Symposium explores belonging and sustainability on a changing planet
Staff and students from across The University of Manchester came together on 8 May 2026 for聽Convivial Futures: Living well together on a climate-ravaged planet, a symposium organised by聽the聽sustainability network within the School of Environment, Education and Development,聽Sustainability@SEED.听The event created space for interdisciplinary discussion on how mobility, belonging and kinship might be reimagined in the context of climate disruption, ecological聽loss聽and increasingly contested ideas of home.听
Bringing together perspectives from development economics, disaster studies, environmental education, social anthropology, and聽across聽the arts and humanities, participants considered how more inclusive and welcoming forms of community can be built in a world shaped by聽ecological disintegration.听聽
Socio-economic upheavals caused聽and聽exacerbated聽by climate聽change are radically redefining 鈥榟ome鈥� for many earthlings of all species. At the same time, rigidly binary definitions such as native/invasive聽relating聽to plants and animals echo聽divisive聽rhetoric about聽human聽migration and who does and聽doesn鈥檛聽belong. Discussions聽focused on how institutions, educators and communities can respond to movement and uncertainty without falling back on聽stigmatising outsiders.听 聽
In a break from the conventional conference format, part of the day took place outdoors at the campus allotment in a session co-organised by聽Professor Jennifer O鈥橞rien. Participants聽repotted聽sunflower seedlings, watered vegetable聽plots聽and reflected on what multispecies conviviality might look like in practice. The session also highlighted the importance of creating聽more spaces for biodiversity聽to thrive聽in support of the University鈥檚聽.听
Students from聽the Manchester Institute of Education鈥檚聽MA in Education for a Sustainable Environment programme聽also shared reflections on place-based learning, including the potential of virtual field trips to broaden understandings of sustainability in practice. Speakers throughout the day emphasised the need for more diverse and inclusive approaches to sustainability and聽conservation, challenging聽Eurocentric聽and anthropocentric assumptions. As speaker聽Saima Ansari聽said: 鈥淪ometimes the hardest assumptions to challenge aren鈥檛 the ones out there, but the ones we don鈥檛 realise we carry.鈥澛�
Hope was a recurring theme across the symposium.听Professor Alison Browne聽said: 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 give them [our students] hope, we can鈥檛 give them anything.鈥� The event reinforced the role of higher education not only in developing knowledge and employability, but also in nurturing the imagination, critical thinking and collective responsibility needed to respond to ecological and social challenges. For attendees, the symposium offered both a practical and intellectual reminder that more just,聽sustainable聽and convivial futures must be actively created together.听