University of Helsinki
Kate Elliott, Alexandra Lakind, Inna Häkkinen
November 16 (Wednesday) 18.00-19.30 (Helsinki), online
For ZOOM Link Register HERE the day before the event. You will receive the zoom link an hour before the program begins.
Are you interested in considering the carbon embedded in your research? Are your research methodological tools low-carbon? Are you looking for ways to reduce the carbon impact of your project? Do you tend not to send ‘thank you’ messages? What data storage do you use?
The speakers – Alexandra Lakind and Kate Elliott – are going to introduce the concept and activities of ‘The Low-Carbon Research Methods Group’ (http://lowcarbonmethods.com/), directed by Canada Research Chair Prof. Anne Pasek and hosted by Trent University (Peterborough, CA), and promoting the idea that ‘an energy transition for academic methods—like energy transitions everywhere—offers opportunities to re-examine long-held assumptions and to redistribute benefits and harms (for both good and for ill)’. Working across different methodological traditions and (dis)cursive forms of inquiry, the research group seeks to explore the social and institutional prospects of decarbonizing academia, as well as the equity and epistemological gains that might be won thereby.
The workshop invites all those who want to explore the prospects for more climate-friendly research methods, and discuss the practical barriers and challenges of implementing a low-carbon approach in research towards advancing environmental and social justice. The participants will be invited to discuss the low-carbon ways of data storage, low energy and low-data design choices of data visualization as well as a zine-based format of presenting the research outlines. The presenters will encourage the participants to think more about the ways how their practices intersect with carbon-intensive expectations and norms, and to consider alternatives within academia and beyond.
Presenters:
Kate Elliott is an educator and interdisciplinary PhD candidate at Simon Fraser University. Her SSHRC-funded research uses virtual collaborative storytelling techniques to trace the lives of grocery carts—from their birth in factories to their repurposed afterlives in the urban commons. Kate’s background in Urban Studies (MURB) informs her curriculum design (Urban Dirt and Cemeteries: Life of the City), and teaching (Urban Research Methods). She currently leads Wayfinding for Restorative Methods, a continuation of the Summer Institute and Office Hours co-designed with fellow 2022 Low-Carbon Research Methods Seasonal Scholar Alexandra Lakind.
Dr. Alexandra Lakind is an artist, educator, and scholar working across an array of contexts conducting research, arts and educational programming to foster collaboration and environmental connection. Lakind has received formal training from Interlochen Arts Academy (HS), Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (BA), New York University (MA), and University of Wisconsin-Madison (PhD). Alexandra is currently a Visiting Scholar in the Reproductive Sociology Research Group at the University of Cambridge. Additionally, Alexandra worked with Kate Elliott as a 2022 Low-Carbon Research Methods Group Seasonal Scholar to co-design the Office Hour initiative & Summer Institute.
Convener:
Inna Häkkinen, PhD, Helsinki Environmental Humanities Hub, the Department of Cultures, the University of Helsinki (inna.sukhenko@helsinki.fi)