Course
Summer School: Human-Nature Relationships for Transformative Change - 3 ECTS
Registration
To apply for this summer school, please send an email to wass@wur.nl.
When applying, please write a short statement (2A4 max) to 1) introduce yourself in terms of disciplinary background and affiliation, 2) explain how you engage with HNR in your research, 3) key issues and/or challenges that you would like to engage with in the course.
The application deadline is: April 8, 2025
Date of selection: April 22, 2025
The course is a collaboration between Wageningen University, Stockholm Resilience Centre, and University of Nottingham.
What is the role of human-nature relationships (HNR) and “inner transformations” to leverage systemic change for sustainability? Respectful and reciprocal human-nature relationships are a key principle to guide the urgent process of deliberate transformative change for a just and sustainable world (IPBES 2024). This is now well established, but how to actually contribute to such change and connect views and values with change in practices and structures remains a challenge.
This PhD summer school is an opportunity to explore theories and practices of how we relate to nature and how to engage with HNR for transformative change and in research towards future sustainability. It will be held at Wageningen University, during one week in September 2025, on campus and in nearby nature, with two nights of camping.
Human-nature relationships and the potential of “inner transformation” to leverage systemic change has become a major field of exploration. This summer school aims to fill the gap in education on a postgraduate level to discuss theoretical and transdisciplinary approaches that have recently been developed in this field. In this summer school participants probe and discuss the relationships and interactions between humans and other parts of nature, how non-human nature is (re-)positioned in the human-dominated era of the Anthropocene, and what the implications are for transformative change and transformative research towards future sustainability. The course covers different schools of thought on how to conceptualize, study, and engage with the plurality of HNR. It combines theoretical diversity and depth with practical, transdisciplinary and action-oriented research methods and engagement tools towards just transformative change. Students will learn about these matters on an interactive cognitive level, as well as engage them on a personal and interpersonal level, through being, embodying, relating, acting, integrating approaches. Two days, including overnight (optional) is spent camping in the forests. Specific focus will be on approaches to leverage human nature relationships for inner transformations. While the focus is on the Global North, inspiration from visions and approaches from the Global South will be included, including indigenous knowledges systems and spiritual accounts of nature and Mother Earth.
Content is arranged around three ’cutting-edge’ themes:
- Interfaces of HNR and transformative change with a focus on the global north
- Embodied experiences and inner transformations for social, cultural and systemic change
- Tools and self-reflection on pathways towards sustainability for people and nature together
The programme will be delivered using a variety of activities and approaches to offer a holistic and integrated learning experience. In particular, the school will be immersive (prioritising experiences of natural environments), interactive (based around discursive and relational activities with other learners and the natural world), and reflective (setting aside time to acknowledge deeper processes of change within oneself).
Target group and learning outcomes
The summer school Human-Nature Relationships for Transformative Change is intended for PhD candidates across the social and environmental sciences, who focus in their research on human-nature relationships and/or transformative change, and especially the interrelationships between the two.
We are aiming for a group of participants with mixed backgrounds and research interests and experiences around HNR (in a wide sense), approaches for reconnecting people and natures, and/or associated transformative change towards sustainability.
When applying, students are asked to write a short statement (2A max) to 1) introduce themselves in terms of disciplinary background and affiliation, 2) explain how they engage with HNR in their research, 3) key issues and/or challenges that they would like to engage with in the course.
After successful completion participants are expected to be able to:
- Understand and explore different approaches to conceptualize HNR vis-à-vis transformative change, and discuss complementarities and convergences between them.
- Explore and reflect on participants own individual and cultural perspectives of nature, ecosystems, and the entanglement and interdependence of people and nature, and consider consequences for inner and outer transformation.
- Experience and apply different methodological approaches, including embodied learning, to elucidate and navigate the diversity in values, relationships, and practices.
- Assess and apply tools and approaches to strengthen and nurture HNR and associated pathways for transformative change.
- Develop a ‘community of practice’ and research network around studying and leveraging the role of human-nature relationships.
Assumed prior knowledge
MSc or similar in social science or interdisciplinary environmental sciences, including sustainability science, geography, social-ecological systems research, sociology, psychology and anthropology.
Course hours
Before starting the course, the participants are expected to do several days of self-study to read the prescribed reading and write an essay of 3–4-page reflecting on course themes and relating to own research.
The week of the course will include interactive lectures, workshops and embodied learning sessions in nature. We will start on campus but move outdoors during the first day for two days of immersive learning in a forested area close to campus. We will camp two nights to be present in nature together (non-camping options are possible). The last will include a morning excursion visiting a research project. During the week, the students will have time to reflect on their experiences and learning. The reflective diaries will serve as the basis for presentations the last day and a brief essay to be handed in after the course week.
Teaching methods
The programme will be delivered using a variety of activities and approaches to offer a holistic and integrated learning experience. In particular, the school will be immersive (prioritising experiences of natural environments), interactive (based around discursive and relational activities with other learners and the natural world), and reflective (setting aside time to acknowledge deeper processes of change within oneself).
The course will use innovative, immersive, interactive, and reflective teaching methods, including wild pedagogies and other nature-based learning methods to stimulate in-depth experiences and exchanges among participants. The different formats will inspire each other, and navigate the theoretical-action oriented and reflexive aims of the summer school. A variety of teachers from Wageningen, Stockholm Resilience Centre, Nottingham University and beyond will provide inspiration and reflection on changing human-nature relationship in the Anthropocene. The course will explicitly seek interaction between theory, transformative methods and (self)-reflection.
To stimulate active engagement and seek diversity of inputs, students are required to prepare an essay on their visions and approaches in anticipation of the Summer school. During and after the course week, participants are requested to reflect on the course reflexively, including whether, what and how they can find inspiration for their own work from the engagement with theory and tools in the summer school.
| WGS PhDs with TSP | € 300 |
| a) All other PhDs candidates b) WGS Postdocs and staff | € 650 |
| All others | € 950 |
Cancellation conditions:
The participants can cancel their registration free of charge 1 month before the course starts. A cancellation fee of 100% applies if a participant cancels his/her registration less than 1 month prior to the start of the course.
The organisers have the right to cancel the course no later than one month before the planned course start date in the case that the number of registrations does not reach the minimum.