A meeting between theory and practice - for change

When program directors Anke Fisher and Eva Friman welcome us to the meeting, two days of sessions lie ahead of us. Representatives from all work packages are gathered, both researchers and partners. As well as other participants who are curious about what the program works with. Since the third program meeting in October, a lot has happened within Mistra Environmental Communication.

Hopes for change

The first item on the agenda is workshops within the various work packages with the theme "hopes for change" where the participants in various forms got to discuss change within the framework of the work they do within the program. After more than a year of work in the program, the lessons are more, which may change and develop the visions for those involved. In addition, the workshop provided an opportunity to concretize the ideas that already exist in the cases that the participants work with.

- I look forward to bring these ideas for change in my work, says one of the participants when all the work packages gather to summarize the discussions.

- It was very interesting and useful to meet and share experiences from different organizations, another participant agrees.

A full afternoon

The afternoon day one continued with several parallel sessions to assess what has been and discuss the future. There were points on the schedule such as:

• Visibility and visualization – transparency and sustainability in networks of market-based organizations.
• Actor and stakeholder listening session.
• The influence of a physical environment on goal activation and sustainable behavior.
• Consultant-client interaction in the definition of ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’ in environmental and sustainability governance.
• Watching Kiruna - a reception discussion on a Czech-Swedish documentary film.

From reflection to action

Day two continued with part two of the session "The influence of a physical environment on goal activation and sustainable behavior" where Ann Eklund presents the results of a questionnaire that the participants had the opportunity to fill out the day before, which briefly examines how different room environments are perceived. The next session is a workshop on storytelling where the participants got to discuss the concept both theoretically and instrumentally based on two videos.

The last session of the day is a drop-in session where the participants get to engage in brainstorming about opportunities around think/do tanks and collaborations with different partners. Both based on their own experiences and what the people behind Acclimatize share.

- In this session, we have the opportunity to expand the work we do by taking a step back and reflecting. Think about how we are going to get where we want to go and maybe find out if we have other things we want to get to, says Hanna Bergeå who is one of those that facilitate today's session.

Ylva Hillström, curator at the Moderna Museet and Svante H. Tirén, freelance curator behind Acclimatize, say that it has been really valuable to have Mistra Environmental Communication in their work. Based on their story, several ideas are mentioned that could take place within the framework of the program in the future.

When the Zoom room is closed for the last time this meeting, the participants have many reflections to start from in the work for possible changes.

See the full schedule here.