SL

Our Approach

Every mission follows a path: ours moves from insight to action.

RISTANC strives (but is not solely accountable for) establishing a responsive decision-making system for the sea. It establishes an agile and engaged local knowledge group that will collect and examine a number of concrete challenges related to the sea and, in broad cooperation, propose solutions for them. This experience of developing solutions in a wide range of knowledges will act as a lesson about feasible management solutions and as an incentive to address future challenges and opportunities of the sea as a society by integrating diverse perspectives and knowledge, and not leaving them aside. We develop the social climate, skills and relationships needed for collaboration and far-reaching impact in our environment, comparing them with international perspectives, and based on these we will offer a training program for future change agents and facilitators of transdisciplinary collaboration. Among them are people in different professional roles, but all with the same human nature, who need a connection to the sea and intra-human commitment to act for the benefit of the sea.

RISTANC starts with concrete local situations. These include everyday practices, challenges and observations of people who live with, from or for the sea. Local experience is treated as a key source of knowledge for understanding how the sea is actually used, managed and affected.

The project works with a wide range of sea users, including local communities, residents, civil society organisations and public institutions. Their perspectives help reveal what concerns could motivate decisions, regulations and practices, and where existing systems succeeds or falls short.

Combining scientific expertise with practical, institutional and cultural knowledge, the researchers in RISTANC work with and for society. Moreover, RISTANC will generate new lessons to contribute to global knowledge for sustainability and transdisciplinarity.

Artistic practices open space for imagination, reflection and alternative visions of sustainable futures. Using art RISTANC fosters deeper, alternative and more inclusive connections with the sea.

Ideas developed through collaboration are tested in practice through experiments, demonstrative solutions and pilot actions. These experiments take place in real-world settings and are designed as learning processes, where outcomes are observed, discussed and adjusted rather than simply measured as success or failure.

RISTANC places strong emphasis on reflection with participants and partners. Learning is seen as an essential part of practice.

The ultimate goal of the project is to make existing governance and decision-making systems support the conservation and sustainable use of the sea. RISTANC identifies opportunities for social and governance innovation that can lead to more responsive and inclusive ways of managing marine environments.

Insights gained from the experiment feed back into diverse contexts: local contexts, higher education and national and EU policy world. RISTANC aims at impact on the ground and in the long-term.