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Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) CSDS

Past Events

Centre for Sustainabale Development Studies

An overview of significant CSDS events.

2025

New Narratives for Leaving Fossil Fuels Underground, CLIFF End-of-project Conference

The three-day CLIFF conference examined pathways to leave fossil fuels underground and advance a just energy transition. Through panels, workshops, and discussions, participants explored financial, political, and legal barriers to phasing out fossil fuels, including the role of investments, governance structures, and global power relations. The conference emphasized that the transition is not only technological but also political and cultural, requiring new narratives, stronger regulation, and shifts in financial flows. Discussions also addressed behavioural change, the influence of fossil fuel lobbying, and the role of social movements and civil society in pushing systemic transformation toward climate justice.

Liquid Entanglements: Weaving Water Stories Across the Global South Amidst Climate Change

The transdisciplinary workshop Liquid Entanglements explored how water connects colonial histories, present-day inequalities, and climate change across regions such as Cape Town, Makassar, and Amsterdam. Through academic discussions, artistic methods, and community engagement, participants examined the historical legacies of colonial infrastructure and contemporary environmental pressures affecting coastal communities. Activities included storytelling exercises, photovoice, stop-motion workshops, site visits to reclaimed coastal areas, and coral restoration. The workshop emphasized South–South knowledge exchange and highlighted the value of arts-based and situated methodologies for understanding water as a social, historical, and environmental force shaping urban and coastal futures. 

  • 11 -16 November
  • Amnda Mokoena, Emily Ragus, Ashry Sallatu, and Butet Manurunga
  • Link to blog

Waterworks: Repairing Hydraulic Modernity in Mexico City

The lecture explored the often-invisible labour of workers who maintain the complex water infrastructure of Mexico City. Drawing on a decade of ethnographic research within the public water utility, Alejandro de Coss Corzo highlighted how workers rely on embodied knowledge, improvisation, and experience to manage leaks, system failures, and uneven data availability. Their everyday decisions and adaptations continuously reshape the water network itself. The talk also addressed broader pressures such as austerity, climate variability, and aquifer overextraction. Overall, the session emphasized that understanding urban water systems requires recognizing the social and labour dynamics that sustain them, not only their technical dimensions.

Fueling the Fire: How Emotions Spark and Sustain (Climate) Activism

The two-day workshop explored the role of emotions in climate activism and social movements. It combined academic presentations, collective reflections, and practical activities, including activist walking tours around the city and discussions on the relationship between research and social movements. Key themes included the role of emotions such as anger, hope, and anxiety in mobilization, the importance of community and local struggles, and the need to build trust and collaboration between researchers and activists. 

  • 2-3 October
  • Elisabet Rasch, Martijn van Zomeren, Kristina Bogner, Harriët Bergman, Mitzi Jonelle Tan, Selçuk Balamir, Chihiro Geuzenbroek, Jutte Dessein, Ewoud Vandepitte, Tom Rowe, Linda Knoester, Fabian Dablander, Federico Salvini
  • Link to blog
  • SDG Conference
    SDG Conference 2021

    CSDS continues its efforts to organize biennial conferences on individual SDGs and their interconnections.

    The third Conference on Critical Perspectives on Governance by Sustainable Development Goals took place on the 26th and 27th of January. CSDS would like to thank the more than 1000 participants who tuned in from all over the world, as well as the more than 200 speakers for their invaluable contributions. The various conference outputs, such as the recordings of the plenary sessions, conference music, the videos of the video-pitch contest winners, and more, can be found on this page.

  • UvA Sustainable Societies Workshops
    Sustainable Societies Workshop #1 | 7 October 2021

    In order to strengthen the link between the Municipality, the University of Amsterdam and civil society, CSDS organizes workshops around topics important to the sustainable development of the city. The workshops follow a co-creation process whereby constructive discussions are organized around questions formulated by stakeholders in Amsterdam, such as the Municipality, NGO’s, politicians, business interests or citizens. Moderated by researchers from the university, the workshops aim at getting to a deeper understanding of the issues that are most important in developing better futures for Amsterdam.

  • Sustainability Dialogues
    Building Back Better in the Global South: Inclusive and Sustainable Development after COVID | 20 May, 5 - 6 pm

    This seminar aims at bridging the academic debates on sustainability with other societal actors, including citizens, practitioners, policymakers, artists, media representatives and others. Gathering scholars and non-academic speakers from multiple origins to debate cutting-edge topics in the field of sustainability studies, the seminars will provide a stage for co-learning by bridging academic and non-academic knowledge together. Topics will be selected according to demands from these actors. This bottom-up strategy will support increased engagement as topics will be related to emerging debates, special media attention, or policy demands. These topics may range from regional (e.g., national and the EU) to global (e.g., transnational, North-South).

  • Cross-Pollinations
    Post-growth Biodiversity Conservation | 2 July, 3-5 pm

    Sustainability research and teaching at the is fragmented and largely built upon the interests and initiatives of individual scholars and programme groups. The largely disciplinary embedding hereof is a strength. At the same time complementary insights from different faculties and departments can contribute to a fuller understanding of the various facets of real-world global sustainability challenges. To reflect the interconnected nature of these challenges, the traditional divides need to be overcome. CSDS inter- and intra-faculty workshops symposia will bring together and connect faculty and students of different disciplinary backgrounds by offering a unique opportunity for discussing shared interests in sustainable development.