11 University of Bergen, Faculty of Social Sciences
11.2 Research group: Geographies of Green Transformation
11.2.1 Organisation, leadership, strategies and resources
Geographies of Green Transformation is a topical, important, timely and future-oriented theme and group. Established in 2011, it has forged cross-disciplinary links within the University of Bergen and with international partners. It is positively described by the group as a ‘strong, vibrant, well-funded milieu’. It occupies a central place in the new Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation initiative in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Success in securing external funding from a range of sources is evident, including the European Association for Research on Services, Statoil and the Swedish Research Council.
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Complementary investment is being made within the university in the SpaceLab team, which is funded by a range of bodies including the Bergen Research Foundation and the Research Council of Norway.
There are joint leaders and two organising themes with particular foci: SpaceLab (political and governance) and Green Economy (business, economic and regional development). Each of them is linked through publication and teaching. There are five main members of staff, including two on permanent and two on temporary contracts, plus an international Professor II and another international staff member. The group constitutes 17% of the department’s staff and 42% of the group are women. There are eight PhD students attached to the group and a post-doc and another PhD student are currently being recruited. There is a link to the physical geographers in the department.
The Green Economy theme has an international link to the European Association for Research on Services. Clear activities are articulated and good practice is evident in the incorporation of MA students. The international associated members of the group are of relatively high standing.
The group has been set up to address some interesting and important questions. The strategy is reasonably clearly articulated but somewhat descriptive, rather than providing clear analysis and a sense of direction. There are elements of conceptual and theoretical ambition and contribution, but they could be pushed further given the quality of the staff involved.
The research group is aligned with and contributes to all three of the university’s main research themes. In particular, it has a direct link to the institution’s strategic goals through its priority research area of ‘climate and energy transformation’. The research group’s themes and activities contribute in various ways, for example through interdisciplinary seminars, joint research projects and publications.
The group contains a range of interesting and worthy, but not especially well-connected and complementary projects within the broad green transformation theme. Partners are involved in large-scale projects, for example the Bergen Research Foundation’s focus on European Cities as Actors in Climate and Energy Transformation, which is funding two PhD students. Given its early stage of development, the group is appropriately targeting a range of relatively small-scale funding sources, including the European Association for Research on Services (RESER), the Swedish Research Council, and EU ERASMUS. These are being used as ways of preparing for and securing larger-scale projects, for example from EU Horizon 2020. Institutional resources are evident in contributions to maintaining networks and organising smaller-scale activities, such as guest lectures, student exchanges and seminars. Beyond the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation initiative in the faculty, not much detail is given on the assistance provided specifically to the research group.
11.2.2 Research personnel
The group aims to balance internal and international recruitment, although attracting ‘big international names’ is an acknowledged departmental weakness. Currently, only the Professor II appointment appears to provide this international staff presence. Success is evident in building an inclusive and participatory research culture from MA level to senior staff. PhD students are seen as key collaborators, for example through joint publication, which is good practice. External collaboration is encouraged outside the group – within the university, nationally and internationally. Little is said about training and career development programmes, although these are evident within the wider institution.
11.2.3 Research production and scientific quality
In terms of publication quality, there is some creditable work published in decent quality journals and an innovative edited collection in addition to some weaker contributions in lower quality outlets. Most
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of the work is contributory rather than foundational and leading. The highest citations and quality are evident in the joint publications by the professors on time-limited contracts co-authored with other international scholars. In some cases, however, the University of Bergen is not appropriately credited and acknowledged in these publications.
The leading work from the group has contributed substantively to knowledge production in the field.
The weaker work has made more modest descriptive and limited contributions to date. The approaches are clear and question-driven. There is limited mention of original conceptualisation and theorisation and limited publication in the very highest quality journals. Promise and potential are signalled in, firstly, the Progress in Human Geography paper, and, secondly, in the novel focus on services (rather than just manufacturing and infrastructure), with the Services and the Green Economy edited collection making an important and innovative contribution on services that could have a potential for a wider agenda and contributions to high-profile journals.
11.2.4 Networking
The research group is involved in different types of collaboration. They include faculty and cross-institutional relationships. There is a collaboration strategy with links nationally and to the EU, and with academic, public and private organisations. A key focus of these activities is the new interdisciplinary centre for Climate and Energy Transformation within the faculty. The director of the new centre is based in a research group in Geography. The Green Economy Network is a promising international grouping with clear leadership and initiation by members of this group. The group has enjoyed early external funding success from a range of sources.
11.2.5 Interplay between research and education
The research group makes contributions to teaching at the undergraduate, postgraduate-taught and postgraduate research levels, mostly through the Geography programmes. The group also facilitates inputs into the teaching programme in the form of guest lectures by academics and external partners.
There are active PhD students linked to the group who are involved in fieldwork courses. This amounts to an interplay between research and teaching based on a research-informed teaching model and supervision of research dissertations at undergraduate, postgraduate-taught and postgraduate research levels.
11.2.6 Societal relevance and impact
Dissemination has been undertaken at international events in the UK and US. Research engagement and impact linkages and activities are evident, including at the EU and Scandinavian level in Norway and Sweden, and locally in Western Norway. There is mention of co-production with stakeholders, but the strategy and activities are not elaborated upon. Two of the three departmental impact case studies from Geography originate from the group: EXCURSION and 10-MIN CITY. Both cases have reasonable quality, underpinning research, regional, national and international reach, and links to further research projects and grant bids. However, the cases place more emphasis on description and evidence of outputs rather than on explanation and demonstration of the causal links between research and beneficial change impacts.
11.2.7 Overall assessment
Overall, this is an important, timely and potentially formative group for the wider department’s research identity and contribution. While at an early stage of development, it has made progress in terms of building staff capacity, securing external research funding, and publishing.
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Assessment of research group: 3 - good
11.2.8 Feedback
• Develop a strategy and actions for future growth and development, connecting the group’s development to its own institutional partners and networks and relevant wider international partners and networks.
• Develop a focus and activities to support growth of the research group in order to achieve critical mass and sustainability.
• Ensure that the research focus is advancing and contributing to the international and multidisciplinary field of sustainability transitions.
• Develop a clear plan for the tasks, expectations and contributions of the professors on time-limited contracts linked to the group.
• Develop ways to ensure that the leading work by the core staff and professors on time-limited contracts can be used to upgrade and stimulate the less strong contributions of the group.
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