Institute for Global Sustainable Development » IGSD News (tag [Resilience])

Horizon Europe SHAPEDEM-EU Final Review with the European Commission

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 10:46:00 GMT

The Horizon Europe SHAPEDEM project concludes with its final review conference on 20 January 2026, with the European Commission. The consortium, comprising 12 partners from Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Lebanon, Poland, Spain, Ukraine, and the UK, represented by the University of Warwick, presented its work to the panel of evaluators. The project focused on assessing the understanding and practices of democracy in the eastern and southern neighbourhoods, as well as the EU support for democracy as a composite stakeholder. Warwick was responsible for undertaking work - fieldwork and analysis - in the six countries in the eastern neighbourhood (WP2), drawing on the results of online surveys, focus groups, interviews, and roundtables. WP2 specific outputs included 8 published, submited and projected publications.

It has been three challenging years of research, including overcoming the obstacles of BREXIT, Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine, Belarus civil war, Gaza war, and increasing geopolitical complexity around the globe. Yet, the project went beyond all expectations and has achieved a lot, including critiquing and offering specific recommendations to the EU on how best to support democracy efforts in around the globe. Team Warwick – including Anastasiia Kudlenko and Aijan Sharshenova – is grateful to the EU, UKRI and especially to the consortium and its leadership – for the support, and inspiration. Thank you!

Professor Korosteleva participated in roundtable discussions in Parliament, 10 December

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:38:23 GMT

Professor Korosteleva was invited to private conversations with John Smith Trust Fellows in Parliament, followed by a roundtable to discuss the future of Belarus and the UK Strategy, organised conjointly by Belarus APPG and JST Foundation. It involved members of parliament, government, various think-tanks, NGOs and 10 JST fellows from Belarus, as future leaders of the programme.

12th Exploratory Symposium in Rapallo, 26-29 October

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 18:58:00 GMT

EISA organised its 12th exploratory symposium in Rapallo, on the coast of Italy, to host 5 selected workshops over three nights, to explore research themes, to present papers, consider funding opportunities and publications. Professor Korosteleva was invited to participate in 'Resilience, complexity and relationality: A comparative analysis of resilience policies, practices and narratives in China and Europe'. The workshop was convened by Dr Julia Trombetta (Nottingham Ningbo), and in addition to Elena, also included Profs. David Chandler (Westminster), Emilian Kavalski (Tampere), and Liv Nielson (EUI/SDU). The workshop explored various aspects of resilience, and focused on unpacking resilience as anticipatory governance and mobilisability of society.

16 October: Warwick Sustainability Forum - a follow-up event

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 15:54:00 GMT

The Sustainability Spotlight, together with IGFSD colleagues, had a follow-up event at WBS, to hear research initiatives from sustainability champions, and to discuss how best the spotlight can support them, in the course of the year. Initiatives came from PAIS, WBS, WMG, Stats, Law, and Economics, offering such a breadth and depth of sustainability research across the university! Thank you to all who joined us on the day, and to Cher and Tanya - for such an efficient (and yummy) organisation and lunch!

3 July 2025: Warwick Sustainability Forum

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:00:00 GMT

In its second iteration, the Warwick Sustainability Forum (WSF) brought together a passionate community of researchers with a focus on sustainability across and beyond Warwick, to collectively plan our actions towards addressing global planetary challenges in 2025/26, and to discuss the next BIG ISSUES for the sustainability agenda, regionally, nationally and internationally. The WSF was attended by nearly 60 researchers from across all Faculties representing many disciplines, to:

To report on the Sustainability Spotlight KPIs for 2024/25 premised on Sustainability Spotlight Report 2024: Time to Talk.
To take stock of new ideas and priorities for the Sustainability Spotlight 2025/26, and identify champions to lead them
To collectively discuss the NEXT BIG ISSUES for sustainability for the UK and globally, in conversation with a higher-level roundtable.
To develop an Action Plan for 2025/26 – for finalisation in September 2025

The Sustainability Spotlights leads reported about the year's activities, challenges and achievements. Their presentations were continued with reflection and action sessions, planning 2025/26. The WSF also involved external stakeholders, including from partner universities in Uzbekistan (Akram Umarov UWED), Azerbaijan (Nargiz Ismayilova, ADA University) and India (Seema Mundoli, Azim Premji University), to shape the next year's agenda together. It concluded with a high-level roundtable, masterfully chaired by Stuart Coles (WMG), to discuss the next BIG Issues of the sustainability agenda, locally and globally. The speakers included Lord Teverson, Dr Kathryn Magnay (EPSRC), Fajli BIB (GSI), Julie Walden (E.ON), Margot James (Coventry Climate Change Board), and Muneeba Amjad (Warwick SU). Thereafter people continued their conversations and networking on a FAB terrace, enjoying beautiful weather and wine reception!

The WSF will produce a ‘From reflection to action’ report 2024/25, outline ideas for the 2025/26 Action Plan and identify champions for 2025/26 (to become new members of the Steering Group). We conclude this year's forum on a positive note, with a high appraisal from the University Review Board, and a lot of achievements to celebrate. We look forward to the next year, and thank all those who got involved with us this year - especially Sustainability Steering Group members! - Sustainability Professional Support Team - Cher Zou and Tanya Liguori - and our Facilitation team - Christine Bell and Amelia Wakeford.

For more information please visit the WSF page here.

Dr Pitidis attends the European Urban Resilience Forum 2025

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 09:21:00 GMT

Dr. Vangelis Pitidis attended the European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) 2025, in Rotterdam from 25–27 June. As a leading expert in urban resilience and territorial governance, with experience in leading project in Latin America, Africa and particularly Europe, Dr Pitidis had a chance to meet city representatives, academics and other urban practitioners and discuss teh progress of urban resilience as well as the that need to be addressed in order to consolidate and promote it aross Europe. Hi attendance provided a strategic opportunity to strengthen IGSD’s presence within key European policy networks, such as the ones represented in EURESFO 2025, jointly organised by ICLEI Europe and the European Environment Agency. The event has been truly informative, including keynote speeches, mobile workshops and knowledge exchange events and has been a a great success!

3 June 2025: 'Manufacturing and Circular Economy' conference organised by IGSD, WBS, and WMG was a great success!

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 09:22:00 GMT

Warwick’s Sustainability Spotlight, in partnership with WMG, WBS, and IGSD delivered a dynamic workshop at The Shard, London. Themed as 'Manufacturing and Circular Economy', the event brought together leaders from industry, businesses, academia, and policy to explore practical solutions for circular economy and sustainable manufacturing in a rapidly changing global context. The workshop was designed to foster open dialogue, shared learning, and actionable outcomes. Through a structured series of conversations, attendees shared insights and examples of best practice, creating space for collaboration across sectors and disciplines. Delegates were encouraged to take away tangible strategies - as part of the CE TOOLKIT, fostered by Warwick - that could be applied immediately in their own organisations and communities.

The workshop attracted over 80 participants, and spotlighted Warwick's research and impact leadership in CE, business sustainability and manufacturing. The event has an open padlet for anyone who wishes to contribute their thoughts further. It will produce a report and a series of policy recommendations for the government CE TASK Force, to encourage further thinking about how to put CE to practice.

The organisers are very grateful to the Sustainability Spotlight Professional Support Team, and to Christine Bell from the Facilitation Centre.

The Unbroken Generation book launch at the UCL conference in London, 9 May 2025

Fri, 09 May 2025 07:47:00 GMT

The WUB-hub project organised a book launch in London as part of the annual conference of Belarusian Studies in the XXI century. The book The Unbroken Generation: Youth Voices of Belarus 2020, a collection of student essays describing their experiences of being imprisoned during Belarus's political protests in 2020, was presented by Professor Elena Korosteleva, along with with Dr Paul Hanbury, Yahor Azarkevich and Ihar Ivanou, from Skaryna Press. The volume edited by Professors Victor Shadurski and Elena Korosteleva, was supported financially by the WUB-hub project, and was warmly received at the conference.

Details of the book can been found on the Skaryna Press website here. You can also download a free PDF version from the publisher's website.

Research Celebration 2025: congratulations to Prof. Elena Korosteleva and Dr Paul Hansbury

Tue, 06 May 2025 13:48:00 GMT

Warwick Research Culture: Research Celebration 2025 – Congratulations to Professor Elena Korosteleva and Dr Paul Hansbury

Elena and Paul have been honoured with a “Highly Commended” award for establishing the Warwick Ukraine-Belarus Hub, which employs interdisciplinary insights to advance policy recommendations and support stakeholder interaction. Under Elena’s and Paul's leadership, the Hub has improved understanding of Belarus-Ukraine relations through higher-level webinars, targeted policy briefs, podcasts, film screenings and debates, and two international conferences at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Whitehall. The WUB-hub also raised awareness and offered policy advice to the UK FCDO, the EU institutions (EEAS, EU Parliament and Commission), NATO PPD, and established collaborations towards the European Belarus Forum, and its key stakeholders.

Further details here: Warwick Research Celebration 2025 Winners

Professor Korosteleva's interview with the Monocle Daily has gone live!

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 16:41:00 GMT

Professor Korosteleva was interviewed by the Monocle Daily to talk about complex geopolitics of the world, and the challenges it poses to sustainability and international order.