latest news & announcements

RECOMS was in Barcelona!

A writing retreat was something most of us were looking for in the past several months. For a variety of reasons: some wanted to have time and space dedicated specifically to cracking that stubborn article-in-the-making, some longed for a change of scenery to feel inspired and bring that inspiration to finishing up their PhD projects, some, quite frankly, had never been to Barcelona and wanted to go. Going anywhere was not an option for many of us in the past year and a half; neither was saying a proper good-bye to each other and to the ITN.

Healing the Soil of our Democracy

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It’s becoming more and more clear to me that we all have a lot of work to do. Unable to travel home over the past year, I’ve watched from afar as my fellow citizens have become increasingly hurt, divided, scared, and angry. In the midst of what sure seems like chaos, how can we possibly begin to heal? How can we build community?

RECOMS reflections, holiday edition

This year has been a feast of the bizarre. It turned out, there’s little control one has over their life and, regardless of how rich one’s imagination is, life always has something up her sleeve. Things that were supposed to happen never did, and the ones that no one had even imagined in their wildest dreams became a part of everyday life. In Russian we say: “Human plans but god decides.” And “god” here is simply a placeholder for anything bigger and greater than a human. Which is plenty. 

Brussels calling - The RECOMS Confex is coming to town

Confex

The RECOMS Confex (Conference and Exhibition), 'Spaces of Possibility: communities and places in times of social and environmental uncertainty’ is going to take place in Brussels between 7 and 11 June 2021 in the premises of Parckfarm and VAC Herman Teirlinck. The event will offer various sessions and formats to enable discussion and interaction in relevant topics, for which soon an open call for contribution is presented. Stay tuned and regularly check the Confex website here: https://recoms.eu/content/recoms-confex

New viewpoint article: Planning for Food Commons in the post-COVID world

While many were worried about the supplies of toilet paper in the early stages of the pandemic, those of us who had been sounding the alarm on global food system vulnerabilities began to fear that much worse shortages were coming. Early estimates suggested that the number of people around the world who experience food insecurity would double in 2020.

Voices of the future

In her post, Ina introduces two collections of stories. Karen O’Brien from the University of Oslo and colleagues have collected stories in the book ‘Our Entangled Future’, where the authors raise awareness of not only what is happening in the world, but to how it may be experienced by others, both now and in the future mostly in terms of climate change emphasising that stories can change our world.

Fieldwork lesson: Everything is a skill

Fieldwork is exciting because for once you get to leave your desk and try to apply in the real world what you've been reading about for the past however months. Fieldwork is scary, too, because for once you get to leave the comfort of the desk and go interact with the real world. So many thoughts crowd your consciousness, and as the day of departure approaches, you find yourself so emotionally agitated, that the only thing you want to do is to get over with the whole ordeal. Some things are transient, some inevitable, and for certain disciplines fieldwork falls into the latter category.

Of All the Monsters under My Bed - Prologue

At the end of the day, in each other’s company are always only I and the monsters under my bed. Some of them come out regularly screaming for my attention, while others have laid dormant for years biding their time for a perfect moment to jump out and stoke fears in me: fears of failing, of not being good enough – never being so, of letting others down, of recognizing those selves in me whom I’ve tried to undo, remake, or even reject.  Fears of those fears; fears of discovering new monsters.

When a network and its training go online

RECOMS Training Event 5: Doctoral School: Coupled Social-Ecological Systems and Complexity took place online via Zoom (22 – 31 July 2020) with an extension of an optional writing retreat until 5th August. The event was hosted and co-organized by the Rachel Carson Center, LMU. During the training, all 15 Fellows participated, as did mentors representing all beneficiaries, the RECOMS partners, and also four external presenters and trainers. 

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