ZEF Lecture
Abstract: The old assumption that producing more scientific knowledge will lead to societal change is quickly becoming obsolete. We already know that climate change is dangerous, excessive meat consumption is harmful, and too little exercise undermines our health. Yet our behaviours shift only slowly, if at all. This talk explores why people don’t do what they know they should in the context of sustainability transitions. It defines and unpacks the persistent Know–Do gap, and then introduces four levers to bridge it: producing transformative knowledge for action, using narratives to translate this knowledge into societal meaning, aligning incentives among stakeholders, and creating iterative feedback loops between knowledge and implementation. Through concrete examples, it stimulates a discussion on how combining these levers might be able to accelerate real-world sustainability transformations.
Die ZEF-Lecture findet am Donnerstag, den 22.01.2026 um 18 Uhr c.t. im Senatssaal (K.11.07) und auf Zoom statt. Für eine Teilnahme auf Zoom ist eine Anmeldung unter dem folgenden Link erforderlich:
https://uni-wuppertal.zoom.us/meeting/register/MpoCVfCcTESfpxQAxn3h6w#/registration
Wir freuen uns auf Ihr Erscheinen!
