As researchers, how often do we pause to reflect on the ecological footprint of our own practices? On 11 June, at the Nordic STS conference hosted by Stockholm University, our colleague Lucy Sabin delivered a compelling contribution on behalf of RE4GREEN. Her presentation, titled “The Ecological Researcher: Towards Contextual Reflexivity in All Aspects of Research and Innovation”, formed part of the panel “Teaching and Designing for Socio-Technical Transitions”, which convened scholars exploring innovative approaches to contemporary social and ecological challenges. The panel was organised by Stefanie Egger, Christian Lepenik, and Hannah Romano.
Lucy’s presentation focused on the work undertaken within the RE4GREEN project, an EU-funded initiative aimed at promoting ecologically aware research and innovation. A core objective of the project is to develop a competence profile, alongside supporting educational resources, for researchers and educators to foster deeper engagement with ecological responsibility across disciplines and institutional levels.
Building on contributions from Michel Bourban (University of Twente) and Natalie Evans (Amsterdam UMC), Lucy introduced the project’s methodology, which involves extensive qualitative research through semi-structured interviews with 28 international experts. These participants, drawn from a wide range of disciplines and representing 23 countries, offered insights into the skills, knowledge, attitudes, and emotional capacities required for ecologically conscious research.
A fruitful insight emerging from the analysis of the interviews centres on the importance of reflexivity—particularly contextual reflexivity—as a foundation for meaningful ecological awareness in research. Drawing on participants’ perspectives, this form of reflexivity enables researchers to recognise their embeddedness within complex social, political, and ecological systems. Rather than conceiving ecological awareness as a fixed skill set, the RE4GREEN framework presents it as a lifelong practice of learning and attunement, shaped by affective and ethical sensitivity.
Lucy also addressed the considerable structural and institutional challenges faced by researchers seeking to adopt such approaches, linking the discussion to the broader theoretical concept of ecological citizenship. Drawing on the work of Andrew Dobson and Michel Bourban, ecological citizenship was framed as a call to transcend anthropocentric perspectives, limit resource consumption, and take responsibility for planetary wellbeing across borders and generations.
Her presentation offered a rich and reflective account of how ecological awareness might be more systematically integrated into research and innovation—resonating with the panel’s wider focus on socio-technical transformation.