What are sustainable academic cultures? Sanna asks. Ah, this is such a good question, I think to myself on a Thursday evening past 6 pm. I had just discussed with one of my supervisors this week that it’s important to try to focus on my dissertation project, to try to cut out everything else. Nothing is worth it if you break down with stress and overwork, she said. I had asked her strategies for dealing with stress, since I haven’t been able to sleep very well this semester. It still feels like I am trying to adjust back into my usual rhythm in my Swedish academic life, even two months after coming back from my three-month stay in Japan. I was happy to be able to discuss my vulnerable sides with her (as well as with my other supervisor, which gave similar advice), and I thought their advice was wise. It’s really important not to overload myself.
Photo from canva.com
And here I am again, agreeing to give some thought on a writing project “for fun.”
To try not to do other things than my research –this seemingly simple act, why is it so difficult?
And then I again, I hear myself reply, But this is fine because it is a fun thing. In reality, everything that I sign up for outside of my dissertation, I do so because I either think it’s important or it’s fun, or both. I agreed to teach again on a course this semester at my department called Sustainable Development and Globalization. I love facilitating learning. But it does take more time than the compensation you get. And it has been more stressful than working as a Course Coordinator at CEMUS (the student-led education centre, The Centre for Environment & Development Studies) – although it’s not clear to me why exactly. More responsibility, yes, because you are the “teacher,” a seeming expert on something (while most times you are not). Perhaps more so, less support. There is no support structure in the same way that encourages you to try new things, helps you prepare, reflect, and try again. I feel slightly alone in this*.
I look back at Sanna’s piece. Two phrases jump out: Slow down and Care. Inspired by permaculture, she writes: If we start to observe, slow down, use our edge, what would that mean for how we teach, how we research, how we engage with communities, how we engage with each other? She points to regenerative collective caring in academia – what might this look like in practice?
It reminds me of how slow scholarship, something that I advocate for, calls for self-care as warfare: “cultivating space to care for ourselves, our colleagues, and our students is, in fact, a political activity when we are situated in institutions that devalue and militate against such relations and practices.”**
This is what we need. But, re-read: we also need to be caring for ourselves. How we can support each other, even if my friend-colleagues are ultimately rivals applying for same permanent positions in the future? How can we resist the temptation/pressure to overload ourselves when the world is burning?
The word count is over limit and the essay is unfinished, but I have to now close my computer. It’s 7 pm. Time to stop working, even if it’s fun.
*Students are recruited as Course Coordinators at CEMUS to design and facilitate undergraduate and Master’s courses with support from CEMUS staff and a working group consisting of researchers. Read more about the CEMUS model here.
** p.1239 from Mountz, Alison, Anne Bonds, Becky Mansfield, Jenna Loyd, Jennifer Hyndman, Margaret Walton-Roberts, Ranu Basu, et al. 2015. “For Slow Scholarship: A Feminist Politics of Resistance through Collective Action in the Neoliberal University.” ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies 14 (4): 1235–59.
This International Women’s Day we remembered Berta Cáceres, Indigenous leader and environmental defender from the Lenca people of Honduras. Berta’s murder on March 2nd 2016 was directly associated with her campaign in the defence of the Gualcarque river, the site of a proposed dam in Lenca territory.
In her first public event as Zennström Professor Stefania held a conversation with Berta’s daughter, Bertha Zuñiga, in order to understand how her work lives on and the continued struggle for justice in the region. We were very grateful to Bertha for taking the time to speak to us so openly.
Many thanks also go to Grettel Navas, Azucena Moran and Katia Lara for their support with this event.
Watch the video from the webinar. The video is a mixture of Spanish and English.
You can also read the English and Spanish transcripts here. Thank you to María Florencia Langa for transcription and translation.
This tragedy of Berta’s murder is not in isolation. In 2019 alone, it is estimated that over 200 environmental defenders were killed as a consequence of their commitment to protect the environment and indigenous lands. Indigenous leaders and Indigenous women leaders in particular have been at the forefront of this struggle. How can we make sense of the violence against these earth defenders in a time when their work is all the more relevant to climate and ecological politics? What can we learn, from their stories, about the post-carbon transition?
These courses give a broad orientation of theories and concepts within the emerging climate change leadership field focusing on how to engender a rapid social transition to zero emissions. The main focus lies on analysing how theories and concepts of climate change leadership, stemming from political and social sciences, systems thinking, governance theory and societal planning can be used to understand and shape transitions.
Climate Change Leadership: Actors and Strategies for Societal Transitions, 2021
To become a formally affiliated Ph.D. student see the affiliation agreement and contact the coordinator (Matilda) at matilda.andersson@ebc.uu.se. If you are a master student or researcher we would be happy to include you in our group as a non-affiliated member. The more the merrier!
CEFO Alumni
Fabian Engel graduated from Department of Ecology and Genetics, Limnology, Uppsala University
Isak Öhrlund, graduated from Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Management, Uppsala University
Kristina Börebäck, graduated from Department of Education, Stockholm University
Suvi Kokko, graduated from Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Marcus Wallner, graduated from Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Johanna Jokinen graduated from Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Claudia Abril, graduated from Department of Earth Sciences Uppsala University
Dominic Teodorescu, graduated from Department of Social and Cultural Geography , Uppsala University
Orn-uma Polpanich graduated from Department of Earth Sciences Uppsala University
Pianpian Wu, graduated from Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Sonja Pullen, graduated from Department of Chemistry – Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University
Emma Moberg, graduated from Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Hanh Tong Thi Hai, graduated from Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University
Huayi Lin, graduated from Department of Energy and Technology Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Daniel Bergquist graduated from Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Camilo Calderon Graduated from Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Sofie Joosse, Graduated from Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Anneli Ekblom, Graduated from Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University
Eren Zink, Graduated from Department of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University
Anneleen Kool, Graduated from Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
Hugo De Boer, Graduated from Department of Organismal Biology, Uppsala University
Diana Garavito-Bermúdez, Graduated from Department of Education, Stockholm University
Héctor Estuardo Guinea Barrientos, Graduated from Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University
Moyen Mustaquim, Graduated from Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University
Katharina Brinkert, Transferred from Department of Chemistry, Uppsala University
Simon Davidsson, Graduated from Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University
Sara Lång Graduated from Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Anna-Klara Nilsson, Graduated from Department of Social and Economic Geography, Uppsala University
Christian Alarcon Graduated from Department of Urban and Rural Development Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Lars Karlsson Graduated from Department of Economic History, Uppsala University
The interdisciplinary seminar takes place Tuesdays 10:15-12:00 twice per month during term time via zoom or/and in the Baltic Library, at the Department of Earth Sciences, Villavägen 16. The first and last seminar each term includes planning discussions where PhD-students and researchers suggest future activities. The seminar is hosted by affiliated CEFO Members and supported by CEMUS, NRHU and the Climate Change Leadership Node at Uppsala University.
Time
Title
Location
Schedules from previous semesters are available here
The CEMUS Research Forum is a transdisciplinary research forum open to researchers and PhD-students at Uppsala University, SLU and other universities in Sweden. CEFO activities focus on environment, development and sustainability studies. We collaborate with other universities and departments to enrich research education through our transdisciplinary Sustainability Seminars, PhD courses, workshops, lectures and field trips. CEFO was initiated by PhD-students, staff and students at CEMUS in 2002 as a research school between Uppsala University and Swedish Agricultural University (SLU).
CEFO is mainly driven by PhD students from across Uppsala University, along with senior faculty support. Our affiliated members and other participants are from diverse departments and disciplines, bringing multiple perspectives to the discussions. We encourage conversations framed by problem, not by discipline.
What We Do
Twice per month we host a research seminar series featuring talks and workshops from CEFO members and invited speakers. We run skills workshops and organize field trips. We also initiate and run student-driven PhD courses in collaboration with faculty and offer opportunities for getting feedback for your research from a wider audience. We welcome new members from all departments who hope to broaden their horizons. Seminars, workshops and events are open to any interested PhD students, researchers, master’s students and interested public.
Below you find an introductory movie:
Sound interesting?
Check the schedule for our activities, you are of course welcome to join them. In addition to that, we would be happy to send you invites to our activities, if you are interested in that please send an e-mail to our coordinator helena.fornstedt@angstrom.uu.se.
To become a formally affiliated PhD student see the affiliation agreement (here) and contact the coordinator (Helena). If you are a Masters student or researcher we would be happy to include you in our group as a non-affiliated member. The more the merrier!
CEMUS Centre for Environment and Development Studies, an interdisciplinary center for education, outreach, and research at Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).
Find recorded lectures, podcasts and reports with members of the Climate Change Leadership initiative.
Follow our youtube channel for talks and events with the Climate Change Leadership initiative at Uppsala University.Follow the CEMUS youtube channel for associated talks and events.
Find resources and reports for climate justice and Just Transition here.
Find resources and reports for the Swedish Carbon Budget work here.
Find resources and reports for the work on universities and education here.
Föreläsning: ”Laggards or leaders (bromskloss eller ledare); Paris, 2°C & the role for Sweden” av Kevin Anderson. Den hölls på Hotel Lysekil den 9 mars och publik var människor som hade samlats för att protestera mot Preems utbyggnad av oljeraffinaderiet i Lysekil. Dagen efter deltog Kevin Anderson som vittne i Mark- och miljööverdomstolens förhandlingar om Preems ansökan om utbyggnad. Mars 2020.
Report: Internationalisation and SustainabilityThe report below provides a brief exploration of the relationship between internationalisation and sustainability agendas in the contemporary university. It reports on a short programme of desk research by the team and a workshop bringing together university leadership, students, faculty and administrative staff. It identifies key tensions, possibilities, and routes towards achieving more sustainable internationalisation strategies in universities. The report has been compiled rapidly to respond to current debates and is intended as the basis for wider discussion.
Sweden’s carbon budget challenge – turning Paris’ aspirations into local climate actionPart 1 and Part 2. A lecture and panel discussion with Kevin Anderson, Agneta Green, Anders Wijkman, and Karin Sundby. July 2018.
Courage and Climate: An Interview with Kevin Anderson. Interviewed by Paul Campion and Stephen Tuscher, students at the Newman Institute, for Civic Courage in Theory and Practice, a course taught by Brian Palmer. November 2016.
Find external resources linked to people and groups doing inspiring work.
Sister’s Academy develops new art-based research methods to collect data. Based in Denmark.
Emergence Network is a research inquiry into the otherwise via practices that trouble the traditional boundaries of agency and possibility.
Climate and Mind explores the relationship between climate disruption, human behaviour, and human experience.
Bifrost is an environmental humanities intervention on climate change bridging nature and culture, science and art, understanding and action, challenges and solutions.
Gesturing towards decolonial futures is a portfolio of artistic, pedagogical and cartographic experiments that seek to not only imagine but also enact the world differently.
Ecoversities network explores what the university might look like if it were at the service of our diverse ecologies, cultures, economies, spiritualities and Life within our planetary home.
Dark Mountain is a radical project looking for other stories that can help us make sense of a time of disruption and uncertainty.
CEFO is a research forum for PhD students, by PhD students, focused on facilitating interdisciplinary discussions around sustainability and environmental change. Our main activities include running a bi-monthly seminar series featuring talks and workshops from CEFO members and invited speakers. We initiate and run student-led PhD courses and offer opportunities for getting feedback for your research from a wider audience. Seminars, workshops and events are open to any interested PhD students, researchers, masters students and interested public.
These courses give a broad orientation of theories and concepts within the emerging climate change leadership field focusing on how to engender a rapid social transition to zero emissions. The main focus lies on analysing how theories and concepts of climate change leadership, stemming from political and social sciences, systems thinking, governance theory and societal planning can be used to understand and shape transitions.
The internationally recognised Zennström Professors in Climate Change Leadership work with academics, students, civil society and public and private partners to understand the scale of the transition needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and begin to develop routes towards these transitions. To date we have had four Zennström Professors.
STEFANIA BARCA – ZENNSTRÖM VISITING PROFESSOR 2021 – 2022
We are delighted to welcome Stefania Barca as our next Zennström Professor in Climate Change Leadership. Stefania is a scholar in Environmental Humanities, with a strong commitment to environmental and climate justice.
Stefania Barca Zennström Professor in Climate Change Leadersship Foto Mikael Wallerstedt
During her time in Uppsala she will be building on the legacies left by the previous professors, as well as facilitating new initiatives around the Covid-19, climate and care nexus. In particular Stefania looks forward to actively contributing to the convergence of labour, feminist, youth and climate justice organisations towards a politics of Just Transition.
Stefania will begin her time in Uppsala with with a series of events with academics, practitioners and activists, exploring emergent themes stemming from such creative and participatory conversations. Her professorship will culminate in a conference on Just Transition in spring 2022, the first of this kind in Europe.
KERI FACER – ZENNSTRÖM VISITING PROFESSOR 2019–2020
Dr. Keri Facer, Professor of Educational and Social Futures
Keri Facer is Professor of Educational and Social Futures at the University of Bristol, School of Education. She works on rethinking the relationship between formal educational institutions and wider society and is particularly concerned with the sorts of knowledge that may be needed to address contemporary environmental, economic, social, and technological changes.
Since 2013, Keri has been Leadership Fellow for the RCUK Connected Communities Programme. This research programme is creating new relationships between communities and universities, drawing on arts and humanities perspectives and methods to enable new forms of knowledge production to address urgent contemporary issues.
Keri’s aim is to work across the whole of Uppsala University to explore how universities can build partnerships with local, national, and international communities, how we can develop powerful knowledge, and how we can educate students to enable the massive transitions we need to live well with climate change.
KEVIN ANDERSON – ZENNSTRÖM VISITING PROFESSOR 2016–2018
Dr. Kevin Anderson, Professor of Energy and Climate Change
Kevin Anderson is one of the leading climate scientists in the U.K. He is Professor of Energy and Climate Change at the University of Manchester and Deputy Director at the renowned Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.
Kevin is a well-known and established researcher within climate change science who engages frequently with policy-makers, the private sector, civil society as well as the media. He has pioneered research on carbon budgets and pathways to acceptable mitigation levels. His work on the technical, social and economic interactions involved in the transformation of energy systems and the mitigation and adaptation to climate change, addresses questions at the core of this professorship’s theme.
Kevin is a prominent thinker, writer and communicator who built on and expanded the work of the first visiting professor in Climate Change Leadership, Doreen Stabinsky.
DOREEN STABINSKY – ZENNSTRÖM VISITING PROFESSOR 2015–2016
Dr. Doreen Stabinsky, Professor of Global Environmental Politics
Doreen Stabinsky is Professor of Global Environmental Politics at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. Her research, teaching, and writing concern the impacts of climate change, particularly on agriculture and global food security. She also serves as advisor to various governments and international environmental organisations, and has a large international network of collaborators.
Doreen stresses the central role that education must play in addressing the growing challenges of climate change and is known for her ability to strengthen young people’s capacity to contribute to a better world. The fact that the focus of the professorship itself was inspired by, and emerged from a student-led course on Climate Change Leadership at CEMUS, made Doreen a fitting first holder of the Zennström Visiting Professorship.
The Zennström Climate Change Leadership Initiative acts as a catalyst for public debate, research and education to directly address some of the most challenging questions that climate change poses to humanity. Three internationally recognised Zennström Professors in Climate Change Leadership are working with academics, students, civil society and public and private partners to both understand the scale of the civilisational transition needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change and to begin to develop routes towards that transition and prepare for adaptation.
Our current projects largely fall within four areas built upon the research themes of the Chairs of the Zennström professorship. These include:
Student engagement with international climate negotiations and justice
Our First Three Professors: Keri Facer, Doreen Stabinsky, and Kevin Anderson
The Zennström Climate Change Leadership initiative is part of the research program Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) based at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University.
Climate change leadership is a dynamic field, crossing disciplinary and societal boundaries, with the aim to catalyse innovative and bold approaches to meet the complex challenges of climate change. This dynamism and energy is derived from the increasing demand for knowledge and practices to meet challenges across all sectors of society, from the local to international level. Climate change leadership is characterised by knowledge co-production between academia and society at large, to ensure effective and just institutional and socio-technological transformations.
The overall goal of the initiative is to actively shape an inter- and transdisciplinary intellectual environment that combines education, research and outreach in innovative ways and applies knowledge into equitable climate action. The climate change leadership environment engages with new forms of vibrant, trans- disciplinary and exploratory forums with world-leading climate scientists, key climate negotiators, business and civil society leaders, policy-makers, social entrepreneurs and, not least, students and young leaders.
On the 3rd of November Riccardo Mastini joined the CEMUS research Forum via zoom. He started off with a very appreciated talk followed by a nice and interesting discussion. The talk is available below:
Riccardo summarizes the talk as follows:
The emerging political discourse of the Green New Deal postulates the need for an active role of the State in the economy to drive the ecological transition by deploying the power of public investment and coordination. However, a truly transformative Green New Deal must also move beyond the ‘growth paradigm’ by decreasing energy and material use in affluent countries, decommodifying the basic necessities of life, and democratizing economic production. The paper, with the same name as the talk, is available here
Riccardo is a PhD Candidate at Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is a policy advisor for the international campaign Green New Deal for Europe. He is also a member of the academic collective Research & Degrowth and of the international network Wellbeing Economy Alliance. You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and LinkedIn.
Helena Fornstedt, Coordinator Cemus Research Forum
On the 20th of Oct 2020, Yacob Mulugetta had a seminar at the CEMUS research Forum, titled “Low carbon energy narratives and futures in Africa: Dissonant times?”. Mulugetta is Professor of Energy and Development Policy at University College in London and among many other things he was Coordinating Lead Author of the Energy Systems chapter of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 5th Assessment Report.
It was a very interesting talk and it raised many questions which led our discussions to last well into lunch. Professor Mulugetta’s talk is available here:
You also find his own summary of the talk below:
It is widely recognized that energy production and use is both a key reflection of the socio-economic landscape as well as a major driver of the climate challenge. Africa finds itself at the heart of a momentous global energy and climate conversation. The energy and development reality across the region evokes deep emotions about the importance of doing something about the scandal of energy poverty. As if this was not complex enough, there is a call for the region to chart out a new and responsible energy pathway: one that does not impact on the global climate system. To this end, numerous real world experiments are taking place across Africa on various ‘energy futures’ to simultaneously unlock local (and national) energy potentials and deal with major global challenges. What is also emerging is how ideas around the ‘energy-climate challenge’ play out is highly dependent on the multi-level political context and dynamics, and is thus deeply influenced by competing framings and narratives. These dominant and competing accounts, in turn, interact to shape the specific interventions and policies. This presentation/discussion will explore the dominant narratives that are shaping the African energy landscape, how these narratives are constructed and mobilized, and discuss ways to open alternative and energy possibilities that protect the wellbeing of poor communities and their climate. The talk will also sketch out the research and policy opportunities in this area.
Helena Fornstedt, Coordinator, CEMUS Research Forum
Follow this new network ‘Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures’ with which Zennström Professor Keri Facer is involved! Keep an eye out for postings soon about transformative public education in context of CV-19.
Here is the first briefing paper on The Case for Transformative Public Education with leading contribution from Professor Facer. This paper focuses on responding to COVID-19 now while addressing long-term underlying inequalities.
Blog post by Zennström Professor Keri Facer on the Higher Education Policy Institute addressing the UPP Foundation Civic University Commission’s recent report on how universities can successfully serve in the 21st century. Climate change was a glaring omission in this report, as Keri writes.
