Author: Admin

📢 Closing Conference: “Building Just Futures: Youth Climate Activism in a Time of Plurality, Complexity, and Uncertainty”

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Date & Time: 25 March 2025, 15:00-16:30 WET (West European Time)
Online participation | Event in English
Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/yppzkjfu

We are pleased to invite researchers, activists, and all those interested to the Closing Conference of the JustFutures project. This event marks the completion of our research journey, creating a space for critical reflection on its findings and new directions for climate justice research and action.

In a world where the impacts of climate change are deeply entangled with social and political injustices, young activists are not only navigating uncertain futures but also challenging dominant frameworks that shape how these crises are understood and addressed. This seminar will explore how youth—both within and beyond organized movements—are shaping plural, context-driven climate futures while questioning the limits of activism and institutional politics. Bringing together researchers and activists, the event will serve as both a moment of closure and a point of departure, opening space for emerging approaches to agency, political imaginaries, justice, and transformation.

Event Format:

  • Project Insights: The JustFutures team will present key research findings.
  • Roundtable Discussion: Researchers and activists will engage in a conversation on ways of knowing and acting on climate change amid growing polarization and unpredictability.

Speakers & Participants:

JustFutures Team
Anabela Carvalho, University of Minho
Carla Malafaia, University of Porto
Daniela Ferreira da Silva, University of Minho
Dora Rebelo, Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon
Juliana Diógenes-Lima, University of Porto
Maria Fernandes-Jesus, University of Sussex
Mehmet Ali Üzelgün, Nova University of Lisbon
Tânia R. Santos, University of Minho

Roundtable participants
Anapaula Siqueira, Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon (researcher and activist)
Hanna Morris, University of Toronto
Jo Becker, University of Vigo (researcher and militant ethnographer)
Mehmet Ali Üzelgün, Nova University of Lisbon (researcher and activist)
Mourana Monteiro (activist)
Susana Batel, Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon

Join us to reflect on our research and explore approaches that drive youth-led change.

Save the date & spread the word!

Published article: “Imagined Climate Futures and Collective Action: An Analysis of Affect in Dystopias and Utopias by Young Climate Activists”

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The most recent article from the JustFutures project, titled “Imagined Climate Futures and Collective Action: An Analysis of Affect in Dystopias and Utopias by Young Climate Activists“, was published in the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology on March 4, 2025. This study is part of the analysis of focus group discussions and examines the affective qualities of the utopias and dystopias developed by young climate activists in various cities across Portugal. The work challenges the literature that assumes hope as the only emotional disposition for engagement in climate activism, exploring the value of negative imagined futures as catalysts for action and change.

Below, you can find the open-access version of this work, also available through this link.

Community Applied Soc Psy – 2025 – Santos – Imagined Climate Futures and Collective Action An Analysis of Affect inDownload

New materials added to the ClimAct-Hub section

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Between late 2024 and early 2025, the project developed two new resources, which can be found in the ClimAct-Hub section. This section showcases some of the materials created by the project with relevance for climate activism.

The brochure “Creating Action Dynamics: Developing Youth Political Agency and Building Fairer Climate Futures“  (here in Portuguese) was the result of two participatory workshops on political agency and climate change, held with young people from two Portuguese cities—Porto and Lisbon. The English version of the brochure was published on the website of the Shift-COST action, which supported its production (here).

In February 2025, the project published the Climate Activism Timeline–2015-2025, which aims to highlight demonstrations, protests, and other events related to environmental, climate, and sustainability issues. You can access it here.

Published chapter “Communication in youth climate activism: Addressing research pitfalls and centring young people’s voices” in the book “Environmental Communication”

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Carla Malafaia and Maria Fernandes-Jesus published the chapter “Communication in Youth Climate Activism: Addressing Research Pitfalls and Centring Young People’s Voices,” in December 2024. The chapter appeared in the recently released book “Environmental Communication”, published by De Gruyter Mouton (“Handbooks of Communication Science” series).

Anabela Carvalho, the coordinator of the JustFutures project, co-edited the book together with Tarla Rai Peterson (University of Texas El Paso). This book is intended for scholars, students and professionals in communication, environmental policy, environmental sociology, and environmental studies.

Below, you can find one of the chapters.

MalafaiaFernandes-Jesus_AcceptedversionDownload

Published article “Intersectionality in youth climate activism as educational practice: political, pragmatic, and pedagogical dimensions”

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The latest article published by the JustFutures project is entitled “Intersectionality in youth climate activism as educational practice: political, pragmatic, and pedagogical dimensions”, and was published in the journal Frontiers in Education on January 1, 2025.  This work is part of Task 5 of the project (understanding on-the-ground experiences of collective action) and investigates the value of intersectionality practices developed by the School Strike for Climate in two Portuguese cities. The study reinforces the potential of intersectionality in political socialization and collective learning, challenging hegemonic educational practices.

Below, you can find the final version of this work. You can also access it via this link.

Garcia et al. – 2025 – Intersectionality in youth climate activism as educational practice political, pragmatic, and pedagDownload

Anabela Carvalho presents at the conference “Enhancing Sustainability: Bridging Corporate Practices with Academic and Popular Discourse”

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As a hegemonic “macro-narrative,” the idea of sustainability continues to dominate environmental discourses in contemporary societies. At the conference “Enhancing Sustainability: Bridging Corporate Practices with Academic and Popular Discourse,” held from December 18 to 20, 2024, at the University of Naples L’Orientale, analyses of multiple cases were presented in which the concept has been used vaguely, ambiguously, or purely for promotional purposes, along with some exceptions. Anabela Carvalho was one of the keynote speakers at the event and addressed the political imaginaries of different climate activism groups in Portugal and their reconstruction in the media. In a presentation co-authored with Tânia R. Santos and Daniela Ferreira da Silva, she demonstrated how the most transformative visions have been placed by the media outside the boundaries of what is considered acceptable or reasonable for addressing climate change. The conference program can be viewed here.

Daniela Ferreira da Silva presents in the course ´Communication, Science, and Environment`

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Daniela Ferreira da Silva presented in the course ‘Communication, Science, and Environment’ on 16 December 2024. The course, coordinated by Anabela Carvalho, is part of the Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Sciences program at the University of Minho. Her presentation summarized the different tasks within the JUSTFUTURES project and highlighted some outputs from collaborative workshops with young people on political agency and climate change, which were held between July and September 2024.

Published article “Political Imaginaries in the Climate Movement: Youth-Led Groups Constructing Plural Views of the Future”

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The scientific article “Political Imaginaries in the Climate Movement: Youth-Led Groups Constructing Plural Views of the Future” was published on November 6, 2024, in the journal Sociological Research Online. Developed as part of Task 2 of the JustFutures project (analysis of young people’s narratives on climate change), the article presents an analysis of the political imaginaries of four climate activist groups in Portugal – Climáximo, Greve Climática Estudantil Portugal, Ambiental-IST and LIDERA a Década do Clima – through a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of texts published on their websites and social media. The analysis shows the plurality of political imaginaries of youth-led climate groups and their commitment to exploring alternative ways of governing climate change.

Below, you can find the final version of this work. You can also access it through this link.

Ferreira da Silva et al. – 2024 – Political Imaginaries in the Climate Movement Youth-Led Groups Constructing Plural Views of the FutDownload

Published article “Prioritising communities: barriers to climate activism and political imagination among minoritised youth groups”

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The scientific article “Prioritising communities: barriers to climate activism and political imagination among minoritised youth groups” was published on November 4, 2024, in the journal Journal of Youth Studies. Developed as part of Task 4 of the JustFutures project (eliciting imaginaries of climate and the future), the article presents an analysis of how minoritized young people (with a migrant background and/or underserved communities in Portugal) conceive their involvement with climate change issues, the barriers that constrain their engagement with climate activism and the challenges in the political imagination of the future. The findings suggest that minoritized youth would like to have a voice in political debates about climate change and that more inclusive dialogues about climate futures could help bridge existing territorial and social divides.

Below, you can find the final version of this work. You can also access it through this link.

Rebelo et al. – 2024 – Prioritising communities barriers to climate activism and political imagination among minoritised yDownload