There are many temporal worlds. The strict march of the workplace; the farmer waiting for seeds to sprout in soil; and the magnetic sensing of birds flying north in winter. There is the slow inheritance of time, too: the centuries it takes for industrial fumes to clog the atmosphere, warm the seas, and return as flood. And the months spent carrying the aftermath. There are tense moments between job security and joblessness, and the long lag of paperwork stacks in pursuit of urgent change. And there is another rhythm still: of hope, of music – of uhadi and mbira and drum – and of the time regeneration requires, of land and soul.

In November last year, the Environmental Learning Research Centre (ELRC) slowed down to reflect on time, hosting a British Academy (BA) workshop on ‘Time for a Just Transition’. Joined by visiting Professor Keri Facer (University of Bristol), ELRC staff and students interpreted their research and study areas through the lens of time, investigating how it influences the ways we think about education, sustainability, social justice, energy transitions, and climate adaptation.

The broader BA project, spearheaded by Facer, brings together scholars from six continents and 14 disciplines to transform our understanding of the role of time and timing in producing justice and injustice in sustainability transitions. Several ELRC scholars are co-researchers in the project, including ELRC postdoctoral researcher Dr Sarah van Borek, PhD scholar Luke Kaplan, and ELRC director, Distinguished Professor Heila Lotz-Sisitka.

To read more about this project and workshop, access the full article here: https://www.ru.ac.za/elrc/latestnews/time_for_justice_the_elrc_and_british_academy_embark_on_time_project-1.html