ICSA Webinars

Webinar #2

Title: The Ecovillage Resilience Project

Date: Tuesday, 25th February, 2025

Presenter: Anna Kovasna

Facilitated by: Taisa Mattos

Time: (12:00 Brazil, 17:00 Israel, 16:00 CEST, 23:00 Perth, Australia) 

Check your time zone HERE

Format: 90-minute participatory academic session 

Anna Kovasna will talk about the Ecovillage Resilience Project: https://ecovillage.org/funded-projects/resilience/?swcfpc=1

The Ecovillage Resilience project gathers all GEN Regions and 20 communities from around the world to explore resilience, adaptation and transformation in a >+2.5 degrees global warming scenario.

Webinar #1

Title: Intentional Communities & Social Change

Date: Thursday, 26th September 2024

Presenters: Bill Metcalf, Iris Kunze, and Jan Martin Bang

Facilitated by: Taisa Mattos

Time: (07:00 Brazil, 13:00 Israel, 12:00 CEST, 20:00 Australia) 

Check your time zone HERE

Format: 90-minute participatory academic session 

ICSA Webinars

ICSA has launched a series of webinars to take place before the next face-to-face Conference in the summer of 2026, where we will celebrate our 40th Anniversary. The first Webinar took place on September, 26th 2024, and the second webinar is scheduled for 25th February, 2025. Each Webinar will last 90 minutes, and we will offer a presentation followed by Q&A. The next webinars are planned for April and July 2025.

Webinar 2: Tuesday 25th February 2025 on “The Ecovillage Resilience Project”

A special guest, Anna Kovasna, renowned for leading groundbreaking projects that bring practitioners and scientists together, will join us to share her extensive expertise and captivating stories from the field. This promises to be a session filled with inspiration and practical insights!

Webinar 1: Tuesday 24th September 2024 on “Intentional Community & Social Change”

Bill Metcalf, Iris Kunze and Jan Martin Bang presented aspects of research, followed by a general discussion chaired by Taisa Mattos. We saw how intentional community has influenced society in the past, and how it continues up to this day. We saw how intentional communities can offer solutions to the economic, ecological, technical and social challenges facing society today.

Information about the series presenters:

Anna Kovasna

Anna Kovasna is the co-chair of the Transition Network and board member of Gaia Education. She has been working for GEN for several years, in different roles, including Education Director. She is the Founder of the Ecovillages 2.5+: Community Resilience in the Face of Catastrophic Climate Change project.

Bill Metcalf, Ph.D.

Sociologist and social historian with over 51 years dedicated to living in and studying communes and intentional communities around the globe. Honorary Associate Professor of the University of Queensland. Awarded author of numerous reviews, books, chapters, encyclopaedia entries and articles. Currently building up a massive database of intentional communities in Australia. 

Explore the meaning of “intentional community”, and the utopian goal of living a “better” life, by delving into who gets to decide this, how it is shaped by the politics and history of communities.

Iris Kunze, Ph.D.

Researcher, author, coach and project manager in the field of sustainable lifestyles, community, social innovations and civil society movements since 2001. Currently living in a tiny house rural community in Austria, and offering lectures, coaching, and training for communal living projects. Awarded Starting Scholar in 2011 by the Communal Studies Association (USA).

Intentional Communities as transformative Social Innovations

Jan Martin Bang

Permaculture Designer and teacher, former president of the International Communal Studies Association. Leading activist in environmental projects and ecovillage developments internationally with over 20 years experience in designing and teaching courses. Lived in income-sharing communities for 30 years, in Israel and Norway. Author of several descriptive and comprehensive sourcebooks.

Social impact in a variety of communities: Essenes, Monasteries, Robert Owen and maybe Kibbutz and Camphill. 

Sliding-scale Pricing:

One Session: €15

All Three Sessions: €30

All Three Sessions + ICSA Membership up to and including the 2026 Conference:

€50 Low income, member of income-sharing community

€100 Professional membership

€200 Institutional membership

€200 Individual sponsor

€500 Institutional partner membership

Information about the presenters:

Bill Metcalf, Ph.D.

Sociologist and social historian with over 51 years dedicated to living in and studying communes and intentional communities around the globe. Honorary Associate Professor of the University of Queensland. Awarded author of numerous reviews, books, chapters, encyclopaedia entries and articles. Currently building up a massive database of intentional communities in Australia. 

Explore the meaning of “intentional community”, and the utopian goal of living a “better” life, by delving into who gets to decide this, how it is shaped by the politics and history of communities.

Iris Kunze, Ph.D.

Researcher, author, coach and project manager in the field of sustainable lifestyles, community, social innovations and civil society movements since 2001. Currently living in a tiny house rural community in Austria, and offering lectures, coaching, and training for communal living projects. Awarded Starting Scholar in 2011 by the Communal Studies Association (USA).

Intentional Communities as transformative Social Innovations

Jan Martin Bang

Permaculture Designer and teacher, former president of the International Communal Studies Association. Leading activist in environmental projects and ecovillage developments internationally with over 20 years experience in designing and teaching courses. Lived in income-sharing communities for 30 years, in Israel and Norway. Author of several descriptive and comprehensive sourcebooks.

Social impact in a variety of communities: Essenes, Monasteries, Robert Owen and maybe Kibbutz and Camphill. 

Bill Metcalf will explore the meaning of “intentional community”, and the utopian goal of living a “better” life, by delving into who gets to decide this, how it is shaped by the politics and history of communities.

Iris Kunze will talk about Intentional Communities as transformative Social Innovations

Jan Martin Bang’s presentation will be concerned with social impact in a variety of communities: Essenes, Monasteries, Robert Owen and maybe Kibbutz and Camphill. 

Sliding-scale Pricing:

One Session: €15

All Three Sessions: €30

All Three Sessions + ICSA Membership up to and including the 2026 Conference:

€50 Low income, member of income-sharing community

€100 Professional membership

€200 Institutional membership

€200 Individual sponsor

€500 Institutional partner membership