitions (NEST), held online.

Unmaking capitalism in transformation to sustainability: another politics of loss and sacrifice. Occupy Cllimate Change Workshop, 6 March 2020, Environmental Humaniteis Lab, KTH, Stockholm.

Transformation to sustainability: a new Great Transformation? Research Seminar, 24 September 2019, Urban Future Studio, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Ecological Challenges and the transformation of open societies. Keynote talk. 16 September 2019, Institutions for Open Societies ‘Toogdag’, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

When system approaches hit the ground: (self-)critical evaluation of research on agricultural water use in Kazakhstan. Research seminar, 18 December 2018, Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Social Science Unit, Ghent, Belgium. 

Overcoming undesirable resilience in the global food system. Lecture, 1 November 2018, Earth System Governance Winter School, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

An elephant in the room? Sustainability transition research and capitalism. Research seminar, 16 October, 2018. Copernicus Innovation Seminar Series, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

La representación de la acción humana en modelos socioecológicos acoplados. Keynote presentation, 22 August 2018, Simposio Internacional de Sostenibilidad Ambiental: Gestión y Dinámica de Ecosistemas, Universidad de Córdoba, Montería, Colombia.

Agricultura periurbana:  el reto de gobernar espacios híbridos. Keynote presentation, 21 August 2018, Simposio Internacional de Sostenibilidad Ambiental: Gestión y Dinámica de Ecosistemas. Universidad de Córdoba, Montería, Colombia.

Agricultura periurbana: imaginarios y conflictos en Sogamoso. Lecture, 17 August 2018, School of Public Accounting, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Sogamoso, Colombia.

Agricultura periurbana y conflictos sobre el uso de la tierra: el caso de Sogamoso. Keynote presentation, 13 August 2018, symposium "Ni Urbano, Ni Rural: Sostenibilidad del Desarrollo Territorial", Faculty of Architecture Design and Urbanism and Faculty of Science and Ingeneering, Universidad de Boyacá, Tunja, Colombia.

The global diffusion of transformative innovation. Research seminar, 22 June 2018, Sustainability Transition Research Network’s Webinar Series ‘Transitions in the Global South’. With Frans Sengers.

Governing peri-urban agriculture in Sogamoso, Colombia: a critical analysis. Research seminar, 18 April 2018, Transmobilities research group, Department of Human Geography and Planning, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

Should we (un)make space for sustainability? An interdisciplinary perspective on societal transformation to sustainability. Distinguished seminar, 11 January 2018, Department of thematic studies - Environmental Change, Linkoping University, Sweden.

Transformation to sustainability from the bottom up? Place, space and scale in grassroots-led transformative initiatives. Research Seminar, 25 October 2017, Interdisciplinary Seminar Series on Human Well-being and the Environment, University College London, London, United Kingdom. 

Societal transformation in response to global environmental change: a review of emerging concepts. Research seminar, 7 June 2016, Henley Business School, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.

Between change and continuity: informal institutions and cultural models in the Colombian Andes. Research seminar, 26 January 2016, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Do informal institutions adapt to the influences of environmental and economic changes? Insights from a Colombian peasant community. Research seminar, 26 January 2015, Centre for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Michigan State University, Lansing, USA.

Agricultural adaptation to multiple stresses in Colombia: institutional change and continuity. Research seminar, 3 December 2014, School of Agriculture, Policy and Development, University or Reading, United Kingdom.

Agricultura y cambio climático en Colombia. Una mirada crítica. Research seminar, 15 August 2014, Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo (CIPADE), Universidad de Boyacá, Tunja, Colombia.

Agricultura y cambio climático en Colombia. Fundamentos criticos para una adaptación transformadora. Research seminar, 12 August 2014, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia.

Adaptation between resilience andd transformation. A Colombian case study. Research seminar, 11 August 2014, Centros de Estudios en Ecologia Politica, Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia. 

Sustainability transition of pesticide use practices: Behavioural dynamics and policy options. Research seminar, 4 August 2010, Institute of Environmental Systems Research, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany.

Torino 2006: La gestione ambientale di un grande evento sportivo. Lecture, 31 January 2005, Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy.

Selected oral presentations at conferences and symposia

* Degrowth and agri-food system transitions: a research agenda. 3rd European Rural Geography conference, 26-29 June 2023, Groningen, the Netherlands.

* Schismogenesis and prefiguration in grassroots transformative spaces. Alternative Futures and Popular Protest, University of Manchester, United Kingdom, 12-14 June 2023.

* The Schismogenic Hypothesis: Reading Alternatives to Capitalism As Processes of Conscious Self-Determination By Cultural Differentiation. 34th Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, 9-11 July 2022, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

* Unlearning as exnovation at community level: the case of community-supported agriculture farms transitioning towards solidarity payment. 14th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, 14-17 June 2022, Pisa, Italy.

* Collective memory and place framing in urban sustainability transitions. 12th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, 05-08 October 2021, Fraunhofer Institute, Karlsruhe, Germany (held online).

* (Un)making food systems beyond capitalism: the case of Territorios Campesinos Agroalimentario. Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 31 August-3 September 2021, London, United Kingdom.

Degrowth, rurality and agri-food systems: where to for this emerging research field? 8th International Degrowth Conference, 23-28 August, 2021, Den Haag, the Netherlands.

* Deep sustainability transitions beyond capitalism? 11th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, 18-21 August 2020, Vienna, Austria.

* (Un)making sustainability transformation beyond capitalism. 11th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, 18-21 August 2020, Vienna, Austria.

* De-growth as deliberate and generative ‘space making’ for post-capitalist alternatives. Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 27-30 August 2019, London, United Kingdom.

* Urbanization and ‘ordinary’ land grabbing in peri-urban spaces: evidence from the small-scale city of Sogamoso (Colombia). Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 27-30 August 2019, London, United Kingdom.

* Un-making the world in struggles for socioecological transformation. 14th Conference of the European Sociological Association, 20-23 August 2019, Manchester, United Kingdom.

* Polyhedric degrowth: On the prospect of a degrowth transformation. 13th International Conference of the European Society of Ecological Economics, 19-21 June 2019, Turku, Finland.

* Breaking out! Six propositions on the deliberate unmaking of unsustainable socioecological systems. Leverage Points 2019 Conference, 05-08 February 2019, Leuphana University, Lüneburg, Germany.

* Exploring fertile discursive spaces.  A corpus-based study of sustainability transition discourses in four civil society’s proposals. International Sustainability Transitions Conference, 11-14 June 2018, Manchester, United Kingdom.

* Adapting agricultural water use to climate change in the context of post-Soviet transformation in Kazakhstan: constraints and opportunities. Resilience 2017, 20-23 August 2017, Stockholm, Sweden.

* Degrowth and the unmaking of capitalism: beyond ‘decolonization of the imaginary. Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, 5-9 April 2017, Boston, United States of America.

* Translocal grassroots movements and the geography of sustainability transitions: the case of the Transition Towns Network. 7th International Sustainability Transitions (IST) Conference 2016 - Exploring Transition Research as Transformative Science, 6–9 September 2016, Wuppertal, Germany.

* Resilience and transformation at the margins. Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 1-4 September 2015, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

* Institutional change and continuity in an Andean peasant community facing multiple climatic and economic pressures. 11th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, 30 June-3 July 2015, University of Leeds, United Kingdom .

* Farming at the Margins in the Andes: a geography of resilience and transformation. Food Justice 2014. Knowing Food/Securing the Future, 16-17 July 2014, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom.

* Dynamics of institutional change to multiple exposures in smallholding communities in the Colombian Andes. Resilience 2014. Resilience and Development: Mobilizing for Transformation, 2-8 May 2014, Le Corum, Montpellier, France.

** Farmer responses to multiple stresses in the face of global change: Assessing five case studies to enhance adaptation. 11th International Farming System Association European Symposium, 1-4 April 2014, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.

* What factors facilitate transformation in practice? A study of the international diffusion of the Transition Network. International Conference Transformation in a Changing Climate, 19-21 June, 2013, University of Oslo, Norway.

* Environmental Change, transformation and the social sciences. International Conference Transformation in a Changing Climate,19-21 June, 2013, University of Oslo, Norway.

* Modelling human decision-making in coupled human and natural systems. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 3-7 December 2012, San Francisco, United States of America.

* Voluntary simplicity and Transition Network: a comparison of narratives, practices and strategies. 18th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, 24-26 June 2012, University of Hull, United Kingdom.

* Voluntary simplicity and Transition Network: a comparison of narratives, practices and strategies. Ecocultures 2012, 17-18 April 2012, University of Essex, United Kingdom.

* Understanding the dynamics of agents’ behaviour in Social-Ecological Systems: the integrative agent-centred (IAC) framework and its application to pesticide use. 11th conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics, 22-25 August 2010, Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen, Germany.

** Identifying barriers and opportunities for transitions towards more sustainable agriculture through system analysis. The case of Vereda La Hoya, Colombia. 9th  International Farming System Association European Symposium, 4-7 July 2010, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria.

* Not by education alone: in search for intervention strategies which can promote a more sustainable pesticide use among smallholding farmers. 8th Biennial Conference on Environmental Psychology, 6-9 September 2009, Zurich, Switzerland.

* The integrative agent-centred (IAC) framework as a conceptual tool to investigate transition processes in local agricultural systems. First European Conference on Sustainability Transitions: Dynamics and Governance of Transitions to Sustainability, 4-6 June 2009, Dutch Knowledge Network on System Innovations, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

* How do social structures influence decision-making on environmental and safety issues? The application of the IAC Framework to farmers' pesticide use in La Hoya, Colombia. International Sustainability Conference, 21-22 August 2008, University of Basel, Switzerland.

* Modeling transitions of Social Ecological Systems. Farmers pesticide use in Colombia. Resilience 2008, 14-17 April 2008, University of Stockholm, Sweden.

* Integrated modeling of farmers' decision making on pesticides' use. The case of Vereda La Hoya, Colombia. Tropentag 2007, 9-11 October 2007, University of Kassel, Germany.

Application of EMAS in Sporting Events. The Experience of the Organising Committee for the XX Olympic Winter Games Torino 2006. Technical Seminar Eco-Management and Audit Scheme: European Experiences and Best Practices, 16 May 2006, Almada, Lisbon, Portugal.

Il Rapporto di Sostenibilità come strumento di comunicazione ambientale. La comunicazione ambientale d’impresa, Associazione Analisti Ambientali and Milano Chamber of Commerce, 19 November 2004, Milan, Italy.

Torino 2006 Sustainability Reporting and the IOC OGGI Project. Olympic Games Global Impact Project - 2nd Workshop, 2-4 November 2004, Beijing, China. 

Poster presentations 

* Diffusion patterns of grassroots innovations for sustainability. Annual International Conference of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers, 1-4 September 2015, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

* What is transformation? A review of emerging concepts. 11th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics, 30 June-3 July 2015, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. 

* Sustainability assessment for decision-making in agriculture: a comparison of methods. 18th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, 24-26 June 2012, University of Hull, United Kingdom.

* An ethical framework for agricultural adaptation to climate change in the Mediterranean region. 18th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference, 24-26 June 2012, University of Hull, United Kingdom.

* Triggering sustainable agricultural production. Identifying and testing intervention strategies for a more sustainable pesticide use among smallholders in Colombia. 11th conference of the International Society for Ecological Economics, 22-25 August 2010, Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen, Germany.

* Frame conditions for a more sustainable pesticide use: evidence from smallholding potato producers in Boyacá, Colombia. Tropentag 2009, 6-8 October 2009, University of Hamburg, Germany.

* Modeling farmers' decision-making to explore transitions towards a more sustainable pesticide use. The case of La Hoya, Colombia. International Conference on Research for Development, 2-4 July 2008, University of Bern, Switzerland.