About the Conference

Welcome you to the 11th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE), which was hosted by the University of Leeds, UK on 30 June - 3 July 2015.

ESEE 2015 explored solutions for the transformation to a sustainable society, building on the distinctive contribution of ecological economics, by shining a spotlight on the interdependency of economic activity and natural systems, and identifying options that prioritise human wellbeing within planetary boundaries. The conference contributes to the dissemination of knowledge on these issues, through oral and poster presentations, keynote lectures from prominent scholars, and lively formal and informal discussions.

Under the banner of Transformations, the parallel sessions of the conference cover a range of topics including: Natural resource management; Frontiers in ecosystem services; Valuation, biodiversity and ecosystem services; Current debates on ecosystem services; Degrowth and steady-state economics; Ecological macroeconomics; Social metabolism, resource effciency, indicators and modelling; Trade and distribution; Environmental justice, conficts, power; Planetary problems, human welfare/wellbeing; Cities, supply chains and social movements; and Participation, organisations, business models, behaviour. These include a number of special sessions on topics covering issues from macroeconomics, fnance, trade and monetary policy to power relations, utopias and societal transformation.

The conference is very grateful for support from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, who will present their recent report on Sustainability and the Financial System; Leeds City Council, who are hosting a tour of local environmental projects, supported by the University’s Professional Services Hub; and Wiley, publishers of the journal Environmental Policy and Governance, who are sponsoring the opening reception.

We are also very grateful to the ESEE and the University of Leeds’ International Networks and Collaboration team for support to enable 30 international Masters, PhD and early career researchers to attend the pre-conference Summer School. The Summer School participants will develop, and present to the main conference, their ideas on key issues for local and global transformations.

Through these activities, the conference aims to contribute to the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) aims of advancing understanding of the relationships among ecological, social and economic systems for the mutual well-being of nature and people.

The conference also could not have happened without the dedicated work of members of the local organising committee from the Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, School of Geography and Leeds University Business School and Scottish Association for Marine Sciences (SAMS), the professional skills of MEETinLEEDS, the University of Leeds’ conference management team, and the University’s Professional Services Hub team, and support from the ESEE Board members.

On behalf of the local organising committee, Dr Tim Foxon, Reader in Sustainability and Innovation, University of Leeds.

Committees

Organising committee

The organising committee for the conference includes Tim Foxon, Jon Lovett, Julia Steinberger, Gary Dymski, Jouni Paavola, Dan O'Neill, Marco Sakai, Jonathan Busch, Kate Scott, Paul Brockway, William Goulart da Silva, Jasper Kenter, Giuseppe Fontana, Malcolm Sawyer, Gordon Mitchell, Olivia Rendon, Alison Suckall, Vicki Parker and Anthony Lowe.

Scientific committee

The scientific committee includes Irene Ring, Tatiana Kluvankova-Oravska, Begüm Özkaynak, Alice Bows-Larkin, Katherine Farrell, Marina Fischer-Kowalski, Janne Hukkinen, Tim Jackson, Giorgios Kallis, Klaus Kubeczko, Markku Lehtonen, Tommaso Luzzati, Unai Pascual, Felix Raushcmayer, Inge Røpke, Clive Spash, Sigrid Stagl, Arild Vatn, Nina Eisenmenger, Nuno Videira, Lenka Slavikova, Juha Hiedanpää, Erik Nicolas Gomez Baggethun and Olivier Petit.