Society faces major difficulties associated with our environment, human use of natural supplies, and our surroundings’ influence. The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra) works with these challenges by investing in research that serves to produce sustainable improvement of society. This is achieved by funding in different initiatives in which researchers and stakeholders from society make mutual contributions to resolving key environmental dilemmas.

Uppsala Sustainability Initiative’s Anne Peters has worked with this in the front line, together with a network of researchers (including me) from several other universities and organisations. We are answering Mistra’s recent call for programmes in the area of sustainable strategic environmental research and change. The call’s focus areas are equity, digitalisation, and civil society, and I have been asked, and accepted, to be the programme director.

We have created a strong network of people who work with the application. There has been an extraordinary amount of commitment from everyone involved so far. The first weeks in January have been super hectic, and we have needed to work long days to finish everything. When this is done, I will celebrate with a bottle of champagne with my husband!