Revisiting regional sociobiophysical transformation

Re-Set is an international and integrated research program and a Faculty Node on transformation for regional sustainable development on Gotland, Sweden, and on the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Re-Set involves collaboration with relevant local stakeholders and has a strong international component as it is built around an on-going collaboration between Uppsala University (UU) and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), Australia.

The aim of the programme is to study how key agents of transformation for sustainability address wicked problems on a regional level. The focus issues are energy and climate change, water, sustainable consumption and biodiversity, where we define regional transformation as multi-scale, co-designed deliberate processes of change towards sustainable development.

The program is organised around case studies in the island of Gotland, Sweden and in the Sunshine Coast Region, Queensland, Australia. Each area of investigation: education, business, health, and culture, will be represented by two cases respectively. The in total eight cases (four in the Gotland region and four in the Sunshine coast region) will be studied over three years and will be assigned to an integrated research team. Stakeholders and beneficiaries will be chosen on the basis of covering the full range, and several levels, of the decision-making and governance process. Stakeholders may include citizens, decision makers, leaders, teachers, CEOs, staff, etc.

At this moment we anticipate that Re-Set have five main expected outcomes:

  1. To provide policymakers with a basis for strategic planning of regional sustainability.
  2. To contribute to existing and future courses and educational programs (including Professional Development), at Campus Gotland. Not least, multi- and transdisciplinary programs on advanced level, closely interconnected with Re-Set research.
  3. To strengthen Campus Gotland as education and research environment with strong international cooperation and connotations.
  4. To provide each designated sector (education, tourism, health and culture) with scientific knowledge about how they can function as drivers for regional transformation for sustainable development.
  5. To further develop integrated research methods and theory in the field of sustainability.
  • Duration 2017-2019
  • Partners Uppsala University, University of the Sunshine Coast
  • Funders SWEDESD, the Sustainability Research Centre (SRC) at the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC), the Faculty of Educational Sciences at Uppsala University, Planeringsrådet at Uppsala University Campus Gotland, Region Gotland, the Sunshine Coast Region, the national research councils in both Sweden and Australia
  • Contact Neil Powell, neil.powell@swedesd.uu.se

Steering Committee

David O. Kronlid, SWEDESD, Uppsala University
Eva Friman, SWEDESD, Uppsala University
Neil Powell, SWEDESD, Uppsala University
Sven Jungerhem, Centre for Professional Development and Internationalisation in Schools, Uppsala University

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