New PhD programme in sustainability produces promising thesis work

A programme with a lot of potential but also many challenges ahead. This is how Paul Weaver, newly appointed professor at LUCSUS, the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies, sums up the PhD programme in Sustainability Science. Just before Christmas, the first group of doctoral students presented their research at a midway review.

When the doctoral students at LUCID , a Linnaeus-funded graduate school, defend their theses in two years’ time, most of them will do so in the subject of Sustainability Science, a new research field which tackles sustainability issues from different disciplinary angles. Paul Weaver, who has spent several years paving the way for the subject at the University and among funding bodies, attended LUCID’s midway review seminar. His verdict of the graduate school’s results so far: an impressive level in the scientific discussions and many promising theses.

“However, you have no clear career path and it may be difficult for you to obtain research funding after you complete your PhDs, because you do not belong to a traditional discipline”, he cautioned.

The financial crisis, which hit after the programme in Sustainability Science had started, has caused a step backwards when it comes to investments in new research disciplines, according to Paul Weaver.

“Although it should really be the other way round. Now more than ever we need research that tries to take a broader view and focus on system problems, for example the links between economics and ecology.”

Paul Weaver advised the doctoral students to join forces and apply for research funding together in order to study issues that are expected to be hot topics in the future. He suggested the example of the consequences of ‘resource grabbing’ – when rich and powerful nations buy up developing countries’ resources.

Ulrika Oredsson