EXPLORE OUR THEMES
Learning from climate activism
The Learning from Climate Activism research theme explores how climate movements, particularly youth-led initiatives like SchoolStrike4Climate, are reshaping civic participation and climate advocacy. This stream highlights the transformative potential of youth activism in reimagining political engagement and education.
Leadership and gender
The Leadership and Gender research theme examines the crucial role of young women and gender-diverse activists in shaping contemporary climate politics. Building on the prominence of female leadership in movements like School Strike 4 Climate, we explore how gender influences political participation, leadership styles, and resistance to exclusionary power structures. We highlight the transformative impact of their leadership in challenging traditional power dynamics and advancing climate justice.
Visual communication
The Visual Communication research theme examines the significance of young people’s visual politics as displayed on protest placards at Sydney’s School Strike for Climate (SS4C) events since 2019. We have developed an innovative method for analysing visual artefacts to capture the diverse visual expressions of young activists and their evolving climate concerns. Recognising the power of visual language in political participation, we explore how visual activism can challenge and reshape our social, environmental, and political understandings of youth climate action.
Building on landmark cases in Australia and globally, this research examines the role of youth-led legal challenges in shaping climate policy, expanding legal interpretations of harm, and advocating for intergenerational justice. Our study highlights the power of litigation as a tool for systemic change. We investigate how legal strategies, rights-based arguments, and judicial decisions can redefine responsibilities for climate action and influence broader social movements.
New • Collective • Bold • Creative • Just •
The Strategic Litigation
The Strategic Litigation research theme explores how young people are using the law to drive climate action and hold governments and corporations accountable for environmental harm.
Moral and political emotions & new citizenship
The Moral and Political Emotions & New Citizenship research theme explores how young climate activists are reshaping democratic participation through emotional and ethical claims for justice. Student climate activists, often unable to vote, use speech, protest, and strategic action to demand political recognition, rights, and climate justice. By analysing the moral and political emotions expressed in their activism—such as anger, hope, and solidarity—this study highlights how youth-led movements challenge conventional political norms and redefine what it means to be a citizen. We explore how emotional and ethical engagement fosters new forms of political belonging, disrupting traditional power structures and amplifying young people's agency in shaping climate futures.
Digital activism
The Digital Activism research stream of the New Possibilities Project examines how young climate activists strategically use social media to mobilise, advocate, and challenge dominant narratives on climate action. The research explores how student-led movements like School Strike 4 Climate blend professional communication tactics with humour, internet culture, and grassroots organising to engage diverse audiences. By analysing the role of platforms like Instagram and TikTok in protest promotion, media engagement, and movement building, this study highlights how digital activism redefines political participation. We investigate the power and limitations of online spaces in sustaining youth-led climate movements while navigating the tensions between activism, vernacular language and practices on social media and institutional engagement.