The University of Gothenburg's Sustainability Thesis Award, GUSTA, recognizes and offers awards to outstanding theses written on sustainable development related topics within the University of Gothenburg. The award is meant to motivate students to critically engage with sustainability issues and search for more knowledge towards a sustainable world. The project addresses all bachelors, magister and masters students in all programmes across the university.
The awardees are selected by a scientific committee that is comprised of five professors from five different faculties at the University of Gothenburg. Among others, some of the evaluation criteria include: holistic integration of different dimensions of sustainable development, originality, critical thinking, and contribution to the current knowledge in sustainable development.
Rebecca Hillman is a master student at the master's programme in Political Science at the University of Gothenburg. Rebecca has a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Environmental Science from “Samhällsvetenskapligt Miljövetarprogram” at the University of Gothenburg.
Read Rebecca Hillman's thesis ARE WOMEN LEADERS OF NATURE? - a quantitative study on the effect of women’s political representation on environmental politics in European countries.
See Rebecca presenting the thesis in the video below.
Mattias Rosander is currently studying the master
programme in Innovation & Industrial Management at the University of Gothenburg. The bachelor thesis was written in the Corporate
Sustainability Bachelor Programme at the Faculty of Business,
Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. Sustainability and change has always proven to be interesting factors for Mattias, and he will most likely continue working with those in the future.
Ludwig Åkerström is currently studying the
aster programme in Innovation & Industrial Management at the University of Gothenburg. The bachelor thesis was written in the
Corporate Sustainability Bachelor Programme at the Faculty of
Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. In his
spare time he follows football in the swedish second tier which
involves a lot of frustration.
Read Mattias Rosander's and Ludwig Åkerström's thesis: Social sustainability issues of cobalt sourcing for electric vehicle batteries: a case study of Volvo Car Group (pdf)
Mattias and Ludwig presenting the thesis in the video below:
Emma Ramirez is a recent graduate from the Global Studies bachelor program. Born in San Diego, California, and raised in Lund, she moved to Gothenburg to attend university. During her studies she was able to study abroad at Complutense University in Madrid as well as intern at the Regional Environmental Hub for Central America and the Caribbean at the U.S. Embassy in San Jose, Costa Rica. Her main passion lies with the issue of environmental sustainability and she aims to dedicate her career to the development and implementation of policies to achieve a more sustainable future.
Read Emma's thesis: Balancing social and environmental sustainability: A qualitative case study about the social impacts of the Payments for Ecosystem Services program on rural farmers in Costa Rica
Emma presenting her thesis in the video below:
Frida Bergqvist has a bachelor's degree in Human Rights Studies from Lund University, and a master's degree in Global Studies from the University of Gothenburg. She has also studied Security & Counter-terrorism in Australia, completed an internship at the Embassy of Sweden in Indonesia, and worked as a volunteer for the Red Cross. Currently she is an intern at Amnesty International in Stockholm.
Thesis: ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE IN SÁPMI: An interview study with Indigenous reindeer herding Sami in the context of climate change
Frida presenting her thesis in the video below:
Carina Pussnig is a recent MSc in Global Health graduate from the University of Gothenburg and holds a BSc degree in Nursing from UMIT University. Her main research interests include environmental health, social and cultural perspectives on health, health equity and sustainable development. In her master thesis Carina was able to get a better understanding on the role of women’s empowerment for cooking fuel choices in rural areas of India. Carina plans to pursue her education and career in global health research and to undertake a PhD in the near future.
Thesis: WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AS A DETERMINANT OF HOUSEHOLD FUEL CHOICES FOR COOKING IN RURAL INDIA: A cross-sectional study using India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) 2015-16
Carina presenting the thesis in the video below:
Ryan Davis, Department of Political Science, Centre for European Studies.
Master thesis: Economic Inequality, Corruption, and Personal Environmental Responsibility in Europe. (Pdf)
Sandra Sternad Fackel, The School of Global Studies.
Bachelor thesis: Att våga se komplexa samband: En studie av hur Värnamo kommun kan arbeta med synergier och konflikter inom Agenda 2030.
Learn more about the winners 2019.
Kassahun Weldemariam, Student sustainability coordinator, Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development (GMV). kassahun.weldemariam@gu.se
The award is administrated by the Gothenburg Centre for Sustainable Development. The award was launched in 2019.
