Blog archive
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Inclusive and sustainable futures for Scotland, Pre-election community panel discussion
Thursday 26 March 2026 6:00pm to 7:30pm St Mary’s College, T201 – Lecture Room 1. Scotland has a track record of global impact on matters of sustainability, being one of the first countries to implement legally binding targets (Climate Change Act 2009) and develop a Loss and Damage Fund to support countries experiencing the effects
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Rethinking Sustainability: Challenges, Approaches, and Practice
Following the success of last year’s inaugural edition at St Andrews, StACCS is delighted to announce that we will be co-hosting our second summer school from 22–26 June at the University of Bonn. Our longstanding collaboration with Bonn’s Center for Development Research reflects our shared commitment to exploring alternative approaches to sustainability through interdisciplinary dialogue
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StACCS Welcomes New ‘Capital’ Cluster Lead
Dr Kat Hunfeld is a political theorist and an Associate Lecturer at the School of International Relations. Under Dr Hunfeld’s leadership, the ‘Capital’ cluster will strengthen the network of researchers who are interested in the intersection between capitalism and ecological degradation; in questions of land, infrastructure, wealth and heritage; as well as in future economic and social systems
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StACCS Welcomes New ‘Creatively’ Theme Lead
StACCS is delighted to announce Dr Ruth Ezra, Lecturer in the School of Art History as the lead for our ‘Creatively’ theme. This theme will consider new, imaginative approaches to understanding sustainability. Our members explore and harness the power of art, performance, and imagination as communicative tools for scientific research. The aim is to tell new
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How Sustainable Finance Translates into Meaningful Change
The Finance Department at the University of St Andrews Business School and the Centre for Responsible Banking and Finance (CRBF), in collaboration with Scotland Beyond Net Zero and with support from the St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities, hosted its Sustainable Finance Symposium on 18 March 2026 as part of the University’s Sustainability Week. Following
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StACCS Welcomes New ‘Chronologically’ Theme Lead
StACCS is delighted to announce Dr Katy Roucoux, Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development, as the new lead for our ‘Chronologically’ theme. This theme will bring together researchers who study long‑term environmental and societal change, asking how deep‑time perspectives can inform decisions that are conventionally shaped by short‑term political, economic, and
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Sustainable Finance Symposium
The Finance Department at the University of St Andrews Business School and Centre for Responsible Banking and Finance (CRBF), in collaboration with Scotland Beyond Net Zero and with support from the St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities, hosted its Sustainable Finance Symposium on 18 March 2026 as part of the University’s Sustainability Week. The symposium
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Sustainability Showcase
Discover the diversity of sustainability research taking place across the University of St Andrews. Chaired by Prof. Tom Brown, Vice Principal (Research, Collections and Innovation), the event brings together research centres and groups across the university, each offering a short lightning talk that highlights their distinctive approach to sustainability. Organised by the St Andrews Centre for Critical
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Wardlaw Museum exhibition features in Museums Journal this month
Our exhibition ‘Rewrite the Future’ last summer has featured as a case study in Museums Journal, the house journal of the Museums Association. The article, co-written by the Wardlaw Museum’s Head of Experience and Engagement, Matt Sheard, and by Lyndsey Bowditch at the project’s designers Studioarc, focuses on their experimental approach to reducing waste. Usually
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Storytelling as a Method for Sustainability Research
The St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities (StACCS) invites you to join us for a workshop exploring the value of storytelling as a method for sustainability research. StACCS addresses the challenges of sustainability through interdisciplinary collaboration around the themes of carbon, capital, and community, drawing on methodological principles that reflect on how we do this work:
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Wrapped 2025
As we head toward the end of 2025 and StACCS collaborators are preparing for a well-deserved break, take a look at StACCS Wrapped to learn more about what the StACCS community has achieved this year.
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Roots and Shoots: A StACCS-funded community collaborative pilot project begins
What do sea grass planting, Victorian botanical recipes, fabric dying, the Celtic tree calendar, dulce soup, vernacular plant names and flood alleviation have in common? They are all themes being considered by three community heritage organisations as part of a new UK-wide exploratory project funded by StACCS called “Roots and Shoots: Growing climate resilience and
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Sustainable Finance Symposium
How resilient is our financial system to climate risks? Can the financial sector actively support the transition to a sustainable economy—or does it hinder it? The Department of Finance of the University of St Andrews Business School is bringing together leading academics and experts to explore these critical questions at a one-day Symposium on Sustainable
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A Space for Hope: An Interactive Installation on Climate Hope
Workshop: Thursday 27th November, 6 – 7.30pm Installation: Saturday 29th November 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm Boiler House, St Andrews Botanic Garden A Space for Hope is an interactive installation which seeks to create space for climate hope amongst increasing climate anxiety. This interactive installation will involve documentary footage, guided movement and creative writing, to encourage reflection on our
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Brainstorming Meeting: Applying to Horizon Europe for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research
The St Andrews Centre for Critical Sustainabilities (StACCS), in collaboration with the Research Business Development (RBD) team, invite you to attend this brainstorming meeting to discuss Horizon Europe’s Draft Work Programmes for 2026/27, with a view to exploring the possibilities for colleagues at the University of St Andrews to submit collaborative bids. What capacity already exists? Where
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Postcards from the Future
Climate activism frequently involves a focus on the negative; with dire climate news constantly in the media and a discouraging lack of action from government bodies, it becomes easy to focus on what we are trying to prevent rather than the world we hope to build. In this workshop, we are flipping the script. Participants
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StACCS welcomes new team member
We are delighted to announce that we have a new, full-time team member: Dr Edward Christie has joined StACCS as a Research and Engagement Fellow. Edward’s appointment is a significant milestone for the Centre, which will help to accelerate our activities and priorities. Strengthening our commitment to interdisciplinary approaches to sustainability, Edward brings expertise in the arts
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Leading for Tomorrow: an ‘in conversation’ event at the Wardlaw Museum
As part of the StACCS/Wardlaw Museum exhibition Rewrite the Future, StACCS Co-Director Louise Reid and a panel of elected representatives at local and national level will be discussing what kind of future they would like to see, and what it will take to get us there. The event takes place at the Wardlaw Museum at
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StACCS internal project funding call
We are pleased to announce a call for project proposals related to sustainability research, to be led by members of academic staff at St Andrews. We are looking for projects of anywhere between a few hundred pounds and £5000. What do you need to help you get a sustainability research idea off the ground, or
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Rewrite the Future: Wardlaw Museum exhibition opens this weekend
Many of us at StACCS have been busy over the past nine months working with a team from the University’s Wardlaw Museum to put together an exhibition showcasing a range of sustainability-facing research at St Andrews. The exhibition, Rewrite the Future, aims to go beyond the typical focus of the sustainability discourse on environment and