SWEDESD works primarily with education for sustainable development and was previously organised under the Faculty of Educational Sciences in the Humanities and Social Sciences disciplinary domain. Together with the move, the name has been changed to SWEDESD – Sustainability Learning and Research Centre.
“SWEDESD will have better able to conduct its work within the framework of the Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy,” says SWEDESD Director Eva Friman. “There is an interest in transformative education for sustainable development in this disciplinary domain, and SWEDESD now contributes to the indirect costs within the framework of a department, which means a significant reduction in the costs of activities and operations.”

Better opportunities

The reorganization will provide better opportunities for the centre and strengthen the University’s education and research within global health with expertise in transformative learning.
“Learning for sustainable development is actually suitable in all disciplinary domains and faculties, because sustainable development encompasses many aspects. It is important for SWEDESD to be in a place where our expertise is in demand and where we have financial opportunities and the management’s support to pursue our questions – preferably for the entire university,” says Friman.

Supports global health

One of the initiators of the move is Mats Målqvist, a professor of global health at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health and a SWEDESD board member.
“Agenda 2030 plays a central role in global health, and as SWEDESD moves to the Faculty of Medicine, an exciting interdisciplinary research environment is created that fits well with how the subject is developing,” says Målqvist. “SWEDESD will also be a fantastic resource for incorporating global health and sustainability perspectives into the faculty’s degree programmes, such as in developing the new six-year Medical Programme.”

“We look forward to new development opportunities for our work and hope that the focus of our learning environment on interdisciplinary knowledge creation on learning and complex sustainability challenges will be an asset for our colleagues in Medicine and Pharmacy,” says Eva Friman.

Development opportunities

In the short term, the centre’s work will not fundamentally change, but the aim is a closer collaboration with the research subjects at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, especially global health.
“This latter collaboration already began last year with the start of the research team Uppsala Global Health Research on Implementation and Sustainability.”

SWEDESD has developed a new master’s programme that is now being launched. “With the move, we have received the green light to establish the Master’s Programme in Implementation, Transformative Learning and Sustainability after adapting it to our new subject context and to collaboration opportunities with new colleagues and programmes at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health and others beyond our new disciplinary domain,” says Friman.

The centre has initially been established for four years at the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health and will be evaluated after three years.