About

Listen
I believe everything we dream
Can come to pass through our union
We can turn the world around
We can turn the earth’s revolution
We have the power
People have the power

Patti Smith
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    Violeta Cabello

    I am a social environmental researcher based at the Basque Centre for Climate Change in Bilbao. I have genuine curiosity for bridging diverse knowledge systems while respecting their differences. I feel moved by questions around the how(s) of transdisciplinary research: how to involve people meaningfully, how to co-create transformative processes, how to open difficult conversations about matters that matter, how to interrogate my multiple roles as researcher, facilitator, active citizen in a world that needs care as much as change. 

    I was born on a farm, somewhere in what was later called the ’emptied Spain’. I grew up among goats and peach trees until I moved to the city as a teenager. That early contact with countryside living shaped most of my core values and relational needs. I have an interdisciplinary background and, like many others in sustainability science, moved gradually from natural to social sciences and humanities. The most transformative education for me has been in group facilitation, an art I continue to cultivate in the midst of the academic vortex. 

    I have worked a great deal with water problems in Spain, from scarcity to overexplotation to pollution. My most cherished work was a dialogue process with actors polarized about the problem of eutrophication of the Mar Menor. I am still engaged with and fascinated by this lagoon and its inhabitants, while moving closer to home for new engagements. I am also opening new research topics such as nature based solutions or sustainable land use. 

    Over recent years, I have traveled with new theoretical companions like Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing, María Puig de la Bellacasa, Bruno Latour, Rosi Braidotti, Marisol de la Cadena or Karen Barad. These encounters have gradually reshaped the way I understand the problems I care about and my role as researcher.