Improving our understanding of how human-nature connection develops in the first formative years of a child’s life, could be a critical step towards ensuring our next generation is prepared to face our current and future environmental challenges. This is an argument I have made in previous blogposts (🔗) and in publications currently under review (which I look forward to... Continue Reading →
At the end of January 2026, Julia Leventon, Tereza Prášilová, Vendula Kubušková and Vojtěch Gerlich from the Department of Social Processes and Sustainability at CzechGlobe travelled to Brussels for the final conference of the Horizon Europe project SSH CENTRE – Social Sciences and Humanities for Climate, Energy and Transport Research Excellence. Over two intensive days,... Continue Reading →
At the European Climate and Energy Modelling Platform conference, held on 16-17 October 2025 in Brussels, researchers from CzechGlobe (Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences) co-organised and led a special session titled “Mainstreaming Reflexive Practices in Systems Modelling Approaches”. The event formed part of the conference’s overarching theme, “European Energy Transition... Continue Reading →
Ensuring affordable access to safe drinking water is a key sustainability and governance challenge. A new Czech study examines how land cover and watershed characteristics relate to drinking water treatment costs, offering evidence that can inform long-term water and land-use policy. Using data from surface-water utilities, the researchers found that larger systems tend to operate... Continue Reading →
Extrémní projevy počasí jako vichřice, sucho nebo povodně se kvůli klimatickým změnám i v Česku stávají čím dál častějšími. Míra dopadů těchto katastrof závisí na resilienci, tedy odolnosti společnosti a její schopnosti se s podobnými událostmi vyrovnat a předcházet jim. Nová studie Národního institutu SYRI ukazuje, že je český systém snižování rizik katastrof zatím zaměřený především na tradiční krizové řízení... Continue Reading →
From 29 September to 1 October 2025, the interdisciplinary research community engaged in archetype analysis convened for the 8th International Workshop on Archetype Analysis in Sustainability Research. Hosted at the Thünen Institute of Biodiversity in Braunschweig, Germany, the event brought together around 40 researchers, providing a dynamic forum for exchanging and advancing ideas at the... Continue Reading →
On 19 and 20 September 2025, I had the opportunity to participate in the DLGS (Dresden Leibniz Graduate School) Summer School which took place at the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development in Dresden, Germany. The theme for this year’s school was, “Shaping Spaces for Sustainability Transformation: Challenges for Policy and Planning.” The... Continue Reading →
The intensive and productive week-long first authors’ meeting for the IPBES Spatial Planning and Connectivity Assessment took place at IIASA in Laxenburg from 22–26 September 2025. The meeting brought together more than 100 experts to launch this fast-track methodological assessment, co-chaired by Peter Verburg, Maria Jose Martinez Harms, and Luis Inostroza. This assessment focuses on... Continue Reading →
On 9–10 September 2025 in Brussels, more than three dozen stakeholders from across Europe met for a two-day workshop focused on a single goal: creating a sustainable future for both pollinators and agriculture. As part of the AGRI4POL project (🔗), the event brought together policymakers, NGOs, agribusiness and farmers’ organisations, and researchers. The collaborative setting... Continue Reading →
This post shares my reflections on the role of collaboration in sustainability-focused research based on the literature and lectures from Södertörn University’s online PhD course Collaborative Research Methods. As sustainability challenges become increasingly urgent, academic inquiries have paid more attention to understanding and addressing the deep connections between ecological, social, and economic systems. In response,... Continue Reading →
In June 2025, the ISEE-Degrowth Conference took place in Oslo under the theme “Building socially just postgrowth futures – linking theory and action.” This unique event combined the 18th International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE) Conference and the 11th International Degrowth Conference, drawing over 1,200 participants from 60 countries, supported by approximately 70 volunteers. The... Continue Reading →
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Univerzita Komenského (Comenius University) in Bratislava, Slovakia to take part in the 33rd conference for the European Early Childhood Education and Research Association (EECERA). For some followers of this blog, this might seem like a slight deviation from the issues and fields we normally explore in our Human Dimensions Department. However,... Continue Reading →
From 26 May to 20 June 2025 I had the opportunity to spend four weeks at the Faculty of Geosciences at Utrecht University, where I was hosted by the Spatial Planning Group led by Prof. Niki Frantzeskaki. This research stay was made possible thanks to the TransformERS COST Action (CA22156), under which it was awarded... Continue Reading →
As the SSH CENTRE (Social Sciences and Humanities for Climate, Energy and Transport Research Excellence) project enters its final phase, members of the consortium gathered between 11-12 June 2025 for a two-day meeting at the historic King’s College, Cambridge. The event focused on writing deliverables, project reflection and strategic planning, and brought together partners to... Continue Reading →
Nový vědecký článek publikovaný v časopise Ecosystem Services pod vedením Kena Bagstada, výzkumného ekonoma z U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), výzkumníků z Ikerbasque na BC3, a dalších výzkumných ústavů včetně CzechGlobe, Senckenberg Society for Nature Research, Nagoya University, VITO remote sensing a mnoha dalších zdůrazňuje naléhavou potřebu lepší interoperability ve výzkumu ekosystémových služeb. Studie shrnuje poznatky... Continue Reading →
Ohrožení opylovačů a opylovacích služeb, které podporují zemědělství a přinášejí přínosy lidem, je celosvětovým problémem. Tento problém je uznáván ve vědeckých i politických kruzích a reflektují ho národní i nadnárodní iniciativy. Tým z našeho oddělení na Ústavu výzkumu globální změny (CzechGlobe) se stal jedním z partnerů v novém projektu, jehož cílem je pomoci zemědělství, aby se stalo pozitivní podporou biodiverzity opylovačů, opylovacích služeb poskytovaných plodinám a vedlejších přínosů poskytovaných ekosystémům a lidem.
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Threats to pollinators and pollination services that support agriculture and provide benefits to people are a worldwide problem. This is recognised by scientists, national or transnational initiatives, and even policies. A team from our department at CzechGlobe has joined a new project that aims to help agriculture to become a positive force for pollinator biodiversity, crop pollination services and co-benefits to ecosystems and people.
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Co je podstatné při procesu designování sociálně-ekologické transformace? A jak aktuálně vypadá design pro rozvoj resilience? Na tyto a další související otázky získávala odpovědi doktorandka Anna Bromová z Oddělení sociálně-ekologické analýzy v rámci tříměsíčního výzkumného pobytu na Oddělení designu při Aalto University ve Finsku. Na přelomu roku prohloubila spolupráci se svou mentorkou z mentoringového programu Národního institutu... Continue Reading →
How can we make better decisions for biodiversity on individual and institutional levels? One approach used by the PLANET4B project to tackle this question involves system mapping, leverage point analysis, and identifying key intervention points across various sectors and regions. The recently published "Report on System Mapping and Leverage Points for Each Case" presents findings... Continue Reading →
In 2022, Czech Globe in cooperation with the Institute of Informatics of the CAS completed the project "Adaptation challenges of cities: supporting sustainable planning using integrated vulnerability analysis", supported by the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. The project has developed an integrated methodology for assessing the vulnerability to future temperature extremes in cities, which... Continue Reading →
A new paper, Knowledge-Based Interventions for Sustainable Development Cooperation: Insights from Knowledge Systems Mapping in Zambia, delves into the critical role of knowledge systems within the context of international development cooperation, with a specific focus on the Czech Republic's development activities in Zambia. It was published in Sustainability Science and co-authored, among others, by scientists... Continue Reading →
Sustainable land use strategies in both urban and rural areas in Europe must be planned to meet biodiversity, climate and human wellbeing in a changing world. The PLUS Change project aims to help achieve this through a series of research activities and participatory workshops in 12 case studies from 11 EU countries. One of these... Continue Reading →
In April and May this year, the largest population of climate-vulnerable voters took to the polling booths amidst unprecedented heat waves in India. The extreme weather events brought home concerns climate activists, researchers, and journalists raised about the missing climate question in India's electoral agendas. A lot has been said about whether or not climate... Continue Reading →
SELINA (Science for Evidence-based and sustainabLe decIsions about NAtural capital) is a Horizon Europe project with the mission to provide robust practical information and recommendations on ecosystem services to stakeholders from both the public and private sectors. SELINA will develop guidance for evidence-based decision-making that supports the protection, restoration, and sustainable use of ecosystems. Through... Continue Reading →
In April 2024, a two-day workshop on Mobility Communities was held in Porto, Portugal, as part of series of workshops organised under the Knowledge Brokerage Programme within the project SSH Centre. CzechGlobe, a partner of the project consortium, was represented by Tereza Prášilová, who attended the workshop as an active observer. First day of the... Continue Reading →
A workshop on the sustainability aspect of the solidarity economy was held at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) on April 22, 2024, in Budapest. The Culture Club @ ELTE TáTK organized the workshop to increase awareness and understanding of sustainability among college, master's, and PhD students. CzechGlobe's Elif Tugba Simsek... Continue Reading →
This blog post summarises a recently published article Understanding the role of biodiversity in the climate, food, water, energy, transport and health nexus in Europe by Kim et al. 2024, also co-authored by the Czech Globe team represented by Romana Jungwirth Březovská, Simeon Vaňo and Alejandrina Viesca-Ramirez. This work is part of the wider activities... Continue Reading →
FoSTA-Health is a project where Lenka Suchá and Aneta Seidlová from CzechGlobe, along with partners from the University of Leeds, contribute to the research components focused on the on-ground food systems transformation in Tanzania and Malawi. They are specifically interested in how the food systems transformations are framed by the small-scale farmers who are most... Continue Reading →
The PLUS Change project aims to develop strategies and decision-making processes for land use that effectively address challenges related to climate change, biodiversity, and human well-being. The project involves interventions across diverse political, economic, societal, material, and cultural contexts, involving actors at multiple decision-making levels including the individual, land management, planning, and policy levels. This... Continue Reading →
V letech 2021-2023 realizoval Ústav výzkumu globální změny AV ČR ve spolupráci s Katedrou rozvojových a environmentálních studií Univerzity Palackého a organizací Člověk v tísni projekt Coop4Wellbeing, který byl podpořen Technologickou agenturou České republiky z programu Éta. Projekt Coop4Wellbeing byl založen na několikastupňovém participativním procesu, který kombinoval výzkumné aktivity v České republice se sběrem dat v Západní provincii... Continue Reading →
Public support strongly impacts social change. This has been shown by Elinor Ostrom, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. At the same time, one of the key factors in the sustainable transformation of societies is the people’s action. Previous research has proven that the lack of popular backing can hinder the adoption... Continue Reading →
In the week of 23-27 October 2023, the Department of Human Dimensions of Global Change was represented at two events in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, as part of the ongoing activities of the PLANET4B project. The 2023 Radboud conference on Earth System Governance brought together different scientific disciplines and stakeholders from different sectors to connect science... Continue Reading →
Zajímavou součástí vědecké práce Oddělení sociálně-ekologické analýzy byl červencový participativní workshop na mezinárodní Letní škole v Josefově. Studentky divadelních oborů z Česka, Slovenska a Polska si na něm osvojily stěžejní poznatky výzkumu sociálně-ekologické resilience a získaly příležitost je ihned aplikovat při tvůrčí kooperativní imaginaci resilientních budoucností. Anna Bromová a Lenka Suchá tak při workshopu s názvem „Connective energy, collective... Continue Reading →
Ve dnech 31. 8.-1. 9.2023 v Litomyšli proběhl závěrečný workshop projektu Coop4Wellbeing, který dlouhodobě usiluje o propojování české rozvojové spolupráce (ZRS ČR) a sociálně-ekologického výzkumu v Západní provincii Zambie. Cílem závěrečného workshopu bylo: Představit realizátorům ZRS ČR klíčová zjištění terénního výzkumu v Zambii Společně diskutovat tyto výsledky a jejich praktické využití při designu a implementaci rozvojových... Continue Reading →
Elba is the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest one in Italy. Its terrain is very diverse, with the eastern and western areas being largely mountainous and most of the large cities concentrated in the central flat; some 31 309 permanent residents inhabit the seven communes of the island. One... Continue Reading →
In the Horizon Europe-funded project BIONEXT, European changemakers are exploring new visions for nature-centered Europe for 2050. In the first out of three BIONEXT workshops, in May 2023 in Greece, changemakers from different backgrounds created visions of what a nature-centred Europe can look like in the year 2050. Who are the changemakers participating in BIONEXT... Continue Reading →
In April-May 2023 FoSTA-Health researchers participated in scoping activities in Zambia and Malawi. Our CzechGlobe team member, Lenka Suchá, joined our other colleagues from the consortium for one week in Malawi. The primary aim of the scoping visit was to gather background information about one-health and food systems transformations in order to refine our research... Continue Reading →
Archetypová analýza je metodologický přístup ke studiu složitých sociálně-ekologických systémů a vzájemného působení jednotlivých částí těchto systémů. Například zemědělské systémy pěstování plodin jsou procesy, které vyžadují lidskou činnost i specifické prostředí, ale napříč regiony existuje široká škála biofyzikálních atributů, zemědělských postupů nebo společensko-politických organizací a dalších faktorů, které tyto systémy utvářejí a které vykazují jedinečné,... Continue Reading →
Beyond economic growth in sustainability debates. We quite often witness heated disputes on the direction of sustainability transitions. These debates are slowly making its way also to popular spaces and the media, often distorted and biased. Within this discourse, there are two recognisable ideological streams: one representing the proponents of ...
Po roce se do Západní provincie v Zambii vydaly v rámci projektu Coop4Wellbeing výzkumnice z CzechGlobe, Lenka Suchá, Zuzana Harmáčková a Aneta Seidlová, spolu s kolegy z Katedry rozvojových a environmentálních studií Univerzity Palackého a z organizace Člověk v tísni. Tým se věnoval prohlubování výzkumu klíčových témat, která jsou důležitá jak pro život místních lidí... Continue Reading →
Výzkumníci a výzkumnice z CzechGlobe jsou součástí národního výzkumného konsorcia zkoumajícího dopady systémových rizik na společnost a ekonomiku. SYRI (Národní institut pro výzkum socioekonomických dopadů nemocí a systémových rizik) je virtuální vědecký hub, který sdružuje odborníky z Masarykovy univerzity, Univerzity Karlovy a ústavů Akademie věd ČR. Vznikl jako reakce na zjištění, že současné výzvy (včetně... Continue Reading →
CzechGlobe researchers are part of a national research consortium investigating the impacts of systemic risks on society and the economy. SYRI (National Institute for Research on the Socioeconomic Impact of Disease and Systemic Risk) is a virtual scientific hub that brings together experts from Masaryk University, Charles University and institutes of the Czech Academy of... Continue Reading →
What are the possible solutions that would help remove barriers to landscape change and transition towards sustainable land management from the perspective of local stakeholders? In February 2023, we held the last round of Just Scapes participatory workshops. For the past two years, we have been doing research focused on possible landscape and land management... Continue Reading →
Odborníci z CzechGlobe se připojují k mezinárodnímu konsorciu zkoumajícímu, jaké cesty by nám mohly pomoci transformovat řetězce mezi těžbou, výrobou, spotřebou a obchodem tak, abychom dosáhli pozitivních výsledků pro klima a biologickou rozmanitost. Nový čtyřletý projekt TRANSPATH je financován z programu Evropské unie pro výzkum a inovace Horizon Europe. Pomůže identifikovat intervence a body působení... Continue Reading →
Experts from CzechGlobe are joining an international consortium to study what pathways could help us transform the chains between extraction, production, consumption and trade, to achieve positive outcomes for climate and biodiversity. The new four-year project, TRANSPATH, is funded by the European Union’s research and innovation programme Horizon Europe. It will identify leverage points and... Continue Reading →
V rámci projektu Coop4Wellbeing jsme na přelomu ledna a února 2023 vyrazili spolu s kolegy a kolegyněmi z organizace Člověk v tísni a Katedry rozvojových a environmentálních studií Univerzity Palackého na druhou výzkumnou cestu do Zambie. Během měsíčního pobytu v oblasti kolem města Mongu, regionálního centra Západní provincie, jsme pokračovali s výzkumnými aktivitami započatými v únoru 2022. Kromě prohlubování našeho poznání... Continue Reading →
At the end of January and the beginning of February 2023, we embarked on our second Coop4Wellbeing project research trip to Zambia together with colleagues from the NGO People in Need and the Department of Development & Environmental Studies at Palacky University. During our month-long stay in the area around the city of Mongu, the... Continue Reading →
Odborníci z CzechGlobe se připojují k předním evropským vědcům, aby poskytli praktická a účinná řešení pro řešení globální krize biodiverzity. Nový čtyřletý projekt BIONEXT, financovaný z programu EU pro výzkum a inovace Horizon Europe, přinese nové poznatky demonstrující, jakými způsoby je biologická rozmanitost základem všech aspektů života, včetně vody, kterou pijeme, potravin, které jíme, a... Continue Reading →
Experts from CzechGlobe are joining leading scientists from across Europe to provide practical and effective solutions for addressing the global biodiversity crisis. The new four-year project, BIONEXT, funded by the EU’s research and innovation program Horizon Europe, will produce new evidence to demonstrate how biodiversity underpins every aspect of life, including the water we drink,... Continue Reading →
A new paper has been published in Nature Sustainability in which an international team of authors led by Guido Caniglia of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research explore the use of practical wisdom and virtue ethics in knowledge co-production in sustainability science. Practical wisdom and virtue ethics strengthen the capacity of sustainability... Continue Reading →
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