Graduate school seeks boundary-crossing dialogue on sustainability

“We need to communicate research in different ways, and this is one way,” explains Jenny Helin, Director of GRASS and Associate Professor at the Department of Business Studies. “But it’s not the usual way. We believe that an exhibition is a better way of creating dialogue than giving a PowerPoint presentation.”

A place for meetings

Discussing research through artistic expression is nothing new for Jenny and the doctoral students at the graduate school. Similar events have been organised before to communicate with society and the wider world, often with support and input from the Baltic Art Center’s artist residency.

Around 80 visitors attended the fourth anniversary event, including students, colleagues, other doctoral students and collaborative partners, as well as boyfriends, girlfriends and families.

“We need to talk across these boundaries, because we need so much input,” continues Jenny. “GRASS is all about creating change within key sustainability challenges through research. We believe that you have to start locally, and with conversations that inspire engagement. I want the University to have a role as this kind of meeting place.”

Part of Campus Gotland’s development

The graduate school has played an important part in Campus Gotland’s development. Since its was established, the number of doctoral students here has grown significantly, from around ten to the current 40 to 50. This creates new conditions, in terms both opportunities for interdisciplinary work and the research environment at the campus as a whole.

This year, for example, a doctoral students’ association is being launched with one of the graduate school’s doctoral students as its chair. And the next five sustainability projects will be integrated into the new profile areas for Campus Gotland that the University has decided on.

“Establishing the graduate school was a bold decision, investing a fairly large sum of money in a new venture. But this has proven to be a wise decision, because it created something substantial that has had a ripple effect. What we want now is to build on this and to pave the way for opportunities to stay on as a postdoctoral student, for example. One way to achieve this is by collaborating with the Junior Faculty.”

Thesis defences and new recruitment

Many of the doctoral students who began in 2021 are now approaching the end of their studies. During the year, they will defend their theses at their respective departments. At the same time, ten new doctoral students will be recruited for five projects starting this autumn. By then, the graduate school will have a new director.

“Yes, this will certainly be an exciting year,” concludes Jenny. “Beatrice Krooks will be the first to defend her thesis in May, followed by a number of other thesis defences. Now we have to focus on doing it well and making it an empowering occasion. Above all for our doctoral students, but also for us on campus so that we can learn more about this research.”

The art of co-creativity

During the autumn, new and existing doctoral students will meet at the graduate school’s premises on the top floor of the C Building (Kasernen) on Campus Gotland. Jenny believes that this overlap will be useful, providing an excellent opportunity to discuss matters, and also to support and learn from each other.

Doing things together has characterised the graduate school’s development right from the start, and is a strength and a success that Jenny is keen to highlight – from the formation of interdisciplinary teams within each project, with supervisors from different disciplines, through to how the doctoral students themselves structure their work.

“They take a community approach towards organising their work, in terms of both how they do it and ensuring that they actually do it. After all, you have to do so very consciously, and that’s extremely important during a time that is so sharply focused on the individual, not least within academia. They’ve taught me a huge amount as a leader about this, and they’ve pushed the boundaries of how to work with sustainability.”

Viktor Jacobsson