News: Dec 21, 2021
Season's Greetings from Global Sustainable Futures
As the year of 2021 approaches its end, I feel tempted to look back as well as ahead. To summarize the past year with Global Sustainable Futures (GSF), a few events stand out.
First, the collaborative network SWEAFUN. The network enables researchers at Chalmers and partner universities in East Africa to pursue research in areas important to sustainability. Supported by a grant from STINT, the program, which also has an important strategic component, is now taking shape.
We have also carried out a series of events. Our lunch-hour webinars put the spotlight on topical collaborative developments involving Chalmers or University of Gothenburg and actors in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In September, as an example, we highlighted the situation of university scientists in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover in August. In November, GSF staged the second annual GSF research conference. Collaboration in a (post)-pandemic world – the need to reconnect and rethink priorities. In this digital event, keynote speakers and other participants presented and discussed current research and how to improve exchange across borders and continents.
Recently, GSF completed a rather comprehensive mapping of the interest at Chalmers and University of Gothenburg in collaborating with partners in LMIC. From this, a picture of varied and diverse activities, largely uncoordinated, emerged. Bibliometrics data indicate that of all articles published by Chalmers or University of Gothenburg in the 2015-2020 period, only a small part of the total volume resulted from collaboration with an LMIC partner. Among these, only a fraction was co-authored with partners in lower-middle income or low-income countries.This suggests that such exchange has not yet reached its full potential. We did, however, detect a tendency toward increasing collaboration with low-income countries, which is encouraging. At GSF, we are keen to inspire and facilitate further growth of such exchange.
We now look forward to an eventful 2022, starting with a webinar about water – one of our thematic working areas – on 25 January. Another webinar will recapitulate insights from 10 years of collaboration in Kenya. On 30 March, we will meet with students from both our universities to inspire global engagement. In addition to these planned events, GSF will continue to support the growth of knowledge by facilitating equitable collaboration in the interest of global sustainability. We look forward to keeping in touch in the new year!
On behalf of GSF, I wish everyone a peaceful holiday season and a prosperous 2022!
/Magdalena Eriksson, Platform Leader, Global Sustainable Futures
Read our Season's Greetings and find out more about current activities and up-coming initiatives and events.
