Environmental research indicates that planetary boundaries in several domains have been exceeded. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and the depletion of the Earth’s natural resources are among the largest challenges humanity currently faces. Ambitious policies that affect technological innovation, human behavior, and their interplay with socio- economic conditions are needed to counteract the current trends. Yet, many governments are reluctant to implement the policies needed and communicate the pressing urgency of decarbonization.
The social sciences are key to understanding how climate policies can be successfully implemented and how corporate and individual environmental behavior relates to structural parameters as well as individual knowledge and environmental concern, social norms, lifestyles, and quality of life.
In light of this, the German Longitudinal Environmental Study (GLEN) project started in 2024 aim at investigating the incentives, restrictions, attitudes, beliefs, and psychological dispositions that underlie human-environment interactions. The question program includes indicators of health and environmental justice issues, carbon emissions in the areas of housing, mobility, consumption and nutrition, and questions on policy acceptance, political attitudes, and climate change denial. In doing so, the GLEN project provides a foundation for evidence-based environmental policy assessments and guidance. The project is building up a large-scale longitudinal panel study of the adult population in Germany in which the same individuals will be repeatedly observed over time using a standardized and stable survey instrument (online and paper in push-to-web setting). With this design, GLEN will meet the urgent need for data suitable for causal research in the environmental social sciences. With occasionally refreshed samples, it will also allow for monitoring trends on environmental concern and behavior, focusing on social, political, economic, and psychological aspects. As a long-term project, GLEN will cover the period between 2024 and 2036, and thus the period in which decisive policy measures to replace fossil fuels need to be implemented in accordance with international agreements. Five data sets, including the first two panel waves, will be published in June 2026 ready to use for the scientific community.
The GLEN survey team invites researchers from all fields of the social sciences to present their work on the international conference›Environment and Society‹at the University of Konstanz, June 17th to 19th, 2026.
Submissions may address but are not limited to the following topics:
(1) Theoretical perspectives on environmental research and the climate crisis
(2) Environmental concern and beliefs
(3) Environmental behavior and carbon footprint
(4) Acceptance of environmental policies, political action, and protest behavior
(5) Environmental inequality and justice
(6) Mitigation of and adaptation to climate change
(7) Climate change scepticism / climate obstruction
(8) Consequences of climate change and environmental degradation for health and wellbeing
(9) Methodological issues of environmental research in the social sciences
The conference will be held on the beautiful flower island of Mainau on Lake Constance.
For further information regarding the conference venue please visit: https://www.mainau.de/en/home
We are delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Dana Fisher, Director of the Center for Environment, Community, & Equity, Professor at the School of International Service, American University as one of our keynote speakers at the conference.
The conference is initiated by the GLEN team co-directors Katrin Auspurg, Henning Best, Christiane Bozoyan, Andreas Diekmann, and Claudia Schmiedeberg.
Local organizing team at University of Konstanz:
Andreas Diekmann, Marie Hantsche, and Felix Ries
The conference fee will be 100€.
Submission deadline for abstracts via our conference website www.international-environmental-conf26.com is January 31st, 2026.
Abstracts should not exceed 500 words. Please indicate whether you would like to give an oral or poster presentation. A decision on acceptance will be made by the End of February 2026.