Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Mark Wiering, and I am a professor in institutional environmental dynamics. This means I am studying societal changes towards sustainability in many ways. Sometimes there are clear accelerations in society and policy – think of the energy transition in the Netherlands - while changes elsewhere proceed awfully slow- take environmental problems of agriculture (e.g. water pollution and nitrogen crisis) as an example. Why is that? How are we speeding up and slowing down here? And how can we help, in terms of creating strategies and governance for transformations?
I am trained as a political scientist, with a huge interest in sociology. I have a broad range of research interests in environment and society, but mostly related to transformations in the water domain, agriculture and energy. I am the coordinator of the Master's programme of Environment and Society Studies and teaching mostly in the Master's programme: the courses Institutional Perspectives; Cities, Water, Climate Change and WEconomy.
I am giving advise - on a national level - as part of an advisory committee on fertilisers' management (for the Ministry of Agriculture) and on a local level as member of the programme board of the sustainability café in Nijmegen.
Why did you choose to study/work in this field?
I am fascinated by the quest for change towards sustainability, ever since I was a student. Societies, or 'we', are changing all of the time, of course, but why are sustainability transformations sometimes really accelerating? Is there always a need for a deep crisis or “shock event”? Or do change agents and their storylines matter a lot (innovative citizens, politicians, policy entrepreneurs)? Or is it the viability of the alternatives we create that matters most? The public support and social movements striving for change? Or all of these conditions together? A meaningful theory of sustainability transformations requires a broader view of sociopolitical change.
What are you currently doing your own research on?
I study two main topics: water governance - in the broadest sense- and renewable energy. Recently I am studying the role of citizens in the energy transition and the steps we take to create decentralised energy systems. Can we develop energy positive neighbourhoods, combining innovative forms of insulation, heat networks with local storage systems? How can we share energy in a better way, when some offer supply and others have a demand? How do vulnerable people respond to changing technologies and changing social practices?
Related to water quality, I am interested in the transitions of agriculture to reach the (European!) ambitions of clean and healthy water. Why is it possible that in Denmark agriculture is shifting towards more sustainability, making room for nature, while in the Netherlands we have difficulties to respond at all to fundamental problems? What strategies are useful to continue to work on sustainability?
What advice do you have for students making their study choice?
We will have scarcity of young people in the near future, so jobs will not be the main problem. Think of what topics really interests you, and how you could contribute to societal challenges. I am convinced that people that can align their engagement with their work environment have more fulfilling lives.
What is the best part of working with students?
Discussing sustainability themes with students, e.g. when they give shape to their Master's theses, always gives me energy and inspiration. I learn from the students in their creative ways to combine theories and create new perspectives.
What does your work in practice (outside your role as a lecturer/researcher at Radboud University) bring to your academic work, and vice versa?
My work for the ministry gives me a down-to-earth and realistic view of transformations in agriculture. My work with citizens groups in the energy domain and with the board of the sustainability café in Nijmegen gives me inspiration, hope and new ideas on how a sustainable society should look like.