Researchers at the University of Iceland and Brunel University in London recently received a grant from The British Academy to research the role and attitude of Icelandic families regarding climate action. The project is called Centring Families in Iceland’s Just Transition.
Friday the 27th of June, two members of the research team, Utsa Mukherjee and Auður Magndís Auðardóttir, will present their project in conversation with the ongoing research project Climate Crisis and Affect: An Investigation of Embodied Emotions and Behaviours Regarding Climate Change in Iceland. Everyone is welcome.
When: 27. June 2025, 10.00-12.00
Where: Gímli 301, University of Iceland
Description of the research project:
The Icelandic Government’s action plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 overlooks families as key stakeholders, despite the fact that families are directly impacted by changing climate and the actions taken to achieve carbon neutrality. This interdisciplinary project, co-designed with multiple government agencies across Iceland, addresses this ‘missing link’ in Iceland’s climate action policy. It does so through two interlocking strands. The first strand of the project analyses post-Independence Icelandic literature and films to develop a deeper understanding of how climate change has marked family lives over the years and what lessons can be learned from the past. The second strand adopts an ethnographic approach to capture the impact of climate policy on contemporary Icelandic families. By drawing together historical and contemporary understandings of climate action and family life, the project will identify what additional state support and policy changes are needed to centre families in Iceland’s just transition.
Utsa Mukherjee, associate professor of education at Brunel University, is leading the research. The Icelandic project managers are the director of the University of Iceland’s Research Center in Thingeyjarsveit, Auður Aðalsteinsdóttir, and lecturer in parenting and education, Auður Magndís Auðardóttir. Postdoctoral researcher in education and pedagogy, Rannveig Ágústa Guðjónsdóttir, and scholar of culture and literature, Sigrún Ölba Sigurðardóttir, will also join the project.
The grant is part of The Knowledge Frontiers which funds projects that develop new international interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences.
Link to article about the project in Icelandic: Rannsaka hlutverk fjölskyldna í loftslagsaðgerðum
Facebook event for the meeting: https://www.facebook.com/events/1286324993147721/