
School of Sustainability Research Seminars
The School of Sustainability hosts a regular seminar series that brings together faculty and students engaged in sustainability research to present and discuss their work.
Please join us for some or all of these great seminars this year, and feel free to review our previous events.
For those interested in giving a presentation, please email Bryan Leonard at [email protected] and Jennifer Vanos at [email protected].
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Fall 2023

Data Humanization Collective
September 6th, 2023
12:00pm Arizona timeWCPH 107
“Data Humanization” is a performance-based practice that plays against and with the increasing importance of “data” or “information” in modern lives. It was developed over the past decade by a member of our collective and recently evolved through the Indigenous Sustainability Solutions course in fall 2022 as a group practice. In countries with easy access to money and comfort, we daily encounter profound tragedy and loss in reports: numbers of victims of diverse types of violence; percentages of native languages lost; hectares of burned forest, etc. The effect of this can be apathy and a feeling of overwhelming hopelessness also known as compassion fatigue. Data Humanization Collective has found that forging a physical relationship with a representative number can inspire new ways of knowing, renew our sense of agency, and connect us to one another and the world. When performed with a spirit of humility, it is also a powerful tool of atonement and reconciliation. They brought this methodological and epistemological offering to the Autonomies in Practice Gathering in San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, México in March 2023 and hope to share reflections of this praxis with you.

Oscar Melo
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
October 4th, 2023
12:00pm Arizona time
WCPH 107
The WEF nexus approach is an integrated framework that can be used for analyzing development options in the context of climate change. Integrated nexus modelling toolkits for evaluating adaptation actions will be presented using examples from South America that emphasize different elements of the nexus. These examples will also discuss how adding the environmental and socioeconomic dimensions to this framework can help build more robust adaptation strategies.
Spring 2023
Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science
Arizona State University
February 22nd, 2023
12:00pm Arizona time
WCPH 107