Excellence Programme for Sustainable Development

Lund University is allocating up to SEK 100 million to a university-wide initiative for excellence at Lund University focusing on Agenda 2030 and sustainable development. One part of this sum has been used for a new investment in doctoral studentships in the Agenda 2030 graduate school and the other part for a university-wide call for applications for postdoc fellowships in interdisciplinary projects. The aim of the programme is that Lund University shall achieve international excellence in the field of research.

Projects funded in the first call for postdoc fellowships are listed below.

The project will focus on how welfare systems in OECD countries can address challenges, such as increasing inequality, demographic changes and environmental crises in the absence of economic growth, which has proven to be difficult to disconnect from greenhouse emissions and ecological footprints. The project will collaborate nationally and internationally with different stakeholders and an international expert panel to develop and evaluate ways of pursuing welfare without economic growth.

Principal investigator

Max Koch, School of Social Work

Postdoc-researchers

Other involved researchers

This project aims to develop a conceptual framework for how nature-based solutions – actions that protect, sustainably manage and restore natural or modified ecosystems – generate synergies and mitigate trade-offs between biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation, public health and human wellbeing. The framework will be based on research in biodiversity, ecosystem processes, environmental psychology and epidemiology, and the common connections that can be found across subject boundaries. The research team’s framework will be used in a pilot study with stakeholders and the ultimate aim is to create a new field of research examining multifunctional nature, which encompasses biodiversity, climate, social aspects and health effects.

Principal investigator

Henrik Smith, Centre for Environmental and Climate Science

Postdoc-researchers

Other involved researchers

Globally, the construction industry is a major producer of emissions. It uses considerable natural resources and energy and generates large volumes of waste. The industry is in great need of adaptation in order to be sustainable in the long term. Providing support for a circular building sector requires several approaches and the research project is intended to be part of a larger centre of expertise in which experience and knowledge are shared between academia, industry and local communities. The project will cover policies and regulations, responsibilities and agreements, economic models and goals for waste and district heating.