Technology and Society - Grant Development 2026

A research program funded by UUniCORN and part of its strategic grant development initiative for 2026. It explores paradoxes and goal conflicts of technology for sustainable development across social, environmental, and economic dimensions.

Program description

This research program is funded by UUniCORN and is part of its strategic grant development initiative for 2026. It explores paradoxes and goal conflicts of technology for sustainable development across social, environmental, and economic dimensions.

This program brings together researchers from diverse disciplines to further develop the initial ideas identified during a workshop in August 2025. It responds to the need for dedicated funding to strategically refine these ideas and transform them into competitive research proposals, as well as to conduct a preparatory feasibility study. The program will allocate resources for targeted grant-writing efforts and pre-study activities during the period January–June 2026.

The overall aim is to strengthen the long-term research capacity of the Technology and Society programme by transforming previously identified research ideas into well-developed funding proposals and by deepening one selected research track through a focused pre-study.

Objectives

The main objectives are to:

Develop four high-quality research proposals aligned with the program’s focus on sociotechnical sustainability conflicts.
Conduct a pre-study within one of the proposed projects to strengthen its scientific foundation.
Increase the program’s ability to attract external funding from major Swedish and international research funders.
Expand interdisciplinary collaboration across multiple academic departments.

Research themes

The project builds on five research themes that address key paradoxes and goal conflicts of technology for sustainable development:

Resistance and Retroinnovation for Sustainable Technological Development: Examines historical and contemporary resistance to dominant technologies and explores retroinnovation as an alternative development pathway.
Justice and Technology: Investigates land-use conflicts related to rare earth mineral extraction in Sweden and South Africa, focusing on justice, equity, and environmental impacts.
Balancing Health Futures: Analyses goal conflicts in digital healthcare, particularly regarding equality, privacy, and system integration.
Pathways to Resilient and Adaptive Development of Optimised X-ponics Systems: Explores tensions between sustainability and economic viability in vertical farming and advanced hydroponic systems.
Develop new forms of collaboration and new knowledge about collaboration: A project that brings together Uppsala2030, Uppsala Climate Protocol, and researchers from Uppsala University to learn about potentials and challenges for a stronger collaboration between academia and social actors.

Methodology

The program's primary method is structured grant development. Funding is used to support a half-time research position (60% of full-time) for six months. This role focuses on writing research proposals, coordinating interdisciplinary input, and developing scientific narratives that align with funding criteria from major research councils. Approximately 70 working hours are allocated to each of the four applications, ensuring depth, coherence, and competitiveness.

In addition, 114 working hours are dedicated to a pre-study within one selected project. This pre-study may involve literature reviews, conceptual framework development, preliminary data collection, and stakeholder mapping. The purpose is to strengthen the project’s theoretical and empirical basis before submitting a full research application.

The work is coordinated by Klas Palm at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, which also serves as the administrative host institution. Depending on project needs, staff involved in the grant-writing process may be recruited from:

The Department of Political Science
The Department of Earth Sciences
The Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
The Department of Information Technology

The intended funding recipients include, but are not limited to Vinnova (for innovation-oriented projects), Formas (for sustainability and environmental research), and potentially SustainGov and other Impact Innovation programmes. These funders align well with the programme’s focus on societal transformation, technological governance, and sustainability.