We are very pleased to announce the new RSA Research Network on Putting the ‘Just’ into Just Transitions for Cities & Regions. Congratulations to Dr Tom Barnes of the Australian Catholic University, Associate Professor Sally Weller and Professor Andrew Beer, both of the University of South Australia, Associate Professor Sandrine Labory of the University of Ferrara, Professor Marco Bellandi of the University of Florence and Professor Lisa de Propris of the University of Birmingham.
Emerging from a successful workshop in Rome in November 2022, this network aims to develop scholarship and policy on just transitions in response to industrial, environmental and technological change. The network proposes to go beyond current framings and develop concepts of just transition which combine twin transitions in ‘green’/environmental and digital/technological terms and which develop a deeper analysis of what ‘justice’ means for cities and regions in transition, including transformations in response to climate change, economic restructuring in response to deindustrialisation, as well as impacts from Industry 4.0 technologies. Through a series of international workshops, this network proposes to disseminate new findings on diverse notions of justice for policy, including concepts of procedural justice, in which structural change is perceived as ‘fair’; distributional justice, in which stakeholders are compensated for transitional costs, and; restorative justice in which remedial policies manage change without lowering economic welfare for the most vulnerable.
‘The issue of just transitions has become critical in a world undergoing rapid transformation due to climate change, technological unemployment and economic restructuring. Everything points towards the need to understand what justice—the ‘just’ in ‘just transitions’—really means for regions, cities, communities, workers and households. Understanding justice is about understanding who the winners and losers are, what can be done to address disadvantages, and by whom. In this context, we are very grateful to the RSA for supporting this timely international initiative, which promises to assemble scholars and practitioners from across the world and to publish scholarship which addresses directly what justice means now and into the future.’
RSA Research Networks are formed by RSA members interested in collaborating to examine an issue that responds to the aims and goals of the Association, and which is of interest and concern to both members and non-members. These issues need not necessarily to have a direct policy focus, but the examination would normally lead to policy-related conclusions.
The Research Network must be organised and managed by RSA members, with all organisers remaining members of the Association throughout the entire duration of the Research Network. A Research Network is made up of individuals from different countries, although they can be from any membership category. The full Terms and Conditions governing this grant are available in the Research Network Handbook.
The maximum funding for Research Network is:
- £10,000 (c. $13,300; c. €11,800) for newly established networks;
- £7,500 (c. $10,000; c. €8,900) for renewing networks.
Application deadline: 26th October 2023