Select language

Skip to content

Human Development &
Capability Association

Agency, Well-Being and Justice

Video and Webinar Archive

The HDCA European Network aims to bring together researchers, policy makers and practitioners interested in the capability approach and human development and who are working on, or in, Europe. The network supports communication and dialogue across its membership, as well as encouraging connections with fellow Regional Networks, by creating a space to develop online and in person meetings, conferences and learning events and sharing relevant updates and information. We welcome new members and encourage individuals to contact the coordinators to share their updates and to discuss possible events and activities they wish to develop.
Activities taking place within this regional network include webinars related to research, policy and practice; occasional workshops on topics of interest to members and meetings and social events at the annual HDCA conference.

  • Video Category

  • Year

  • Thematic group

  • Region

  • Search

Education, Capabilities and Sustainable Development

Presenter: Caroline Hart
Chair: Andrew Crabtree

Educational institutions and their processes have the potential to make a significant contribution towards the development of individual capabilities and sustainable development more broadly. Albeit the latter will be diversely conceived, this potential exists, though cannot be assumed due to positive and negative impacts of educational processes, trade-offs and sacrifices along the way (Hart, 2018). 

HDCA Webinar Education Sustainable Human Development European Network HDCA Videos
56 minutes

Sen’s Broad Consequentialism, Legitimate Freedoms and Biodiversity Loss

Speaker: Andrew Crabtree

Amartya Sen has been unjustly criticized for having an apparently lassiez faire approach to freedoms. For some, he appears to place no limits on the freedoms people may have. Such a criticism fails to take Sen’s work on consequentialism – his so-called broad consequentialism – into consideration. Nor too does it discuss his work on responsibility. Thus, the first part of this paper outlines Sen’s “broad consequentialism”, which takes agency, processes and social relationships of people into consideration, and contrasts it and its benefits, with traditional consequentialism. This section also criticizes Sen’s approach for being unclear in terms of prioritization, especially in relation to rights which is left to a vague discussion of public reasoning (Sen, 2008). Section 2 begins by outlining a legitimate freedom or critical contractualist approach to the limits of freedoms is defended which, drawing on Scanlon (1998) and Forst (2011), emphasises the importance of justification to others. It defends the approach against Sen’s criticisms of Scanlon which, I shall maintain involves a misunderstanding of Scanlon’s work as providing a unique set of principles for all cases (Sen, 2008).

HDCA Webinar European Network
55 minutes

A conceptual review of the narrative on sustainability from the perspective of the capability approach

Speaker: Philippa Shepherd, a doctoral student at Université Grenoble Alpes, France, is doing research on the vulnerability and resilience of work capability in the French Alps amidst the challenges of climate change.

Many scholars have explored, critiqued, and developed upon the integration of the notion of sustainability within capability theory. Being human-centred, the capability approach emphasises human flourishing, dignity, equity, and justice issues with regard to sustainability, bringing to the fore the human in sustainable human development. However, scholars have highlighted theoretical discord between the two development paradigms, drawing attention to the underlying individualism of the capability approach and the understated role of the environment and nature in generating and safeguarding people’s capabilities. The sustainability-capability narrative has thus resulted in expansions of capability theory making explicit the environmental dimension and the notion of collective capability. In this presentation, Philippa explores some seminal papers illustrating the conceptual compatibility (or not) between sustainable development and the capability approach. 

HDCA Webinar European Network HDCA Videos
54 minutes

The integration of participatory approaches to SDG localization

This panel discussion features presentations by four scholars who have published in the recent Policy Forum in the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities on SDG localisation. The discussion will challenge the traditional “top-down” dichotomy in implementing the SDGs, highlighting that to fulfill the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is essential to translate the SDGs into national and local policy initiatives. The incorporation of participatory approaches in this process is vital in ensuring collective action and democratic participation. The authors highlight how participatory approaches have been utilised in implementing the SDGs in a local context. 

HDCA Webinar 2022 Empowerment and Collective Capabilities Participatory Methods Sustainable Human Development European Network HDCA Videos
126 minutes

Framing Research and Innovation for Transformative Change Towards Sustainable Development in the European Union

SPEAKERS
Marta Truco Calbet – European Commission DG Research and Innovation
Michele Capriati – University of Bari
Andrea Ferrannini – ARCO (Action Research for Co-Development)

CHAIR
Mario Biggeri – University of Florence, ARCO (Action Research for Co-Development) and HDCA Joint European Regional Network Coordinator

CONVENOR
Caroline Hart, PhD – University of Sheffield, HDCA Co-Education Officer, and HDCA Joint European Regional Network Coordinator

This webinar discusses to what extent and how R&I policy in the post-COVID scenario can represent a leverage for transformative change by empowering individuals and communities to meet social needs and address the issues of sustainable and inclusive societies. In particular, it provides theoretical arguments and policy recommendations to design a roadmap for a new approach on R&I policies at European level, in order to contribute to transforming the EU into a fair and prosperous society and put its economy on a more sustainable and inclusive path.

HDCA Webinar 2021 European Network HDCA Videos
89 minutes

“Bouncing Back or Bouncing Forward: social resilience, social rights and capabilities in the post-Covid19 Europe”

SPEAKERS
Federico Ciani, Phd – University of Florence and ARCO (Action Research for Co-Development)
Prof. Rune Halvorsen – Oslo Metropolitan University
Prof. Jean-Michel Bonvin – Université de Genève

CHAIR: Prof. Mario Biggeri – University of Florence and ARCO (Action Research for Co-Development; Co-ERN Coordinator)
CONVENOR: Caroline Hart, PhD – University of Sheffield (HDCA Co-Education Officer; Co-ERN Coordinator)

HDCA Webinar 2021 European Network HDCA Videos
90 minutes
scroll to top