Cross-domain exchange and the importance of bottom-up input
Often the pull factor for the participants to the conference was its dedication to bring together academic and non-academic actors, as well as researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds which helped foster interdisciplinary dialogue. Sophia Guermi, a foresight practitioner and author, was attracted to the conference as a result of this cross-pollination between fields. As someone who takes a holistic approach to her environmentalism, she found that the conference was a welcome departure from the “isolated communities” of academia where she often feels like a link between divided groups of people.
To facilitate dialogue after the plenary sessions, a set of two presenters would spend equal time answering questions of the public audience. This caused some presenters like Dezecache to think in a new way about old work: “This morning I presented something and thought maybe I was wrong at this moment and this moment, and I couldn’t have gotten that from my academic colleagues.” New eyes and ears improved the quality of already established researchers’ work.
“The conference is very inviting to young researchers or people who don’t have a lot of funding.”
– Cyprien Brabant
Registration for the conference was free of charge, which allowed young researchers like Cyprien Brabant, a student searching for a PhD topic, to participate. By making the event dialogue-centric, inviting a variety of professionals, and removing monetary barriers when possible, a wider range of ideas emerged from a diverse set of people.
As a linguist working with people from the Amazon and Guyana, Sanchez-Moreano was drawn to this conference thanks to its mélange of ideas. For him, language is essential inside of sustainability research, as it defines how we relate to nature and define ourselves inside of it. He found the event to be a unique opportunity to be present as a linguist inside of a space traditionally reserved for sustainability scientists.
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