We’re delighted to welcome Finlay Malcolm, Research Officer, University of Warwick and Research Fellow, University of Manchester, for the second ClimateExistence keynote!
Malcolm’s talk draws together the findings from two major research projects exploring the theologies, motivations and actions of UK-based Christian climate activists and advocates. The talk will highlight the overarching environmental emotions, moral attitudes and theological stances of these activists and advocates, and will then show how these findings have been developed into training materials across national churches in the UK to inspire environmental concern and action amongst the Christian community.
ClimateExistence is organized in collaboration with the Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society, CRS, Uppsala University.
When: November 16-18, 2026
Where: Uppsala, Sweden
Registration: https://doit.medfarm.uu.se/bin/kurt3/kurt/8900367 (see form for conference fees)
Dr Finlay Malcolm is a Research Officer at the University of Warwick and a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester (UK). His current research explores how Christian groups draw on their faith to motivate and navigate their work in climate advocacy and activism, and how the ideas arising from this research can inspire other Christians to take up similar work. He is the author of two monographs, Changing Climate, Changing Religion (Routledge, 2026), and A Philosophy of Faith (Routledge, 2022), as well as over two dozen academic articles in leading journals in philosophy, sociology and theology.
How can we stay with the trouble and dwell in the collapsing space between the urgent and the eternal?
The global landscape of 2026 is defined by a sense of fracture and eroding baselines. We see it in the stalling currents of the Atlantic and the geopolitical tensions stretching from the Arctic to the Middle East. As carbon budgets dwindle and the 2030 threshold looms, the distance between scientific projections and our lived reality has vanished. We inhabit a strange paradox where we are simultaneously running out of time and standing at the threshold of a new, long-lasting era of instability. In the face of tipping points and a shifting world order, we gather in Uppsala to search for meaning and community, feeling our way through the darkness.
How do we maintain a sense of place and direction when the natural and political maps are being redrawn and discarded? In an age of extreme weather and ecological loss, how do we navigate the tension between immediate crisis and the slow, deep time of the earth? If the systems we relied upon are failing, what new bridges can we build between the practical needs of survival and the existential need for meaning? How can we stay with the trouble and dwell in the collapsing space between the urgent and the eternal?
CEMUS, CRS, and Uppsala University invite you to join us for an engaging ClimateExistence conference! We aim to be a creative meeting place for artists, activists, academics, faith practitioners, and anyone interested in the existential and practical aspects of the climate emergency.