Research areas

1. The "coming rights" of those affected by climate impacts:
   The 2015 Paris Agreement explicitly excludes a right to compensation/reparations for climate impacts suffered. Nevertheless, COP27 in Sharm el Sheik in November 2022 has seen the establishment of a fund for loss & damage, that will be operationalized by a transitional committee over the next years. Our team asks: How can the establishment of the fund for loss & damage be explained from a discourse analytical perspective? Which actor coalitions can be identified, what are their storylines and how do discourses on loss & damage change over time? How do those threatened by climate impacts fight for their rights? What are the sites of struggle inside and outside (courts, protests) the climate negotiations.
    
2. Participatory climate futures:
   How can online and face-to-face participation processes be designed in such a way that they are transformative and also contribute to adaptation to climate impacts? Which (democratic) quality criteria are suitable for evaluating participation in climate adaptation processes? In addition to participation processes, other practices of "future making" (e.g. modeling) of the other disciplines represented in the center will be investigated.
    
3. Governing digitalization for sustainability transformations:
   In September 2023, we are hosting an international, interdisciplinary conference at the University of Augsburg, which focuses on two research questions: 1. How does digitalization transform the knowledge and practices of environmental and sustainability policymaking? 2. Which forms of digitalization governance are needed to harness its potential for sustainability transformations? Co-organisers are from the German Political Science Association, the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ). Check out the call for papers which is open until 30^th April 2023.