At this year’s annual EWUU Conference, the focus was clear: moving beyond ideas and into practice. Guided by the theme “Driving Transitions, in Society, with Society,” the programme challenged participants to not only discuss change, but to actively shape it together, across disciplines, sectors, and perspectives.
Our two interactive workshops stood at the heart of this ambition, bringing researchers and professionals together to explore what it truly takes to build a circular society in complex, real-world contexts.
Rethinking Sustainability in Healthcare
In the first session, facilitated by Megan Milota, participants zoomed in on healthcare, a sector with a significant environmental footprint, yet one that is deeply shaped by routines, culture, and context.
Using an ethnographic film on childbirth practices in The Netherlands and Suriname, the workshop explored how material use is embedded in everyday care. This comparative lens offered a powerful starting point for reflection.
The discussions that followed revealed just how context-dependent sustainability challenges are. What may seem like an obvious improvement in one setting can be unworkabl, or even undesirable, in another. By looking across practices and perspectives, participants uncovered new ways of thinking about sustainable healthcare, grounded in real-life complexity.
Connecting Urban and Rural Circularity
The second workshop, led by Vikrant Sihag, Dujuan Yang, Kirsty Holstead, and Erna Ruijer, shifted the focus to regional circularity.
Central to this session was a pressing question: how can we strengthen connections between urban and rural areas in the face of climate pressure and resource scarcity?
Participants explored the role of digital technologies in enabling public–private partnerships for circular public spaces. Using an interactive brownpaper format, the workshop encouraged open, collaborative dialogue. Ideas were mapped visually, helping to surface shared challenges, identify new research questions, and highlight concrete opportunities for collaboration.
A Shared Commitment to Learning
Across both sessions, one thing stood out: the quality of the conversations. They were thoughtful, critical, and forward-looking, grounded in both research and practice. Just as importantly, there was a clear willingness among participants to learn from one another. an essential ingredient for driving meaningful transitions.
A Collective Effort
The success of the day reflects the dedication of inspiring speakers and the EWUU alliance conference team. With partners from Eindhoven University of Technology, Wageningen University & Research, Utrecht University, and University Medical Center Utrecht, the conference once again demonstrated the power of collaboration in tackling complex societal challenges.
As these sessions showed, building a circular society is not a one-size-fits-all process. It requires openness to different contexts, the integration of diverse perspectives, and a commitment to learning by doing, together.
Want to know more about the day? Read the full recap here.