New projects
Our researchers continue to attract funding on a wide variety of topics ranging from planetary boundaries to predatory fish
PETER S. JØRGENSEN has been awarded a European Research Council starting grant worth EUR 1.5 million for a new project studying the emergence of problem species in agriculture and human health. The project will determine how these species can be managed to secure positive outcomes for both humans and the environment alike.
Jørgensen’s research will fill an important gap in sustainability science, helping to develop the much-needed capacity to navigate a future in which shocks from pests and pathogens are likely to become more common. As part of this work, he will assemble a large database of some 1,600 emerging pests and pathogens.
CHANDRAKANT SINGH and 19 other young professionals from Europe have been selected to form the first “Youth for Water and Climate” cohort – eight-month skillsbuilding programme that aims to support young professionals in the acquisition of both the specific and transferable skills that they will need to work in the water and climate sector.
Singh was also awarded the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) Young Scientists Summer Program Fellowship, which ran from June to August, 2021, during which time he took on a scientific project on a topic related to the IIASA research agenda under the personal mentorship of senior IIASA scientists. The project was financially backed by Formas.
LAURA PEREIRA is part of Food Trails – a four-year EU-funded Horizon 2020 project that will implement the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact’s shared vision and commitment to developing measurable, long-term progress towards sustainable food systems in Europe. The EUR 12 million project will focus on taking action across 11 European cities: Bergamo (IT), Birmingham (UK), Bordeaux (FR), Copenhagen (DK), Funchal (PR), Grenoble (FR), Groningen (NL), Milan (IT), Thessaloniki (GR), Tirana (AL) and Warsaw (PL).
PETER SØGAARD JØRGENSEN and SARAH CORNELL represent the SRC in a project designed to identify policies that could keep humanity within the planet’s safe operating range, while also meeting other SDGs. The project, known as “The Economics of Planetary Boundaries”, will develop an online integrated assessment model (IAM) that will help to identify policies that could ease the pressure on the nine planetary boundaries.
The project is coordinated by Daniel Spiro at Uppsala University and Johan Gars at the Beijer Institute. It is funded by Formas and has a total budget of approximately SEK 20 million, spread over the course of four years.
PER OLSSON received SEK 2.5 million in funding from Vinnova for the Rapid Transition Lab – a project designed to identify opportunities and pathways along which actors in the Swedish food system might engage in rapid transition, in response to the Covid-19 crisis.
The project constitutes a collaboration with Dark Matter Lab and will be linked to other ongoing transdisciplinary
food system projects that Vinnova or the SRC lead or are partners in. These include Mistra Food Futures, Nordic Food Policy Lab, Sustainable Finance Lab and NorthWestern Paths.
The Rapid Transition Lab will complement these projects by focusing on responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in Swedish food systems, using these insights to build scenarios that, in turn, will be used to develop transformation strategies and identify opportunities for change.
PER OLSSON and PETER SØGAARD JØRGENSEN received SEK 3 million for their project on mobilising transformations towards fair and sustainable futures, which will study the roles and capabilities of large-scale coalitions.
The two-year project will look at how transnational corporations, investors and charitable or non-profit organisations have intensified efforts to form coalitions, in order to respond to global, social and environmental challenges.
In this project, Olsson and Jørgensen will examine how large-scale coalitions from the food and finance sectors have the ability required to drive transformations towards fairer, more sustainable futures.
ANGELA GUERRERO GONZALEZ, JUAN ROCHA and ÖRJAN BODIN received SEK 3 million in funding from Formas for their project “Uncovering the social dynamics of environmental change across scales: The local, regional and global human networks influencing adoption of sustainable practices in food production systems”.
The project seeks to understand the adoption of sustainable practices by farmers and traders to reduce deforestation from soy and beef production in the Brazilian Cerrado and Colombian Amazon. Ximea Rueda from the Universidad de Los Andes is also a partner in the project.
SUSA NIIRANEN leads a work package on ecosystem resilience in a Horizon 2020-funded project, BRIDGE-BS, which will study the effects of environmental change on ecosystem service production in the Black Sea. With unique habitats, abundant resources and a rich cultural heritage, the Black Sea is vital to its coastal communities and the broader population of over 160 million inhabiting its watershed.
The project has 33 partners and is coordinated by the Middle East Technical University in Turkey. The total funding available for the project is EUR 9 million.
TILMAN HERTZ was awarded SEK 3 million in funding by Formas for his project “Process relational-adaptation to climate change” (PRAda). The project will look at the apparent mismatch between knowledge and the values, identities and emotions that matter to people. Together with Franrançois Bousquet from CIRAD, Hertz will address this mismatch by making sense of the vulnerability identified in people’s specific, lived experiences.
They will draw on assemblage theory developed by French philosophers Deleuze and Guattari and test the theory by applying it to the landscape around Lac du Salagou in France, using methods such as relational interviewing, participatory photography, narratives and participatory theatre.
Specifically, the project will explore whether assemblage theory can help bridge the research-action divide and whether it can be a useful approach for adaptation action at community level.
SEVERAL SRC RESEARCHERS are involved in the Formas-funded project “Inequliaty and the biosphere: achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in an inequal world”. Both the reduction of social inequalities and the maintenance of healthy marine and terrestrial ecosystems play a pivotal role in achieving sustainable development. However, the interactions between these goals remain largely underexplored.
This four-year project will identify synergies and trade-offs between reducing inequalities (SDG 10) and safeguarding the biosphere (SDGs 14 and 15).
The following SRC researchers are involved: Carl Folke (PI), Anne-Sophie Crépin, Patrick Henriksson, Caroline Schill, Emelie Lindqvist and Juan Carlos Rocha. The total funding available for the project, which is managed by the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, is estimated at approximately SEK 20 million.
MAGNUS NYSTRÖM was awarded SEK 3.3 million in funding by the Swedish Research Council for his project “Investigating the nexus between homogenization, connectivity and contagious risk in the Global production ecosystem”. The three-year project will look deeper into how much of the earth’s ecosystems have been transformed into simplified production ecosystems that focus on a few harvestable species.
Specifically, Nyström, together with colleagues Cibele Queiroz, Peter Søgaard Jørgensen and Jan Bengtsson (Swedish Agricultural University), will look at homogenisation over the past 60 years in agriculture (crops and livestock), forestry and fishery (aquaculture). Diana Veronica Luna Gonzalez is a new PhD student within the project.
ELIZABETH DRURY O’NEILL was awarded SEK 4 million in funding for the project “Patron of the Seas: Rethinking patron-client relationships in small-scale fisheries”. The four-year project aims to
make significant advancements in understanding patronage for adaptation and the ways in which it may support or hinder the sustainable development of small-scale fisheries.
The project will be carried out with colleagues from the University of the Philippines Western Visayas and the University of Connecticut.
ALBERT NORSTRÖM is part of “Eastern Tropical Pacific reef fish on the move: biodiversity reorganisation and societal consequences” (EASMO) – a four-year project that will look into ways to ensure that both fisheries and the well-being of humans can adapt in the face of climate change. Similar studies have so far focused disproportionately on wealthy parts of the world.
This project will investigate the impact of climate change on the distribution of reef fish throughout the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean. EASMO is a partnership between the SRC and eight institutions across seven countries. It is coordinated by the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research. The total funding available to the SRC for this project is SEK 3.3 million.
ARTUR BRANNY and ERIK ANDERSSON are part of a Vinnovafunded project on multifunctional climate adaptation, in collaboration with the city of Stockholm, Stockholmshem, Stockholm Vatten och Avfall, the region of Stockholm (traffic management), the Stockholm School Properties Company, Mälarenergi, the city of Västerås, Edge of Civil design and the Scandinavian Green Roof Institute.
The project aims to create the conditions required to implement efficient and sustainable climate adaptations in urban environments. It will focus on reducing the risk of flooding and heat waves, adopting measures that will further generate social, economic and environmental benefits.
JOHAN ENQVIST was awarded SEK 4 million in Formas funding for the project “UNRULY natures: awareness, attitudes and action in environmental stewardship for a better relationship between two urban primates”. This project studies environmental stewardship in the context of “unruly” natures, where restoring and protecting “natural” land is not a viable option. One extremely unruly mammal is the baboon – a highly intelligent, social, omnivorous, dextrous and agile primate. The world’s largest urban baboon programme is in Cape Town, aiming to deter foraging in built-up areas where they have learnt to access man-made food.
Together with colleagues rom the University of Cape Town and Rhodes University, Enqvist will map residents’ awareness of and attitudes towards baboons, exploring how conflicting perceptions shape actions in order to promote sustainable coexistence.
ERIK ANDERSSON and MARIA TENGÖ will jointly lead one of the research clusters within a consortium of research institutes and wetlands organisations that will produce a more comprehensive understanding of how wetland restoration may provide a means for climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity conservation and improving people’s well-being and sense of place.
The project, ALFAwetlands, is a Horizon Europe funded project, with a total budget of approximately EUR 8 million. Specifically, the project will use state of-the-art geospatial knowledge and find ways to integrate multiple targets by supporting more inclusive, community-based approaches to wetland restoration.
Consortium partners include the Natural Resources Institute Finland (project coordinator), the Michael Succow Foundation for the Protection of Nature, the University of Tartu, the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and the European Wilderness Society.