Centre partner the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics is initiating a new network of young scientists conducting research related to social-ecological systems.

The Beijer Young Scholars (BYS) programme was launched with a workshop 20-25 May at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and at the island of Fejan in the Stockholm Archipelago. The programme gathers early career researchers with background in economics, ecology, political science and related disciplines from eight different countries.

Trigger collaboration
The aim of the workshop was to trigger collaboration between young researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, supporting them in creating their own research networks with strong links to the established networks of the Beijer Institute and Stockholm Resilience Centre.

"Our ambition is to create a neutral space where ambitious early career researchers can meet and inspire each other to do innovative research.  We hope that putting people together and letting them work intensively in a nice and relaxed environment creates trust and triggers creative cooperation," says Anne-Sophie Crépin, deputy director of the Beijer Institute and one of the senior resource persons for the group.

Other resource persons include Beijer Director and centre science director Carl Folke, Scott Barrett, Columbia University, Victor Galaz, Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Steve Polasky, University of Minnesota.

Combine knowledge
With the first workshop a big success, the BYS programme plans to host post docs, young faculty and advanced PhD-students as well as support working groups and workshops. This gives the participants the opportunity to interact with scholars outside their own field to collaborate on a common challenge.

"Taking part in interdisciplinary group work was a completely new experience for me. This productive and inspiring week helped us to get to know each other and develop a better idea of how people from different disciplines think. The next step is to combine our knowledge and study the global challenges related to social — ecological systems in depth," says Efthymia Kyriakopoulou, economist from Greece, who is doing her post-doc at Gothenburg University.

The group is now in the process of preparing a scientific paper on social innovation and steering technological progress for resilient futures.