Open seminar talk by Eoin McLaughlin

On Tuesday, 20 September at 2PM (CEST), Dr. Eoin McLaughlin was our guest in our open seminar series. Dr. McLaughlin is a senior Lecturer in Economics at University College Cork. His research interests are in economic, financial and social history. In one of his current projects the aim is to trace levels of sustainability from the mid 19th century to present day using the Genuine Savings Metric (GS). GS is an indicator propagated by the World Bank, measuring progress and development and is proven as a relevant indicator of sustainable development. 

Open seminar talk on institutional modelling by Amineh Ghorbani

Dr. Amineh Ghorbani was our guest in our open seminar series on Tuesday 28 june, 11AM (CEST). Ghorbani is an Associate professor of Institutional Modelling and Analysis at the Energy and Industry group at TU Delft. She is also an affiliated member of the Institutional Grammar Research Initiative, Institutions for Collective Action and the Ostrom Workshop. In her research Ghorbani focuses on the role of institutions in climate change mitigation and adaptation. She uses modelling, simulation, network analysis in combination with qualitative methods to conduct her research.

Working visits to citizen collectives

On 20 and 21 May research group ICA paid visits to several citizen collectivities in Flanders. First, Henk Mol spoke about the Buren of the Abdij (Neighbours of the Abbey) in Ghent, which aims at the preservation of cultural heritage, green space and social encounters. Then, Thomas Blondeel explained the ins and outs of Smart cooperative, which supports entrepreneurs, especially in the cultural sector. Here, Damion Bunders presented the preliminary results of his research on worker cooperatives. On 21 May a delegation of the research group traveled to the Gemene and Loweiden in Assebroek (West Flanders). Chief Marc Vandepitte and Tine De Moor told the audience about the common, a well-functioning collective in which citizens have organized the management of the land for about 600 years.

The emergence of commons, open seminar talk by Mette Løvschal

On 3 May, dr. Mette Løvschal (Aarhus University) was the speaker in our Open Seminar series. In the ANTHEA project, she and her colleagues look at the sustenance of man-made heathlands, which existence spans over millennia. Løvschal went into the ancestral commons and grazing commons that went hand in hand with these heathlands. During the subsequent discussion, some similarities with developments in Europe and North America were considered.

Open seminar talk on credit cooperatives by Lakshmi A.J.

On 29 February, 11AM (CET) the guest speaker of our Open seminar talks series was Lakshmi A.J., who is Assistant Professor at Kerala University, department of Commerce. In her work she focuses on professionalism in co-operatives and the legal framework of credit cooperatives in India, looking at long-term developments.