Theme

The 2025 ESRS conference will take up the theme of Navigating rural transitions: Exploring liveable futures.

As we navigate ongoing transitions, an exploration of  liveable rural futures calls on us to consider the diverse range of challenges and possibilities that lie ahead: from a just, sustainable, and ‘worth living’ futures for all, to survivable or even catastrophic futures, and everything in between.

Understood this way,  the pursuit of a liveable rural future requires engagement with critical social-political and social-ecological questions related to, among others, farming, agriculture, and food systems, justice and discriminations, the politics of knowledge, social mobilisations and agency, migration and mobility, technologies, connections and solidarity, care and hope. Additionally, the importance of (local) democracy, collective action, and the development of (relatively) autonomous forms of organisation in rural areas, such as the rural commons, may also be considered.

Addressing these topics means engaging with the lived experiences and practices of people today, while also taking into account what they aspire and hope for. This requires working with, questioning and developing new theories and methods. It also requires discussions about the roles of  researchers and what type of actions are needed.