December 17–18, 2026 | Erich Auerbach Institute Library, MESH (Weyertal 59, back building 3rd Floor, 50937 Cologne)
Supported und funded by the Global South Studies Center (GSSC), the EUniWell: The European University for Well-Being and the Sustainability Action Fund of the University of Cologne’s Sustainability Office.
For participation, registration in advance is required.
Please register here if you want to come in person.
Please register here if you want to participate online.
Planetary Wellbeing understands human health and wellbeing in relation to the health of the ecosystems upon which we depend, especially in today’s context of global climate disruptions, toxic pollution and ecological unravelling. It describes a condition where the earth, its more-than-human inhabitants and ecological networks remain healthy enough for all organisms, including humans, to live decent lives. From this perspective, human health cannot be separated from the health of soils, waters, animals, plants and microbes, nor from the social and cultural relations through which we live with them.
Against this backdrop, the workshop starts from the recognition that the crises of our time rarely arrive alone. Diseases crossing between animals and humans, degraded landscapes, fragile food systems, extreme weather events and the long afterlives of extraction all reveal how tightly human health is bound up with the wellbeing of other species and places. At the same time, communities across the world continue to practice forms of care, reciprocity and resilience that point towards alternatives to extractive models of development. The workshop therefore asks: How can health be understood as a shared, more-than-human condition rather than an exclusively human one? What can Indigenous and local knowledges, as living cultural heritage, teach us about relating to other beings in times of crisis? How do everyday practices of growing, eating, sensing, valuing and caring for our environments shape both human and planetary wellbeing? In what ways are multispecies justice and solidarity preconditions for lasting wellbeing? And how can such insights inform policy and practice at local and global levels?
To address these questions, the Cologne Hub of the UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Sustainability Coalition is hosting a one-and-a-half-day hybrid workshop on 17–18 December 2026. We will explore Planetary Wellbeing – the focus of our thematic hub – by bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines and institutions, to foster a “knowledge-to-action” dialogue. By utilizing the BRIDGES framework, we aim to integrate humanities-driven and transdisciplinary perspectives (anthropology, geography, aesthetics, literary and cultural studies, history, foresight and futures thinking) to address entangled ecological and health challenges. Beyond academic exchange, the workshop seeks to translate its insights into concrete action, both on our own campus and as input into the BRIDGES policy toolkit developed in collaboration with UNESCO.
Confirmed Speakers
- Marco Armiero (University of Santiago de Compostela)
- Ulrike Beisel (Freie Universität Berlin)
- Peter Dannenberg (University of Cologne / GSSC)
- Eveline Dürr (Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich)
- Sule Emmanuel Egya (University of Duisburg-Essen)
- Steven Hartman (BRIDGES Coalition)
- Ciara Kierans (University of Aarhus)
- Sandra Kurfürst (University of Cologne / GSSC)
- Mariagrazia Portera (University of Florence)
- Luísa Reis-Castro (Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg/USC Dornsife)
- David Schlosberg (University of Helsinki)
- Samantha Walton (Bath Spa University)
- Carsten Wergin (Heidelberg University)
- Christoph Woiwode (Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Dresden)
Contact and more information:
Dr Nsah Mala (knsah@uni-koeln.de), Cologne UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Hub Coordinator, University of Cologne
