These are turbulent times. International political struggles are challenging established norms and ways of communicating. Also, at local and national levels, environmental policy processes and sustainability work seem to be changing in character.

How can we, as researchers working in the environmental social sciences and societal actors in its practice, make sense of these developments? In the 2026 edition of the Environmental Communication Conference, we join forces and zoom in on the politics of disagreement in environmental governance and sustainability work at local, regional and national levels, and discuss possible impacts on environmental communication scholarship and action.

Please join us for a day of engaged, critical and change-oriented presentations and discussions and contribute to building a network in collaborative environmental communication research!

Conference theme: The politics of disagreement

Contemporary societies seem to be shaped by the instrumentalisation of disagreement, as political divergences are strategically used to gain power rather than to constructively address shared problems. Societal polarisation and disinformation appear to be symptomatic of this, while in some contexts we conversely witness de-politicisation and the suppression of disagreement.

Environmental and sustainability challenges are at the core of these struggles, and environmental communication – as the field of research concerned with the joint construction of meaning on environmental and sustainability issues – offers crucial insight into the role of disagreement in the performance of the political.

Contributions

We welcome empirical, theoretical and methodological research contributions as well as practice contributions drawing on a diverse range of perspectives that explore the many facets of the politics of disagreement in environmental communication. Examples of questions are:

• What work does disagreement do in the performance of the political?
• Under which conditions does disagreement foster creativity, learning and democratic processes?
• What is the role of information infrastructures in the performance of disagreement?
• What are the opportunities and risks of disagreement and political struggles in relation to sustainability in a post-truth world?
• What approaches to disagreement can bring new voices to influence sustainability thinking and give agency to un- or under-heard individuals and communities?

While the conference’s main focus is on the politics of disagreement, other contributions within environmental communication are also welcome.

Possible formats:

• Paper presentations and posters
• Workshops, roundtables and panel discussions
• Creative and experimental formats such as cafés, debate sessions, discussion formats such as fish bowls, poetry slams etc.

Is your format idea not listed here? Feel free to contact us to discuss it.

For whom is this conference?

We invite researchers from any discipline working on and interested in the communication and governance of environmental and sustainability issues, as well as practitioners working in this area. We especially encourage submissions from doctoral students and early career researchers. The conference is open to anyone else interested in the questions addressed here, including policymakers, communicators and artists interested in this research field.