Summer School 2025 for mid-career scholars: "Justice in an interlinked world"

9 to 11 September 2025 | Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER), Dresden/Germany

Under the heading "Justice in an interlinked world: revisiting rural-urban and South-North relationships in sustainability transformations," the Summer School was dedicated to questions of justice in rural-urban and global South-North relationships towards sustainability. The Summer School was aimed at mid-career scholars. It took place from 9 to 11 September 2025 at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) in Dresden.

The burdens and benefits of, as well as the recognition and participation in sustainability transformations, remained unequally distributed across rural/urban and global South/North communities, leading to spatial injustices and peripheralization. The Summer School 2025 addressed this spatial unevenness from a diversity of justice perspectives, widening the focus from distribution, recognition, and participation to especially intersectionality and restoration.

The aim was an inter- and transdisciplinary exchange and critical reflection on socio-spatial relationships. What were the causes of (in)justices, ambivalences, and paradoxes in rural-urban and South-North relationships? What were the reasons for their reproduction and reinforcement? How could injustices be undone? These were just some of the questions that the Summer School focused on.

The interdisciplinary training and networking event provided conceptual introductions alongside presentations of empirical examples and interactive workshops to give participants the opportunity to expand their knowledge of the literature on (in)justices and spatial unevenness and learn methods of critical reflection on normative concepts. Furthermore, participants expanded their knowledge of transdisciplinary research approaches and tested methodological approaches to co-creation with societal actors, in particular artistic interventions. In addition, inspiring speakers from the sustainability sciences shared insights from their research.

This Summer School was designed for mid-career scholars. The organisers roughly defined mid-careers as academic professionals who had progressed beyond the early stages of their career but had not yet reached senior or leadership positions. They usually had several years (often more than five) of research or teaching experience, had completed their PhD, had established a reputation in their area of expertise, and often held mid to senior positions in their institutions.

Learn more about the Summer School on the corresponding event website.

Background

The Summer School "Justice in an interlinked world: revisiting rural-urban and South-North relationships in sustainability transformations" was hosted by the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) in cooperation with Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), Special Interest Group on Justice, Power and Transformative Action in Sustainability (JUPITA, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University), Thematic Group Equity and Justice (Ju-ST) (Sustainability Transitions Research Network), and the Leibniz Research Network "Knowledge for Sustainable Development".