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 visiting professorship 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. Since 2015 four Zennström Professors in Climate Change Leadership have been 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
Stefania Barca, the fourth Zennström professor in Climate Change Leadersship, Foto Mikael Wallerstedt
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.
In this report we summarise the activities of professor Keri Facer, the third Zennström professor of Climate Change Leadership at Uppsala University. This report is written in English.
I denna rapport sammanfattar vi aktiviteterna under perioden 2018 – 2020 med professor Keri Facer, den tredje Zennström professorn i klimatledarskap vid Uppsala universitet. Denna rapport är skriven på engelska.
On the 17th of November the Cemus research Forum had the pleasure of welcoming Bregje van Veelen. She gave a talk about the emergent imaginary of the ‘plyscraper, which is available below:
Bregje summarizes the talk as follows:
Climate governance must be a project of not only regulatory undertaking, but also of deep-rooted societal and spatial (re)imagination. But how do we re-imagine our world, who is involved, and what is left out? In this presentation, I explore these questions in relation to a still underexplored front of climate action: proposals for a revolution in low-carbon materials, that seek to establish a 21st century bio–economy. Specifically, I will do this through the emergent imaginary of the ‘plyscraper’, which put timber skyscrapers at the heart of the vision for low-carbon living of the future. While the use of wood in construction has long been practiced (as evidenced by the red timber houses that dot the Swedish country side), what makes the new timber imaginary different is that it positions itself as distinctly urban and modern. But how ‘green’ is it? How does the imaginary establish timber’s green qualities and with what effect? By exploring the jostling involved in bringing this imaginary into being, I consider a number of yet unresolved issues around establishing the green/low-carbon qualities of this new frontier of climate action, and the broader implications for climate governance
Helena Fornstedt, Coordinator CEMUS research Forum
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
A new paper by Professor Kevin Anderson and NRHU doctoral student Isak Stoddard reviews the mitigation plans of “climate progressive” nations, Sweden and the UK, and compares them with Paris-compliant pathways, and is now published in Climate Policy. The piece is written together with a colleague from Manchester, John Broderick.
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.
A month ago, I had the opportunity to join in a two day workshop in Kollaboratoriet, Uppsala on Learning For Change. A small group of passionate individuals joined me in an emotional and challenging exploration to understand how we work as individuals and in the collective, towards our goals of sustainability. You can read more about Legacy 17 here.
I went with the conservative expectation of a workshop on how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in to one’s work. It was a pleasant surprise to be met with emotional and personalised approaches to understanding how we engage with sustainability, particularly in terms of structuring meetings, of deep listening, of celebrating achievements and humility, of mentoring speakers, and of reflecting as groups. In short, an emotionally reflective workshop on processes for working with sustainability. The culmination of which was a group largely made up of strangers, volunteering highly personal information and feeling confident enough in each other to share vulnerabilities.
The conclusions of this workshop are still ongoing, with the participants divided in to small groups to catch up over fika or through skype/ zoom periodically; we continue to work on using the Learning For Change process to strengthen our capacities in work with sustainability.
On the 18th of Feb at 10.00 sharp, staff and students of UU are very welcome to a workshop about the UU development plan 2050. In this workshop we will work together in order to give input to the sustainability aspects of Uppsala University’s development plan. The output from the workshop will be treated as a submission for comment (sv: remiss-svar) by the development plan’s project team. For more information see attached flyer and the sustainability part of the ‘remiss-version’ of the plan (or you can find the entire plan here).
The report below provides a brief overview of some of our work in the Zennström Climate Change Leadership Initiative exploring 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. We are keen to hear from colleagues elsewhere to help develop these ideas further.
Over the course of the past few months, a small group of climate-interested Uppsala residents have been gathering to discuss climate fiction. The group was initiated by the Zennström Climate Change Leadership professor in order to explore how we might rethink, re-relate to, and reimagine our experiences of climate change in more creative forums. In our most recent meet up, we were tasked with bringing poems, short texts, and songs that reminded us of winter. Below are two poems written by Carolina from sparklets selected from 9 of these pieces. We realised, as Carolina read them out to us, that the meanings and tempos drastically change from the different orders through which they can be read.
It is December and nobody asked if I was ready I just want somebody to hold me through the night Aflame among the rest When your cheeks are wet from weeping on your own Stuck in a frozen state of shame My soul instantly ignores what was there before Perhaps the future is a tiny flame Ring, happy bells, across the snow There were no reindeer, but there were cats
…
There were no reindeer, but there were cats Ring, happy bells, across the snow Perhaps the future is a tiny flame My soul instantly ignores what was there before Stuck in a frozen state of shame When your cheeks are wet from weeping on your own Aflame among the rest I just want somebody to hold me through the night It is December and nobody asked if I was ready
…
These sparklets were taken from the following texts: A child’s Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas; Ring Out, Wild Bells, Alfred, Lord Tennyson; Winter Without You, Sarah Kay; The Cold Swedish Winter, Jens Lekman; Green and Red, Oisin Challoner; En Liten Konstnär, Nils Ferlin (translated by Urban); Gässen Flytta, Dan Andersson (translated by Urban); Untitled, Jakob Willerström
This is a link to the video Keri made for her Nov 14th Keynote to the Transforming Higher Education for the Future (IAU) Conference in Puebla, Mexico. Based on her longer inaugural lecture (see below) she talks about how the interdependence of the SDGs requires universities to come up with new cross-institutional responses, and makes some proposals for what these might be.
