SKYJUST is the acronym for Just Transitions for Sustainable Astronomy, a 24 months postdoctoral fellowship funded by HORIZON TMA Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions under project number 101205860. The action started in September 2025 and the participants institutions are the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development at Utrecht University in the Netherlands as main host and University College London in the UK where the secondment will take place.
The project leader is Dr. Martin Calvet, a researcher with expertise in sustainability transitions and urban political ecologies in the Global South.
SKYJUST scrutinises how intergovernmental astronomical agencies with strong European participation are adopting transitions policies in their research infrastructures to align with EU and global ambitious policies and plans seeking to advance a just and inclusive transition towards a carbon neutral and green economy.
In a context of a boom of new large-scale and cutting-edge observatories worldwide and the modernisation of research infrastructures policies, this project investigates the cases of the European Southern Observatory ESO and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory SKAO research infrastructures in the Atacama Desert in Chile, in the Karoo region in South Africa, and in Murchinson Shire in Australia.
Through a pool of interdisciplinary methods, the research analyses variables of socioecological sustainability, environmental justice and decolonial awareness, as well as governance schemes. As outcomes, SKYJUST will generate an overview of the observatories’ sustainability policies, understand the agencies’ everyday narratives and practices, provide policy recommendations and develop a new framework for astronomical sustainability bridging decolonial and transitions studies.
SKYJUST seeks to produce an impact in the research agenda on Earth-Space Sustainability, expanding debates on dark and quiet skies and decolonial approaches to space sciences. At the same time, the project aims to deliver sound and evidence-based policy recommendations to astronomical agencies, space industry, and governments, promoting renewed long-term and fair sustainability partnerships between global and local actors.
A recent (09/2025) PDF presentation describing the project can be accessed at SKYJUST folder in the EU Open Research Respository at ZENODO.