Sustainability Studies Research Group

Based on the calls for substantial development towards sustainability, the research group focuses on bridging across overarching and specific aspects of sustainability. Sustainability is considered regarding the full spectrum of for example environmental, social, and economic sustainability, but with a starting point in environmental sustainability.

Growth, Degrowth, and Economic Futures

Environmental sustainability in itself is treated as a set of interrelated issues, including for global to local impacts and causes. Overarching sustainability aspects that the group puts focus on are among other, economic growth in relation to economic degrowth, planetary environmental sustainability thresholds, and relations between sustainability transitions and sustainability transformations. The group covers how the state of sustainability and the overarching sustainability aspects depend on different aspects of society, such as political, organizational, cultural and technical ones.

Research Activities

The group thereby aims to bridge the consideration of fundamental and uncertain properties of sustainability with understanding of the actions that influence these properties and the effects of such actions. In practice, the group pursues this ambition through coordination of research, education, outreach, funding application, and other networking activities.

The group is disciplinary based in the social sciences broadly but with a strong interdisciplinary focus that includes the humanities and arts, engineering research and the natural sciences.