{"id":226,"date":"2025-08-01T17:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T17:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ecojust\/?p=226"},"modified":"2026-04-22T15:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T15:32:02","slug":"greyzone-of-the-green-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grants.ulbsibiu.ro\/ecojust\/greyzone-of-the-green-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"Call for Papers: The Greyzone of the Green Transition – Environmental Inequalities in Central and Eastern Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

International Conference<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Deadline Extended:<\/strong> The deadline for submitting proposals to The Greyzone of the Green Transition<\/em> conference has been extended to October 20, 2025<\/span>. We thank all participants who have already submitted and look forward to further contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location: <\/strong>Sibiu, Sibiu County, Romania <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dates<\/strong>: 18 – 19 May 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Organizers: <\/strong>Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Greyzone of the Green Transition <\/em>is a conference dedicated to advancing conversations on environmental justice in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It brings together senior, doctoral, and postdoctoral researchers, and activists committed to shedding light on the often-overlooked injustices and forms of resistance emerging in the region. Observing the overlap between post-communist legacies and green transition trajectories, the conference investigates how structural, gradual, and hidden forms of violence emerge in the context of resource struggles and environmental decline. We aim to deepen the theoretical framing of environmental injustice in the region and foster a space for collective reflection and action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are at a pivotal moment in the global green transition, where accelerating socio-ecological transformations intersect with political polarization, geopolitical instability, and rising inequality. These dynamics often give rise to  new forms of marginality and injustice, particularly in the overlooked regions of Central and Eastern Europe.  By focusing on CEE, The Greyzone of the Green Transition <\/em>conference creates a space for dialogue on how extractivism, land grabbing, and energy poverty intersect with structural marginalization and how grassroots resistance is challenging these dynamics. We aim to expand our understanding of Environmental Justice and the Just Transition concepts and frameworks, fostering interdisciplinary conversations across political ecology, political theory, and critical political theory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We welcome contributions that propose theoretical reflections, empirical insights, and creative expressions on the politics of the green transition in Europe\u2019s Eastern margins. We invite submissions addressing, but not limited to, the following thematic clusters:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Toxic environments and marginalized communities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explorations of how environmental degradation, pollution, and toxicity are normalized and experienced in the everyday lives of marginalized groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Resistance and eco-politics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analyses of grassroots movements and other political responses to environmental injustices in post-socialist contexts, such as eco-populism and\/or eco-fascism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Governance and participation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Investigations into institutional and non-institutional forms of environmental governance and the barriers to meaningful participation of the affected communities in decision-making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Extractivism, energy, and inequality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critical perspectives on land use conflicts, energy poverty, and the socio-ecological consequences of extractive industries in CEE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Reimagining justice and transition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exploring both ideas and real-world practices that make the green transition just \u2014 especially by planning ahead, addressing past or ongoing harms, and making overlooked injustices visible in environmental policy making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keynote Speakers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are honored to confirm the participation of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stefania Barca<\/strong> is an internationally renowned environmental historian who specializes on the nexus between labour and ecology from a gender perspective. Her most recent books are Forces of Reproduction. Notes for a counterhegemonic Anthropocene<\/em> (Cambridge UP 2020) and Workers of the Earth. Labour, ecology and reproduction in the age of climate change<\/em> (Pluto, 2024). She coordinates the international Just Transition and Care network, which she founded while serving as “Zennstrom” professor in Climate Change Leadership at the University of Uppsala in 2021. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Santiago de Compostela<\/em>, where she teaches contemporary environmental and gender history. Her work has been translated and disseminated in multiple languages.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Erik Swyngedouw<\/strong> is a Professor of Geography at The University of Manchester<\/em>, UK, and a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg Centre for Social Change<\/em>, South Africa. He holds a doctorate from The Johns Hopkins University and has received Honorary Doctorates from Roskilde University and the University of Malm\u00f6. His research focuses on political ecology, critical theory, environmental politics, and emancipatory politics. He is the author of several works, including Promises of the Political: Insurgent Cities in a Post-Democratic Environment<\/em> (MIT Press), Liquid Power: Contested Hydro-Modernities in 20th Century Spain<\/em> (MIT Press), and Social Power and the Urbanization of Nature<\/em> (Oxford University Press). Currently, he is finalising a book with Prof. Lucas Pohl, entitled Enjoying Climate Change<\/em> (Verso).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Participation & Practical Info<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n