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Tessa Laven tells us about her secondment at the Stockholm Environment Institute in Sweden.

What research tasks or skills development are you focusing on during the secondment?

I’m based at Stockholm Environment Institute in the Rights + Equity team working on the SápmiDem project which is investigating democratic participation of Sámi communities in the context of the Nordic energy transition. I’ve been learning here about the threat to traditional Sámi reindeer herding caused by the influx of renewable energy projects being spurred on by the EU’s Green New Deal agenda. This is raising questions more broadly about the legitimacy of the Nordic energy transition, and in terms of my own PhD project, it’s bringing into focus the complexities involved with achieving ‘just transitions’, as well as where and how ‘design’ might intervene.

During my time here I’m undertaking a literature review into different cases of Sámi participation in permitting processes, as well as exploring some initial intervention points for embedding Sámi rights in permitting processes. A part of my secondment is also about exploring SEI’s work in climate transitions and learning from the range of experts here about how they are working with complexity in these contexts.

What activities have you taken part in during the secondment that have benefitted your research?

I’ve been involved in the NordForsk conference which brought together a range of funded research projects looking at different aspects of the Nordic-Baltic ‘green transition’. I’ve also been getting amongst the various seminars, workshops, and sharing sessions that are put on internally at SEI and having lots of great conversations with people about their work and the role of design.

I’m also very grateful to be included in the Rights + Equity team sessions, including listening in to seminars from visiting researchers and getting to know some of the other work the team is involved with regarding Sámi rights and land use in Sápmi. All of these interactions during my time at SEI have given me a taste of different research projects and approaches, and expanded my own understanding of climate transitions and the role of design.

What do you hope to achieve or what has been achieved during your secondment?

First and foremost is making some great connections at SEI and learning from the incredible researchers I’m surrounded by – particularly around research approaches and methods. Through my involvement on the SápmiDem project, I hope to understand how ‘rights-based approaches’ might be integrated into my PhD research regarding identifying leverage points for just climate transitions. With my Rights + Equity team colleagues, we are also exploring how to bring together our different knowledges in the form of a research paper.

What’s been your favourite part of the secondment experience?

Working with my mentors and team at SEI has been fantastic and I’ve felt so lucky to be so warmly welcomed by everyone here. Living in Stockholm and getting to know the city and the way of life here has also been a real highlight – especially as we approach warmer, longer days. My daily bike commute across the different islands, as well as the Swedish tradition of Fika will be things I will sorely miss from my time here!

Eight institutions are set to recruit PhD candidates as part of a new doctoral network addressing major global challenges through design research.

The Sustainable Transitions through Democratic Design Doctoral Network, CoDesign4Transitions for short, has been awarded over €2 million by the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Doctoral Networks through the European Union’s Horizon Europe framework.

Working at the crossroads of democratic innovation and climate transitions, the 13 doctoral candidates will apply innovative approaches in design research to address ambitions of reaching climate neutrality.

The researchers in CoDesign4Transitions’ community of practice will apply several sub-disciplines of design in their projects, including service and systems design, social design, co-design and design for sustainability, while engaging and interacting with stakeholders such as citizens, business and local government authorities.

“In the context of sustainability transitions, CoDesign4Transitions will provide the doctoral researchers with a unique opportunity to pioneer democratic design methodologies for climate transitions in an interdisciplinary, intersectoral environment,” said Marzia Mortati, Associate Professor at the Politecnico di Milano and scientific coordinator of the project.

The 13 transdisciplinary PhD projects are themed into three complementary areas of investigation – prototyping, facilitating practice-system change, and materialising and visualising – which will contribute to a new body of design research integrating theories, concepts and methods.

“Transdisciplinary cooperation is urgent to enable governments, businesses and civil society organisations to develop and deliver multi-level societal solutions to achieve net zero targets laid out in the Paris Agreement,” said Professor Laurene Vaughan, who will co-supervise two doctoral candidates at RMIT Europe.

“Design can play a key role to meeting these goals given its creative capacities for enabling small-scale experimentation to de-risk solutions through prototyping, synthesising ideas and evidence into materials and visual forms for engaging stakeholders.”

CoDesign4Transitions’ comprehensive program of cross-country, cross-discipline and cross-sector cooperation will be supported by 15 associated partners from business, civil society, policy and local government whose knowledge and mentoring will enhance the professional development and employability of the PhD candidates.

An ongoing training program for the doctoral contingent, organised and hosted by CoDesign4Transitions partners, will include both summer and winter schools and all candidates will undertake two secondments, allowing them the opportunity to develop novel methodological approaches and test their research in an industry or governmental context.

CoDesign4Transitions is coordinated by the Politecnico di Milano (Polimi) and is a recruiting university alongside Aalborg Universitet, SWPS University, Vrije Universiteit, Syddansk Universitet and RMIT Europe as well as associated partners University of the Arts London and Moholy-Nagy Muveszeti Egyetem.
10 of the PhD positions are directly funded by the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Doctoral Network program, two positions by UK Research and Innovation and one position by the Hungarian government.

Recruitment for the network’s 13 transdisciplinary researchers will commence in January 2024.