Aesthetics, Sustainability and Education
29–30 January 2026
Thursday 29 January
9:00 – 9:25 Welcome and introduction
9:30 – 10:20 Emily Brady: Aesthetics in the Field: Perceptual, Interpretive, and Narrative Methods in Environmental Aesthetics
10:25 – 11:15 Mariagrazia Portera: Has the value-free ideal of science ever truly belonged to scientists? The case of biological conservation sciences between aesthetics and philosophy of science
11:15 – 11:50 Coffee break
11:50 – 12:40 Ólafur Páll Jónsson: Hope and Material Reality
12:45 – 13:10 Noora-Helena Korpelainen: An Inquiry into the Significance of Aesthetic Sensibility in the Era of Sustainability Transitions
13:10 – 13:35 Carlotta La Penna: Defining and representing marine biodiversity
13:35 – 15:00 Lunch break
15:00 – 15:25 Gunndís Ýr Finnbogadóttir: Unstable ground
15:25 – 15:50 Carolina Cuadrado Bastos: Bridging ontologies, fostering collaboration: The role of art in knowledge integration for sustainability science
15:50 – 16:25 Coffee break
16:25 – 16:50 David Garcimartín Arenas: Environmental aisthesis: Within and beyond aesthetics
16:50 – 17:15 Laura Fumagalli: Negative Aesthetics and Global Climate Change
17:15 – 17:50 Free time, group session preparation
Friday 30 January
9:30 – 10:20 Martin Hauberg-Lund Laugesen: The educational value of horrible experiences: On why a turn to dark significant life experiences can be a key to better environmental and sustainability education
10:25 – 11:15 Henrik Zinkernagel: Aesthetics of Nature and Science as Pathways to Sustainability
11:15 – 11:50 Coffee break
11:50 – 12:40 Marta Tafalla: The Aesthetic Appreciation of Species and Ecosystems in the Context of the Ecological Crisis
12:45 – 13:10 Stephanie Schuster: Why natural beauty matters
13:10 – 13:35 Katrine Dicte Blohm: Killing it slowly
13:35 – 15:00 Lunch break
15:00 – 15:50 Early-stage investigators group session 1
15:50 – 16:25 Coffee break
16:25 – 17:15 Early-stage investigators group session 2
17:15 – 17:50 Reflections and next steps
20:00 – Workshop dinner