Conference participants: 6–7 November 2025 • Augsburg
Kirsten Twelbeck
Review: International Conference “Transformations in Critical Times. Perspectives from the Environmental Humanities”
Conference participants: 6–7 November 2025 • Augsburg
Kirsten Twelbeck
On November 6 and 7, 2025, the ENB-funded International Doctorate Program “Um(Welt)Denken / Rethinking Environment” held its second International Conference, “Transformations in Critical Times. Perspectives from the Environmental Humanities” in the Sankt Ulrich Conference Center in Augsburg. It was the closing event for the first cohort of IDK PhD students (2021-2025) and the happy finale of their long and eventful journeys in the “IDK Rethinking Environment.” For the second cohort it was—so we hope–inspirational entry into an exciting intellectual landscape and an invitation to contribute to it in surprising, inspiring, thought-provoking ways.
Inside the conference room: House Sankt Ulrich, Augsburg
Kirsten Twelbeck
Approximately 70 scholars from Africa, Asia, North and Latin America and Europe contributed to the closing/opening conference of the IDK Rethinking Environment by offering new questions, ideas and critical reflection on the state and future of socio-ecological transformations in times of multi-crises and instability.
Prof. Dr. Martin Puchner (Harvard University) discussed a “Literature for a Changing Planet”
Participants contributed case studies about land transformations and government policies, explored the transformative potential of cultural artefacts, examined the power of intervening voices, discussed the practical implications of living in a digital age, and highlighted the role of agency and community as prerequisites for building a sustainable future.
More than a kaleidoscope: workshops with 3–4 short papers created real space for cross- and interdisciplinary exchange.
Bringing together a large array of topics, contexts, and methods, the conference offered much more than a kaleidoscopic view of possible themes and issues: Divided into workshops with 3-4 short papers, there was ample time to engage in a cross- and inter-disciplinary conversations.
What a great surprise!
What a nice surprise! PhD students from the first cohort presented IDK speakers Matthias Schmidt and Simone Müller as well as coordinator Kirsten Twelbeck with beautiful bouquets of flowers and a bottle of wine from a relative’s vineyard!
