Wales Transition Lab plots its next steps
In April, our Wales Transition Lab team enjoyed an excellent opportunity to meet some of the Lab’s participants at the wonderful Spark building in Cardiff. Jyoti Banerjee reports back on the new ideas and hopes being brought into the Lab.
In April, I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting a number of the participants in Wales Transition Lab (some for the first time in-person) at the stunning Sbarc building in Cardiff. We talked together of the next big ideas that Wales Transition Lab could tackle. More importantly, we made new friendships, and deepened existing ones.
Sbarc (or Spark, in English) is Cardiff University’s Social Science Research Park. A word of grateful thanks to Rick Delbridge, the Cardiff business school professor who led Sbarc’s development, for inviting us to the wonderful space at the top of the building. We did appreciate our opportunity to be there, Rick, and immediately asked if North Star Transition too could become one of the Sbarc family of innovators.
Although Wales Transition Lab started in October 2020 (right in the midst of a global pandemic), we at North Star Transition have never had the opportunity to actually meet in person a number of the participants. So when so many of our team were going to be in Cardiff at the same time, it seemed an excellent opportunity to bring a few people together who are based in the vicinity of Cardiff. As we said at the time, it was not a full or regular meeting of the Wales Transition Lab cohort, but it was an excellent chance to meet some friends, and make some new ones.
If I remember correctly, there were some who were in the Sbarc meeting who were also at the very first meeting of Wales Transition Lab – I am thinking of Rachel Sharp (Wildlife Trust Wales), Julie Davis (Bridgend) and Chris Moreton (Velindre). And then we had the chance to welcome some new faces to the group as well: Jonathan Tench and Rhiannon Hardiman (Future Gen office), Alex Walters (Academi Wales), Stan Townsend (Wales Net Zero 2035 group), Paul Matthews (Monmouthshire), John Gossage (NRW), Tom Johnstone (Welsh Designated Landscapes) and Brendon Baker (Mott MacDonald). Welcome all.
The North Star Transition team preparing for the Wales Transition Lab meeting in the Milk and Sugar cafe at Sbarc, Cardiff: from left, Jo Jones, Luke Penny, Dan Ward and Victoria Topham.
Thinking ahead
We had the opportunity to hear about the real world actions and impacts that have come out of the work of Wales Transition Lab, including working with hospitals and schools on localising food sourcing and the work we have done to launch the Wye-Usk Transition Lab, an initiative to make all of south-east Wales a regenerative place. We also shared the work we are doing with leading global financial institutions to invite them to a space where they can bring to our table in Wales the climate financing commitments they have made.
Plus, we invited everybody to share ideas of new actions and spaces we might want to get involved in. The ideas covered a wide range and I will not be doing justice to the flow of creative juices on the day by cherry picking a handful – but I am going to be do it anyway:
Marine conservation and sustainable fishing
Diversification of farming
Innovative financing models
Health inequalities
Food literacy
National objectives on well-being
Upskilling leadership on tackling super-wicked problems
Welsh forestry
Land use mapping
We are going to be drawing on these ideas, and more, when we host the next meeting of Wales Transition Lab – which will go back to being an online meeting so that as many as possible can attend from across the nation. The meeting will happen on June 12th, and as usual, our meeting will be facilitated through the partnership we have with UCL’s Climate Action Unit. Our goal at the meeting will be to refine which particular ideas we want to focus on for the next year.
I remain deeply grateful that Wales Transition Lab has such a brilliant group to collaborate and conspire with. Let’s keep sparking.
