Call for the Sixth International Conference on Degrowth!

Download the Call for the 6th conference in PDF here

The international conferences on degrowth are central landmarks and moments of convergence of the international degrowth intellectual and social movements. They offer an unique opportunity for bringing together scholars with other members of civil society and demonstrating a different way of organizing conferences. A central feature of the conferences has been direct participation and collaboration among participants.
The past international degrowth conferences have been strongly influential in defining and opening new research and political fields. They have been inspired by social movements and experiments, and developed policy proposals as well as initiatives for social experiments in a wide range of areas. And besides all this, they managed to attract significant attention from the general public and the media.
There is now a significant momentum, academic and social, around the idea of degrowth. Other conferences, research projects, courses and summer schools on degrowth have taken place in the same spirit in India, Quebec, Canada, England, Sweden, Greece, Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, the Basque Country, etc. Each of these conferences has done a lot to advance the scientific discussion around degrowth, and to make the debate publicly visible. One sign for the success of the conferences as well as other mentioned initiatives is the substantial body of research on Degrowth published in international academic journals (over 200 articles and 8 special issues that have gone through normal peer review processes). Reference books like the “A degrowth project” or “Degrowth: A Vocabulary for a New Era” have been translated in more than 10 languages.
The International Degrowth Conferences had an increasing number of participants and managed to outreach to other groups, initiatives, and movements not directly involved in the degrowth debate but working on similar issues.
Given this momentum, Research & Degrowth (R&D) together with the Support Group (SG) offers to facilitate and sustain the organization of the Sixth International Conference (foreseen for 2018). Within the plurality and increasing number of events on degrowth that we experience and participate in, we wish to develop a clear identity and philosophy for the International Conference as a regular and recognizable event where scholars, civil society and practitioners come together to update each other on their degrowth-related research and activities.

Research and Degrowth (R&D) has promoted and co-organized five International Conferences on Degrowth in:

• Paris (2008) hosted by Paris-Sud Telecom;
• Barcelona (2010) organized by ICTA at the Autonomous University of Barcelona;
• Montreal (2012) organized by the Université de Montréal, McGill University, Université du Québec à Montréal, HEC Montreal and Concordia University;
• Venice (2012) organized by Associazione per la Decrescita, Spiazzi, IUAV, Universitá di Udine, Cittá di Venezia, Arci, Kuminda and Sesterzo;
• Leipzig (2014) organized by Konzeptwerk Neue Ökonomie, Förderverein Wachstumswende, DFG-Research Group “Postwachstumsgesellschaften” at the University of Jena and University of Leipzig;
• and currently promotes the organization of the 5th conference which takes place in Budapest (2016) organized by Cargonomia, Institute of Political Ecology, Focus, ESSRG, Greendependent Institute and Corvinus University.

 

This is an open call for expressions of interest from parties who wish to organize the next conference. If you are interested please present your project in 5-10 pages, including information on:

• the general concept
• the organizing team
• a possible location
• potential dates
• organizational aspects
• a preliminary budget and possible funding sources
• a programme outline
• a general structure of the conference: which formats etc.
• potential plenary speakers
• a possible thematic “focus” of the conference with a thematic subtitle (other conferences had such a subtitle and focus, e.g. Building bridges in Leipzig 2014)
• a concept for outreach work and events beyond the conference (e.g. stream towards degrowth, degrowth week, …)
• any other relevant information.

Deadline for submission: December 15th 2016
Date on which the new Local Organizing Committee (LOC) is going to be informed about the decision: February 1st 2017
Please send your proposals to: supportgroup@degrowth.org
Ideally, if you intend to apply, please let us know so in advance, so that – in case there are any updates – we can easily let you know. However, it is not a necessary condition to let the SG know in advance.

Groups that are interested in organizing the 6th conference are invited to join a workshop held by members of the Support Group at the Conference in Budapest (http://budapest.degrowth.org/). The workshop will provide information about the organizing process and be a room for questions towards the Support Group. Further it is thought as a space for networking among potential organisers, aimed at fostering the international cooperation between them. Although joining the workshop can be helpful to develop your proposal, it is not a requirement for applying to organise the next conference.
Date: Wednesday 31 Aug, 16.30 – 18.30 (as part of the Degrowth Week, so open for anybody)
Room: Corvinus University (the exact room will be announced at a later point)

Following a list of requirements and suggestions the selection of the conference proposals will be done by the Support Group, which is composed by members of R&D and representatives of the organizing committees of the hosting institutions that organized the previous conferences. Find details about the structure and functioning of the Support Group, the list of requirements and suggestions as well as any updates regarding the Call and future conferences at: www.degrowth.org/conferences.

In the event of multiple proposals with quality, the SG will attempt to establish cooperation between the proponents, allowing for coordinated activities in different places, such as hosting national or regional conferences, or any time of events paving the process or parallel to the Sixth International Conference on Degrowth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity.

We are looking forward to receiving your proposals
The Support Group, Research & Degrowth (R&D), www.degrowth.org