CSS Lunch Series – Autumn Programme 2026

Are you conducting research into a topic related to social sustainability? If so, we have a supportive community for you!

The CSS Lunch Series is an informal lunch event organised by the Centre for Social Sustainability (CSS) approximately twice a month – on Wednesdays from 12 noon to 1 pm. Here, we share work-in-progress research ideas and dilemmas and engage in intellectual discussions in an open and inquisitive atmosphere. The programme is open to researchers at all levels of employment.

We are now pleased to present our autumn programme – and invite you to take part and contribute a talk on a dilemma or some unfinished thoughts.
 

Autumn programme 2026 

(can be held in Danish or English, depending on the participants)
 

23th of September - Katia Dupret (IMT)

How does one learn to lead for and with sustainability?

This lunch dialogue focuses on the textbook with the working title “How to Lead for Sustainability – Experiences and Dilemmas from the Public Sector.” The book is based on interview-based research carried out in collaboration with a public sector leader throughout 2026 and takes the reader on a ‘road trip’ through the tensions and leadership strategies that characterise the reality of local government. At the CSS lunch, I will present some analytical insights into managers’ experiences of working for and with sustainability, which often involve different strategies for managing the tensions between political mandate and professional integrity when sustainability is to be put into practice. I would like to discuss ideas on how we can best capture and communicate the lived, often contradictory reality of leadership practice, and I am curious to hear which concepts, case studies and approaches that can make the book most useful for students and practitioners. (The textbook is initially in Danish, and this lunch session will therefore also be in Danish but can be held in English if there are non-Danish participants).

Katia Dupret's research profile

30th of September - Anya Umantseva og Jonas Egmose (IMT)

What does it mean to care for nature?

Coming to terms with hidden assumptions about human-nature relations” (with nature-based solutions as an example). There is an urgent need to change prevailing human–nature relations, and initiatives such as nature‑based solutions (NBS) are increasingly positioned as instruments for this transformation. Nature-based solutions (NBS) vary by context but generally aim to care for nature and improve human–nature relationships, which can be defined and practiced in different ways depending on underlying assumptions. As a result, even similar approaches or terms like “care” can have distinct meanings and implications across personal, institutional, and structural levels. These different modes of care have distinct implications for transitioning away from extractive human-nature-relations, or, perhaps, exacerbating or create new, more covert forms of extractivism.

Anya Umantseva's research profile

Jonas Egmose's research profile

14th of October - Caitlin McMullin (ISE)

Critically examining responsibility, vulnerability, and power in co-production: A care ethical approach.

Co-production is frequently promoted as a way to empower service users and improve public services. At the same time, a growing body of research highlights the potential dark sides of co-production, including responsibilisation, exploitation and reproduction of inequalities.
While these critiques problematise the assumption that co production is inherently beneficial, we still lack an ethical framework for understanding when co production constitutes care, and when limiting or refusing participation may itself be the more ethical response. 

Caitlin McMullin's research profile

28th of October - Luise Li Langergaard (IMT)

How does literary form shape what can be imagined as utopian?

How does literary form shape what can be imagined as utopian, and does a more open or fragmented form allow for more dynamic and critical visions of possible futures than the fixed models found in classical (scientifically described) utopias? The presentation explores and discusses two/three'classic' utopian novels, their structure and representation of the utopian imaginary. This is contrasted with and discussed in relation to literary format which are not declared utopian, but which may nevertheless represent some form of utopian vision -  however in way which are open and less fixed compared to the classic utopian novels.

Luise Li Langergaard's research profile

2nd of December - Marta Padovan-Özdemir (IMT)

The disposables of circularity, renewability, and livability – the case of the Danish “ghetto”

Marta Padovan-Özdemir will present a dispositif analysis of how concepts of circularity, renewability, and livability have come to govern Danish social housing estates while producing disposable racialized lives. By means of montaging, Padovan-Özdemir puts on display the baroque reality of the social-liberal greenery of social housing estate growing the poor-stranger to be disposed with by racial capitalism. This calls for a discussion of how to identify the dark sides of sustainability interventions and how to address them.

Marta Padovan-Özdemir's research profile
 

Registration

To register for the presentations, please email Katia Dupret, katia@ruc.dk 

The principles of the CSS Lunch series

Reflexivity – To increase dialogue the presentation is maximum 20min about a challenge you experience in your current work on/with social sustainability. You are invited to share your concerns and doubts, and we welcome your open-ended reflections that can be shared and discussed with the participants for the remaining time.

Reciprocity - To increase the atmosphere of mutual exchange and dynamic dialogue - if you are attending one CSS lunch, we expect you to also present your work and matters of concern at some point in the same semester. (The first time you attend, is “free of charge” for you to get acquainted with the format, and the atmosphere).

Inclusion - We welcome presentations from all colleagues - new or experienced, and all disciplines are welcome. Whether your work is on/with social sustainability is for you to judge. (Climate justice, ethics of care, alternative economies and ways of organizing, SSE, circular economy, just transitions are some of the themes we have been engaging in.)

The CSS lunch goals are:
Atmosphere of reciprocal exchange: Nurture and support an atmosphere of academic curiosity and reciprocal reflection around a shared topic, namely social sustainability in its broadest sense of the term .

Network: Strengthen the network of scholars at Roskilde University that work with social sustainability

If you would like to participate, send an email to katia@ruc.dk 

If you already know that you’d like to lead a discussion, please include:

1. A title
2. 4–5 lines about your idea or dilemma
3. A Wednesday between 12 noon and 1 pm this autumn when you’re available to present

We are looking forward to hear from you – and to see you at lunch!