Societies worldwide are confronted with the challenge of completing transformations towards more sustainable lifestyles. Addressing climate change, achieving full decarbonisation, scaling-up renewables and implementing economic models which are not based on growth and exploitation – these are key concepts of the “Great Transformation” which has been described in the report of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU). These ideas have become central aspects of many national environmental and energy policies worldwide.

While there is no universal concept of transformations, they are relevant beyond the academy. Civil society movements and actors use the concept to frame their goals and programmes. Our cluster takes an interdisciplinary approach and acknowledges that transformation concepts may vary across disciplines and theoretical approaches. Nevertheless, as the smallest common denominator, transformations can be understood as holistic, actively navigated process of change to achieve sustainability across various sectors and levels.

However, here, our primary aim is not to dwell on definitions. Rather, we want to showcase our research projects as contributions to the transformation research agenda and engage with transformative strategies and concrete examples of transformation processes in action.