Academic travel from above and below: Institutions, ideas, and interests shaping contemporary practices

Following climate goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a growing number of European universities are changing their policies to reduce travel-related emissions. These policies must be implemented coherently, ensuring that the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability be accounted for. Yet, despite universities' commitments to reducing travel-related carbon emissions, mobility accounts for over a third of university emissions. The distribution of emissions is also unequal among researchers and more sustainable modes of mobility remain expensive. These factors complicate the shift towards flying less for academic mobility. In this article, we aim to explore the complexities related to policy change and flying less. In applying the 3Is (institutions, ideas, and interests) framework to two cases—the University of Bergen, Norway, and Utrecht University, the Netherlands—we show that policy change is not just about implementing policy mechanisms, just as flying less is not merely ‘a matter of choice’. Rather, it is a political process involving conflicting institutions, ideas, and interests that shape academic travel policies and practices. Drawing on participant observation, analysis of travel policies, and interviews with faculty and staff, we find that there are systemic constraints prevent academics from finding alternatives to flying. These circumstances highlight the need to address persistent institutional pressures that shape academic travel practices, to promote alternative forms of sustainable travel, to open a conversation around what constitutes practicing good science in today's world, and, finally, fairly provide researchers with resources to enable alternative travel futures.