The current and upcoming PhD courses will be announced on this web page. Please see course details for start dates, schedules, course literature and information on how to apply etc.

2024

Qualitative Methods for Researchers in Sustainability Science, Beatrice Crona et al, mid January - mid February, 7.5hp (open to external PhD students)

The purpose of this course is to introduce doctoral students to field methods and qualitative data analysis, including such methods as unstructured interviews and observation. Students will become acquainted with the epistemology of qualitative approaches and with developing skills in all areas of qualitative methodology, through first-hand experience of using these methods to collect and analyze data on an appropriate topic.
Students will be expected to identify such a topic and research question early in the course (with the help o the instructor), and carrying out a qualitative research project over the duration of the course.

Contact: Beatrice Crona

Quantitative Methods for Studying Social-Ecological Systems, Maja Schlueter et al, 4-16 March 2024, 4hp (open to external PhD students)

• Understanding of how to conduct quantitative analysis of Social-Ecological Systems (SESs), and how to model (in the broadest sense).
• A vocabulary to talk with researchers doing ecological, economic, socialecological modeling of SES using statistical, mathematical or computational approaches.
• Overview of quantitative methods available for studying SES, particularly formal modeling, empirical analysis and methods from complexity science.
• Understanding of when and how different approaches can be used, their potentials and limitations (with based exposition of technical details).
• Understanding of different conceptualizations of SES, different approaches and their implications (e.g. what do we learn from a theoretical model, from a statistical analysis, etc.)

Contact: Maja Schlüter

Sustainability Science and Biosphere Stewardship, Magnus Nyström & Ropbert Blasiak, given during autumn, 5hp (only for SRC PhD students)

This new course serves as an introduction to advanced research studies at SRC. It communicates the research framework that is used by centre researchers, clarifies “ways of thinking and practicing” and “tacit knowledge” at SRC, i.e. the “softer” values that are essential for multi- and transdisciplinary advanced research at SRC (our “signatory pedagogy”). The course identifies outstanding major research challenges and research fronts in order for the PhD student to be able to understand where they can situate their research, and also how their research can contribute to developing any or several of these fronts. The course also relate the SRC “branch” of Sustainability Science to a wider historical context including fields of philosophy of science and provide practical advice on methods and approaches that will guide the PhD student in his or her research.