Aim and ambition

The research aims at generating transdisciplinary knowledge about sustainable transitions with a focus on the interactions between societal and technological development. The ambition of the group is to increase the understanding of how environmental regulation, planning and governance can facilitate sustainability transitions in key societal sectors and domains. 

The TRANSITIONS research group focuses on three interrelated themes:

• Sustainable energy systems
• AgriFood and biosystems
• Circular economy

The research themes are integrated through a suite of common research questions, approaches, methods, and theories. Cross-cutting topics include for example planning approaches, regulation, technological innovation, value chain studies, system analysis, transition pathways, landscape management and foresight science.

Research approaches

The research approach in the group emphasizes science-based, multi-actor-approaches that develop and apply scientific theories and methods to meet contextualized societal needs – whether for households, communities, authorities, firms, or civil society organizations. The researchers strive to increase the impact of the research in both academia and society through problem-oriented, co-innovative, and collaborate approaches involving academic partners as well as stakeholders from industry, public authorities, NGOs, and citizens. Many projects aim to develop specific solutions to contextualized sustainability problems.

Research methods

A key ambition of the TRANSITIONS group is to integrate the technical and social sciences in its research, combining technical methods (e.g. lifecycle analysis, material flow analysis, geographical information systems, and energy system analysis) with social science methods and approaches (e.g. living labs, socio-technical studies, feasibility studies and policy analysis). The group has its own laboratory facilities – a biogas fermentation lab, a pyrolysis lab, a spatial analysis lab (landscape solutions lab), and an open food lab – and is involved in RU’s BioFabLab  http://fablab.ruc.dk/biofablab/.