[Seminar] (Beyond) Flight or Fight? Young peoples’ responses to the climate emergency

Abstract

Responses to the climate emergency are often categorised in terms of flight or fight – but how do institutions at different levels frame such emergencies for young people and enable or impede their capacities for effective action?

This communication presents analysis from multiple ongoing studies on how institutions, from a local/national level to international arenas, enable or hinder young people’s engagement with the climate emergency. The first section presents Katharine Throssell’s research exploring the role of education and curriculum in transmitting understandings of the climate crisis, and the question of whether these institutional responses tend to encourage young people’s engagement and self-efficacy on this issue or distance them from it. The second section presents Barbara Monticelli’s research on how institutional governance processes support youth participation and effectiveness in international climate decision-making processes (“fight”), or, on the contrary, create barriers to their inclusion (“flight”).

Speakers

• Barbara Monticelli (IULM University / UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles)
• Katharine Throssell (MSCA Fellow, UCLouvain Saint-Louis – Bruxelles)

Discussant

• Joost de Moor (FNRS Research Associate, UCLouvain)

Venue: Room Salle Du Conseil

Date: Thursday 9 April 2026

Time: 12:30 – 2:00 PM

Registration: Register here