Young Scholars' Conference 2026

Please register: Keynotes at the Young Scholars' Conference 2026

We are pleased to announce our upcoming Young Scholars’ Conference “Remaking Responsibility. Environmental Harm, Care, and Accountability”, taking place from 07–09 October 2026 at our Centre.

While the call for papers is already closed (and the conference fully booked), we invite you to join us for the Keynote Address by Julia Eckert (University of Bern) on 07 October 2026, 10:00–11:45 AM, and the Closing Keynote by Barbara Muraca (University of Greifswald) on 09 October 2026, 1:00–2:30 PM.

Registration for both Keynotes: see below

About the Conference:

Responsibility is often invoked in relation to the climate crisis to assign historical blame to high-emitting nations, indict extractive corporations, or moralize individual behavior. It has become an expansive and elastic lexicon for navigating the overwhelming reality of climate change. Yet, even as the climate crisis demands new forms of responsibility, it simultaneously unsettles the very terms through which responsibility has conventionally been understood.

In this conference, we aim to explore responsibility as a contested and generative concept, shaping how environmental harm is attributed and governed, while also opening possibilities for collective care and accountability.

Organized by Philipp Jacobi, Macario Lacbawan, Laura Affolter and Marco Hohmann (Futures of Sustainability).

Preliminary Conference Program

Panels: only for invited participants
Keynotes by Julia Eckert and Barbara Muraca: Open to the Public upon Registration (see below)

Wednesday, 7 October 2026

09:30-10:00 AM, Registration & Welcome Coffee

10:00–11:45 AM, Keynote Address (Open to the Public, Registration: see below)
Welcome Remarks, Frank Adloff (Futures of Sustainability)
Julia Eckert (University of Bern): Responsibility in the Age of the Deal
Chair: Christine Hentschel (Futures of Sustainability)

11:45 AM–01:00 PM, Lunch Break, Catering on-site

01:00–02:45 PM, Panel 1: Responsiblity as Agency
Rahel Busch (Humboldt University Berlin): Tipping Points of Responsibility and Power: Positional Elite and Environmental Leadership in Times of Polycrisis
Marie Leth (University of Gothenburg): The Promises of Green Transition: The Politics of ‘Acting Responsibly’ in the Governance of Agri-Food Transition

02:45–03:15 PM, (Coffee) Break

03:15–05:00 PM, Panel 2: Law and Responsiblity
María Daniela Delgado-Álvarez (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá): Litigating Green Encryption: Carbon Credits, Responsibility, and the Limits of Law in Colombia
Felix Butz (Humboldt University Berlin): Mere Mirage? Critiquing the International Crime of Ecocide as a Project of Inadequate Responsibilisation in the Anthropocene

05:00–05:50 PM, Break and Transfer to the Harbour

05:50–07:30 PM, Harbour Boat Trip

Thursday, 8 October 2026

09:45–10:00 AM, Coffee & Small Snack

10:00–11:45 PM, Panel 3: (In)visibilising Responsibility
Julian Koptisch (University of Salzburg): Measured, Yet Unknown: More-than-Human Responsibility and the Limits of Regulatory Perception
Marco Hohmann (Futures of Sustainability): Upcycling Society: Rethinking the Material Foundations of Collective Responsibility

11:45 AM–01:00 PM, Lunch Break, Catering on-site

01:00–02:45 PM, Panel 4: Shifting Responsibility
Devendraraj Madhanagopal (Jesuit University India, Harirajur): Who bears ‘environmental harms’ and who has ‘more’ responsibility to address them? The politics of ‘shifting responsibility’ in environmental change in coastal Tamil Nadu, India
Carolin Winter (University of Wuppertal): The Berlin Blackout: A Catalyst for Responsibilisation in the Climate-Security Nexus

02:45–03:15 PM, (Coffee) Break

03:15–5:00 PM, Panel 5: Responsibility Beyond Human
Judith Henning & Steffen Popp (Klimaparlament sämtlicher Wesen und Unwesen): Climate parliament of all beings and non-beings

05:00–06:00 PM, Break and Transfer to Amargi (Valentinskamp 34a, 20355 HH)

06:00–08:30 PM, Dinner at Amargi (Valentinskamp 34a, 20355 HH)

Friday, 9 October 2026

09:45–10:00 AM, Coffee & Small Snack

10:00–11:45 AM, Panel 6: Depoliticising Responsibility
Amal Allouch (CAU Kiel): Responsibility as Epistemic Control: How “Responsibilization” Moralizes Extractivism and Secures Structural Violence
Sourish Jha (Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata): When Responsibility Works Too Well: Everydayization and the Depoliticization of Environmental Harm

11:45 AM–01:00 PM, Lunch Break, Catering on-site

01:00–02:30 PM, Closing Keynote (Open to the Public, Registration: see below)
Barbara Muraca (University of Greifswald): Responsibility as Radical Care: Learning to “Respond” from Feminist and Indigenous Traditions
Chair: Frank Adloff (Futures of Sustainability)

02:30–03:00 PM, Closing Remarks
Laura Affolter, Marco Hohmann, Philipp Jacobi & Macario Lacbawan (Futures of Sustainability)

In-Person Registration for the Keynote by Julia Eckert

Date: on07.10.2026from10:00 AMuntil11:45 AM
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Date: on07.10.2026from10:00 AMuntil11:45 AM
Gorch-Fock-Wall 3, 1st floor, right wing
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In-Person Registration for the Keynote by Barbara Muraca

Date: on09.10.2026from1:00 PMuntil2:30 PM
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Date: on09.10.2026from1:00 PMuntil2:30 PM
Gorch-Fock-Wall 3, 1st floor, right wing
27 spots remaining
Add to calendar (iCal)
E-Mail
E-Mail confirmation
First Name
Surname
Institution
Are you an employee of the University of Hamburg?
Privacy statement
I consent to the University of Hamburg, in this case: futures.of.sustainability@uni-hamburg.de, using my data for the purpose of event registration or organization and sending me the necessary information by email (e.g., the registration confirmation and cancellation link). The data will be deleted 14 day/s after processing is completed. I understand that I may withdraw my consent from futures.of.sustainability@uni-hamburg.de at any time with future effect. Revocation of my consent does not affect any previous processing of data and information. More information on data processing.