Our research - Mistra Geopolitics will combine theory testing, development

Mistra Geopolitics combines theory testing and development with a co-creation approach, where a variety of stakeholders from public, private and civil society sectors are actively involved to improve the research design and ensure that theoretical perspectives as well as empirical research are relevant for the people who will translate them into policy and action.

The co-creation process includes developing “explorative” scenarios of possible alternative futures, which will serve as the basis for analysing options and identifying strategies. The programme also employs cyclical horizon scanning for threats and opportunities, and geographical case studies. In this work, we collaborate with Norrköping Decision Arena.

Stockholm University
Maria-Therese Gustafsson

SIPRI

Malin Mobjörk

Malin Mobjörk is a Senior Researcher and Director of SIPRI’s Climate Change and Risk Programme. Malin’s expertise focuses on the intersection of climate change, security and development and how policy organizations are responding to climate-related security risks. Malin leads work package 1; Geopolitics and Security in the Anthropocene.

Telephone:+46 709 807695

Linköping University

Eva Lövbrand

Eva Lövbrand is a senior lecturer at Linköping University. Her research focuses on the knowledge politics of the environment. She explores how ideas, knowledge claims and expert practices are enacted, legitimated and used in global environmental politics and governance. Eva is a researcher in Work Package 1; Geopolitics and Security in the Anthropocene.

Telephone:+4611363393

SEI

Kevin Adams

Kevin M. Adams is a Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). He is working primarily on issues of global climate politics, particularly climate finance. Kevin acts as both support for the Management Team, and is a researcher in Work Package 5, which uses foresight methods to explore the role of Sweden in a changing geopolitical landscape.

Email:[email protected]

SEI

Karl Hallding

Karl Hallding is a senior research fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) where he is a research leader on the global research directorate. His research deals with the transformation of the energy system, with a specific analysis on how energy and climate policies affect this transformation.

Telephone:+46708409218

SEI

Henrik Carlsen

Henrik Carlsen is a senior research fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). He is an expert on decision making under uncertainty, with an emphasis on climate change adaptation. His research interests are based on the intersection between science and policy on long-term challenges to society. Henrik is a researcher in Work Package 4; The inter-relationships between shifting geopolitical landscapes and the SDGs.

Telephone:+46702677410

SEI

Magnus Benzie

Magnus Benzie is a research fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), focusing on climate change adaptation. His research includes professional experience in climate change research with a focus on climate impacts, vulnerability, risk and adapatation. Magnus is a researcher in Work Package 2; Impact pathways in a changing environmental and geopolitical context.

Telephone:+46737078627 Share

SEI

Åsa Persson

Åsa Persson is Research Director and Deputy Director at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). Her expertise includes environmental governance and policies, Climate change adaptation and the SDGs.

Telephone:+46737078561

Lund University

Bengt Johansson

Bengt Johansson is a senior lecturer at Environmental and Enregy Systems studies at Lund University. His research deals with the transformation of the energy system, with a specific analysis on how energy and climate policies affect this transformation. Bengt is leading Work Package 4; The inter-relationships between shifting geopolitical landscapes and the SDGs.

Email:[email protected]

Uppsala University

Joakim Palme

Joakim Palme is a professor of Political Science at the Department of Government in Uppsala University. He is currently Chairman of the UN Research Institute for Social Development, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD). Joakim is a researcher in Work Package 3; Governance responses to environmental related security risks.

Telephone:+46184713305

Uppsala University

Nina von Uexküll

Nina von Uexkull is Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. She is also Associate senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute in Oslo. Her current research focuses on the security implications of climate change, as well as rural armed conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nina is a researcher in Work Package 2; Impact pathways in a changing environmental and geopolitical context.

Telephone:+4618-471 2357

Uppsala University

Håvard Hegre

Håvard Hegre is a Professor at the department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University. His research areas focus on: development, democratization, peace, armed conflict, climate change, measurement of democracy, and climate change. Håvard is a researcher in Work Package 4; The inter-relationships between shifting geopolitical landscapes and the SDGs.

Telephone:+4618-471 2372

Stockholm University

Lisa Dellmuth

Lisa Dellmuth is Associate Professor of International Relations at Stockholm University. Her research focuses on legitimacy and redistribution in global governance, and global climate change solutions. She leads the 5-year research program GlocalClim (Glocalizing Climate Governance: The role of Integrated Governance for a Just and Legitimate Adaptation to Climate Risks) funded by the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (Formas).

Telephone:+468161076

Stockholm University

Andreas Duit

Andreas Duit is a Professor at the Department of Political Science at Stockholm Univeristy. He works in the field of comparative environmental politics, with a special focus on governamce and complexity, institutional theory, and the role of the state in addressing environmental problems. Andreas is a researcher in Work Package 3; Governance reposonses to environmental related security risks.

Telephone:+468162869

Stockholm University

Karin Bäckstrand

Karin Bäckstrand is a professor at the Department of Political Science at Stockholm University. Her research revolves around global environmental politics, the role of science in environmental decision-making, the politics of climate change and the democratic legitimacy of global governance. Karin is a member of the Swedish Government’s Climate Policy Council (Klimatpolitiska rådet) and a Mistra Geopolitics researcher in Work Package 3; Governance responses to environmental related security risks.

Telephone:+468161578

Stockholm University

Maria-Therese Gustafsson

Maria-Therese Gustafsson is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University. Prominent themes in her research are natural resource governance, political participation, and climate security. She has published a research monography Private Politics and Peasant Mobilization: Mining in Peru (Palgrave MacMillan), articles in Third World Quarterly, WIRE Climate Change, the Latin American Research Review and Canadian Journal of Development Studies, and has edited two anthologies. She is a researcher in Work Package 3 and heads the Research School in the Mistra Geopolitics programme.

Telephone:+468163572

Linköping University

Björn-Ola Linnér

Björn-Ola Linnér is a Professor at the Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research at Linköping University. He analyses how the political processes and actors affect conditions for social changes towards sustainable development in different parts of the world. He has a long experience in research dialogues with various societal actors, such as the climate convention’s secretariat, governments, businesses and environmental organizations. Björn-Ola is the Programme Director of Mistra Geopolitics.

Email:[email protected]

Lund University

André Månberger

André Månberger is an associate senior lecturer at Lund University. He lectures in various courses at the department of environmental and energy systems studies. The overarching theme of his research is the interaction between security and sustainable development. André is a researcher in Work Package 4; The inter-relationships between shifting geopolitical landscapes and the SDGs.

Email:[email protected]

Linköping University

Tina Neset

Tina Neset is a senior researcher at Linköping University. Her research focus lies on the visualization of Climate Change and Resource Flows as well as on resource management and vulnerability assessments related to agriculture and food security. Tina is a researcher in Work Package 5; Foresight- Sweden in a changing, geopolitical landscape.

Telephone:+4613282288

Linköping University

Victoria Wibeck

Victoria Wibeck is a professor at Linköping University. The overarching aim of her research is to analyze challenges and opportunities involved, as science-based knowledge on environment, climate and new and emerging technologies move from the scientific arena to recontextualization, such as in political decisions, implementation of environmental objectives at different societal levels, media, and citizens’ everyday decisions. Victoria is leading Work Package 5; Foresight – Sweden in a changing, geopolitical landscape.

Telephone:+4611363285

SEI

Sara Talebian

Sara Talebian is a research fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), focusing on foresight methodologies. Her research includes academic and professional experience in futures studies with a focus on explorative and qualitative scenario techniques and futures visioning. Sara is a researcher in Work Package 5; Foresight – Sweden in a changing geopolitical landscape.

Email:[email protected]

E3G

Taylor Dimsdale

Taylor Dimsdale is Research Director for E3G. He works on several programmes including climate risk and security, the geopolitics of decarbonization, sustainable finance, and climate diplomacy. In Mistra Geopolitics, he works on geopolitics of decarbonization.

Email:[email protected]

adelphi

Daria Ivleva

Daria Ivleva is a project manager for adelphi in the field of international cooperation, climate, and energy. In Mistra Geopolitics, she works on geopolitics of decarbonization.

Telephone:+49 (30) 8900068-76

SEI

Claudia Strambo

Claudia Strambo is a Research Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute. Her research interests include energy transition and sustainable development policy in emerging economies, international environmental regimes, and theory of international environmental politics. In Mistra Geopolitics, she works on geopolitics of decarbonization.

Telephone:+46 70 388 2680

SEI

Timothy Suljada

Timothy Suljada is a Research Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute. He is a policy analyst and project manager, specializing in the fields of energy, climate change and development. In Mistra Geopolitics, he leads the work on geopolitics of decarbonization.

Telephone:+46 72 237 4421

Adelphi

Dennis Tänzler

Dennis Tänzler is Director of International Climate Policy at adelphi. His research focuses on climate and energy policies as well as on peace and conflict studies. In Mistra Geopolitics, he works on geopolitics of decarbonization.

Telephone:+49 (30) 8900068-20

The Research School offers the following activities:

PhD courses on environmental change, geopolitical challenges and governance responses.
Seminars on community outreach and policy relevance of research.
Regular seminars where participants of the scientific advisory board and scholars within the program are invited to discuss research as well as offer feedback on doctoral students’ work.
Invitation of 3 PhD students from partner countries in the global south to spend a semester at a Swedish partner institution and do course-work.
A meeting-point for social activities.
Overall, the Research School constitute a meeting point within the program where doctoral students, researchers and the scientific advisory board interacts with each other. For more information about the Graduate School please contact Maria-Therese Gustafsson: [email protected]

PhD student

Ece Kural

Ece is a doctoral student in International Relations at Stockholm University. She holds a masters’ degree in Political Science from Uppsala University and bachelors’ degrees in International Relations and Psychology from Koc University, Istanbul. Ece is focusing on the Work Package 3 of the Mistra Geopolitics programme with a specific interest in the legitimacy and effectiveness of the global governance responses to climate-security risks. Ece will be working closely with her supervisors Dr Lisa Maria Dellmuth and Dr Maria-Therese Gustafsson.

Email:[email protected]

PhD student

Karin Eliasson

Karin Eliasson has just started her PhD studies at Linköping University, mainly related to Work Package 5. Her research interests concern visualization and its use in stakeholder co-creation processes, sustainable resource management, transnational impacts, and geopolitics.

Telephone:+4613281285

PhD student

Sanna Lundquist

Sanna Lundquist is a PhD student at Stockholm University. Her studies is related to Work Package 3, Governance responses to environmental related security risks. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Umeå University and a Master’s degree in political science from Stockholm University. Her research areas of interest are transition economies especially the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. As well as an interest in Latin America where she has studied and worked and speak fluent Spanish.

Telephone:+468162077

PhD student

Jiayi Zhou

Jiayi Zhou is currently a Researcher at SIPRI beginning her PhD at Linköping University. She has conducted in fieldwork in Central Asia, the Caucasus, Afghanistan, and has research experience in a range of hard and soft security topics. In the context of Mistra Geopolitics, she will be involved in Work Package 1 – Geopolitics and Security in the Anthropocene. Her related interests are in food security, agrarian change, and geo-economics. Her PhD supervisors are Dr Malin Mobjörk and Dr Eva Lövbrand.

Email:[email protected]

PhD student

Anton Ahlén

Anton is a PhD student at the the Department of Government at Uppsala University. His research interests mainly concerns Governance and Policy Research, specifically related to international migration and immigrant integration. He has previously worked at the Swedish Migration Studies Delegation (Delmi). He is involved with Work Package 3 of the programme and his dissertation thesis will be part of project 3.2 on “State responses to global environmental change in a comparative perspective”, which is jointly led by Professors Joakim Palme and Andreas Duit.

Email:[email protected]

PhD student

Maria Nordbrandt

Maria is a PhD student in Political Science at the Department of Government, Uppsala University. She holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from Umeå University, where she focused on the intersection between green political theory and empirical environmental research. Her current work theoretically and empirically investigates the association between communication across difference and environmental attitudes. Her research interests include democratic theory, the state in socio-ecological transformations and cultural changes where she utilizes both quantitative and qualitative methods in her empirical work.

Telephone:+46184713377

PhD student

Maria Jernnäs

Maria holds a master’s degree and a bachelor’s degree, both from Linköping University, Sweden. She took her master’s degree in International and European Relations and her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science. Her research concerns the conditions for international collaboration on climate change after the 2015 Paris Agreement and focuses especially on the roles that the state has, or can have, in global climate governance, and what could shape the state’s role. In the Mistra Geopolitics programme, her work is related to Work Package 4, The Interrelationships between Shifting Geopolitical Landscapes and the SDGs.

Telephone:+4613282267

PhD student

Lauri Peterson

Lauri Peterson is a PhD student at the Department of Government of Uppsala University. He is a political scientist working on issues related to climate policy, comparative politics and climate financing. He has a Master’s degree from the Central European University in International Relations and European Studies, where in 2015 he received a DBU scholarship to pursue a guest researcher position at Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy and Environment. Lauri’s PhD focuses on the comparative politics of international climate financing.

Telephone:+46184717123

PhD student

Ady Chinchay

Ady is a doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. She is a lawyer that holds master’s degrees in International Public Policy and Comparative Law, from the University of Bath and the International University College of Turin, respectively. Her research areas of interests are the diffusion and implementation of environmental policies, specifically related to territorial ordering and other environmental institutions. She was Head Deputy of Environmental Quality at the Agency for Environmental Assessment and Enforcement in Peru (OEFA). She is involved with Work Package 3 of the Mistra Geopolitics programme Governance Responses to Environmental Related Security Risk.”

Email:[email protected]

PhD student

Ayodeji Anthony Aduloju

Ayodeji is a Doctoral candidate in the Department of International Relations, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He is also an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies, Edo University Iyamho, Nigeria. He is currently working on Post-Amnesty Niger Delta and Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea for his doctoral research. His research focus centres on peace, conflict, gender, development, security and regionalism with special emphasis on Africa.

PhD student

Beatriz Rodrigues Bessa Mattos

Beatriz Rodrigues Bessa Mattos is a Doctoral Student in the Institute of International Relations of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI/PUC-Rio). She is also a Research Assistant of the Socio-Environmental Platform of the BRICS Policy Center and an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Universidade Veiga de Almeida(UVA). Her research interests mainlly concern Environmental Studies, Critical Security Studies and South-South cooperation.

PhD student

Kristina Petrova

Kristina Petrova is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research and Centre for Natural Hazards and Disaster Science at Uppsala University. Her dissertation project focuses on the link between climate change, disasters and the risk of various kinds of violent conflict. Her work is also related to Work Package 4, exploring the interactive nature of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the SDGs.

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Ece Kural

PhD-Student

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SANNA LUNDQUIST

PhD-Student

Sanna Lundquist is a PhD student at Stockholm University as a part of Work Package 3, Governance responses to environmental related security risks. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Umeå University and a Master’s degree in political science from Stockholm University.

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KARIN ELIASSON

PhD-Student

Karin Eliasson has just started her PhD studies at Linköping University, which is mainly related to Work Package 5: Foresight – Sweden in a changing geopolitical landscape. She has a bachelor’s degree in ecology and environmental management and a master’s degree in sustainable development from Linköping University.

Watch the video

Anton Ahlén

PhD-Student

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JIAYI ZHOU

PhD-Student

PUBLICATIONS

We regularly update this section with publications from the programme.

Beyond Limits: Making Policy in a Climate Changed World

in Meadowcroft, J. et al. (eds). What Next for Sustainable Development? Our Common Future at Thirty

Author:

Lövbrand Eva

Sustainability Transformations: Agents and Drivers across Societies

This volume provides the first comprehensive comparison of how sustainability transformations are understood across societies.

Authors:

Björn-Ola Linnér and Victoria Wibeck

Large-scale scenarios as ‘boundary conditions’:

A cross-impact balance simulated annealing (CIBSA) approach

Authors:

Eric Kemp-Benedict, Henrik Carlsen and Sivan Kartha

Towards systemic and contextual priority setting for implementing the 2030 Agenda

This paper pushes the frontier of how interactions amongst SDG targets can be understood and taken into account in policy and planning.

Authors:

Nina Weitz, Henrik Carlsen, Måns Nilsson and Kristian Skånberg

The geopolitics of metals and metalloids used for the renewable energy transition

This study examines the geopolitical role of 14 metals and metalloids needed for renewable energy technologies.

Authors:

André Månberger and Bengt Johansson

Governing borderless climate risks: moving beyond the territorial framing of adaptation

This paper demonstrates how the notion of borderless climate risks challenges the dominant territorial framing of adaptation and its problem structure.

Authors:

Magnus Benzie and Åsa Persson

From Green Revolution to Green Evolution: A Critique of the Political Myth of Averted Famine

This paper critiques the so-called “Green Revolution” as a political myth of averted famine.

Authors:

Roger Pielke Jr. and Björn-Ola Linnér

Stories of Transformation: A Cross-Country Focus Group Study on Sustainable Development and Societal Change

This paper explores what sustainability transformations mean for lay focus group participants in Cabo Verde, China, Fiji, Sweden, and the USA.

Authors:

Victoria Wibeck, Björn-Ola Linnér, Melisa Alves, Therese Asplund, Anna Bohman, Maxwell T. Boykoff, Pamela M. Feetham, Yi Huang, Januario Nascimento, Jessica Rich, Charles Yvon Rocha, Franco Vaccarino and Shi Xian

Climate change, peacebuilding and sustaining peace

This policy brief illustrates how climate change impacts the efficacy of peacebuilding, specifically the aim to provide peace and security; strengthen governance and justice; and to ensure social and economic development.

Author:

Dr Florian Krampe

Legitimacy in Global Governance

This volume develops an agenda for systematic and comparative research on legitimacy in global governance

Edited by

Jonas Tallberg, Karin Bäckstrand and Jan Aart Scholte

Climate Shocks and Humanitarian Crises

Which Countries Are Most at Risk? This article identifies countries that are most at risk from climate-related instability and humanitarian crises in the coming years.

Authors

Joshua Busby and Nina Von Uexkull

Anthropocene Encounters: New Directions in Green Political Thinking

This book traces in detail a broad variety of 'Anthropocene encounters': in science, philosophy and literary fiction. It asks what it means to 'think green' in a time when nature no longer offers a stable backdrop to political analysis.

Edited by

Frank Biermann and Eva Lövbrand

The Transformative Capability of Transparency in Global Environmental Governance

A new theoretical framework for assessing the transformative capability of transparency in environmental governance.

Authors:

David Ciplet, Kevin M. Adams, Romain Weikmans and J. Timmons Roberts

The Evolution of the UNFCCC on Climate Change

This article takes stock of the evolution of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the prism of three recent shifts.

Authors:

Jonathan Kuyper, Heike Schroeder and Björn-Ola Linnér

A discursive cartography of nationally determined contributions to the Paris climate agreement

This paper examines the geopolitical landscape in which the Paris Agreement is enacted and implemented.

Authors:

Maria Jernnäs and Björn-Ola Linnér

Climate as a risk factor for armed conflict

This study assesses the current understanding of the relationship between climate and conflict, based on the structured judgments of experts from diverse disciplines.

Authors:

Katharine J. Mach, Caroline M. Kraan, W. Neil Adger, Halvard Buhaug, Marshall Burke, James D. Fearon, Christopher B. Field, Cullen S. Hendrix, Jean-Francois Maystadt, John O’Loughlin, Philip Roessler, Jürgen Scheffran, Kenneth A. Schultz, Nina von Uexkull.

Transparent scenario development

This short publication responds to a paper in Nature Climate Change where we argue for using more systematic scenario development methodologies in order to enhance credibility and transparency.

Authors:

Henrik Carlsen, Richard J. T. Klein and Per Wikman-Svahn

Intergovernmental organizations and climate security: advancing the research agenda

This article reviews existing studies on IGOs’ responses to climate security challenges.

Authors:

Lisa M. Dellmuth, Maria‐Therese Gustafsson, Niklas Bremberg and Malin Mobjörk

Immigration control in disguise? Civic Integration Policies and Immigrant Admission

This article develops and conducts a preliminary test of the argument that civic integration policies (CIPs) affect migration flows.

Authors:

Anton Ahlén and Frida Boräng

IGO:s and global climate security challenges: Implications for academic research and policy making

IGO:s and global climate security challenges: Implications for academic research and policy making.