Building Just Futures: Youth Climate Activism in a Time of Plurality, Complexity, and Uncertainty

Seminar organized by the research project JustFutures – Climate Futures and Just Transformations: Young People’s Narratives and Political Imaginaries

This event marks the completion of the JustFutures project, creating a space to critically reflect on its findings and chart new directions for climate justice research and action. In a world where the impacts of climate change are deeply entangled with social and political injustices, young activists are not only navigating uncertain futures but also challenging dominant frameworks that shape how these crises are understood and addressed. This seminar will explore how youth—both within and beyond organized movements—are shaping plural, context-driven climate futures while questioning the limits of activism and institutional politics. Bringing together researchers and activists, the event will serve as both a moment of closure and a point of departure, opening space for emerging approaches to agency, political imaginaries, justice, and transformation.

In the first part of the seminar, members of JustFutures will offer an overview of various types of research conducted within the project. The second part will have the format of a roundtable, fostering conversations with invited participants on ways of knowing and acting on climate change in a context of increasing polarization and unpredictability.

JustFutures Team

Anabela Carvalho, University of Minho

Carla Malafaia, University of Porto

Daniela Ferreira da Silva, University of Minho

Dora Rebelo, ISCTE - University Institute of Lisbon

Juliana Diógenes-Lima, University of Porto

Maria Fernandes-Jesus, University of Sussex

Mehmet Ali Üzelgün, Nova University of Lisbon

Tânia R. Santos, University of Minho