Place
Vienna, Austria
Date
27 – 28th Feb 2015
Deadline
30th Nov 2014
Organized by CHESS (China and the Environment in the Social Sciences) Hosted by the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna, Austria Keynote speaker: Yu Xiaogang, Green Watershed
Submissions are welcomed for the inaugural CHESS Young Scholars Conference to be held at the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Vienna on 27-28 February 2015.
Organizers
CHESS (China and the Environment in the Social Sciences) is an interdisciplinary research network for scholars from across the social sciences with research interests relating to environmental issues in China. Both the network and the conference provide a forum for graduate students and young scholars to discuss ideas, exchange information and to strengthen professional networks across the field.
Context
China faces a multitude of environmental challenges, ranging from biophysical impacts of climate change, deforestation and water scarcity, to impacts on health and social stability resulting from pollution, land contamination and overexploitation of natural resources. Rapid industrialization and lax environmental oversight have exacerbated these problems exponentially, leaving the country in a position of acute environmental crisis and unsustainable development.
Goals
The CHESS Young Scholars Conference 2015 aims to investigate and formulate new theorizations of environmental dynamics in China through a critical analysis of actors, institutions and processes across and between spatial dimensions from the local to the international level, taking into account the political, economic and social contexts in which they operate. A key element of the conference is the broad interdisciplinary nature of its panels, drawing from across the social sciences in order to utilize a diverse array of theoretical and methodological approaches. To allow for a holistic perspective, contributions from political science, sociology, economics, anthropology, law and other disciplines addressing environmental issues in the PRC and/or Taiwan are highly encouraged.
Topics
Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:
- China on the world stage: international environmental and climate change diplomacy
- Environmental governance in rural and urban areas
- Changing roles of state, market, and civil actors
- The Chinese environmental movement: actors and trends
- Greening China’s economy: tools, policies, and marketization strategies
Options for further collaboration and possible joint publications will be discussed during the conference.
The Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS-UL), the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS) in Rome, and the Institute of Future Cities of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (IfC-CUHK) – are organizing an International Conference on “Urban Futures-Squaring Circles: Europe, China and the World in 2050” (10-11 October 2014) under the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme: UrbaChina – European Project on Sustainable Urbanisation in China. Historical and Comparative Perspectives, Mega-trends towards 2050.
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