Politics, Emerging Technologies, and Cross-Border Collaboration in Focus for Visiting Professors Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann
Promoting shared interests in global climate policy and governance, including issues of accountability and climate justice, is the focus of Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann, visiting professors in climate leadership at Uppsala University. Their work emphasizes that researchers need to engage more actively in public debate and that political systems must change if we are to effectively address and manage the major climate challenges we face.
Uppsala University invites a professor to a visiting professorship in climate leadership every one or two years. The ten-year visiting professorship is funded by a previous donation to the university from the entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and his wife Catherine Zennström. This year was the first time that two professors shared the visiting professorship: Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann. They began their appointments on March 1, 2025, and their tenure concludes this July.
Aarti Gupta is a prominent researcher in issues concerning the intersections of science, technology, and politics, especially in climate matters. Photo: Erica Magnusson
Aarti Gupta is a Professor of Global Environmental Governance at Wageningen University. Her goal during the visiting professorship has been to engage in research, teaching, and external collaboration at Uppsala University, as well as to connect with researchers at other universities in Sweden. Her focus is to promote common interests within global climate policy and governance, including issues related to responsibility and climate justice.
The visiting professorship at Uppsala University is hosted by the Climate Leadership research group at the Department of Earth Sciences, in collaboration with CCL, Climate Change Leadership. Now that her six-month tenure is coming to an end, Aarti is very satisfied.
“I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I arrived here, but my time has exceeded all expectations! It has been very rewarding, from our collaboration with CCL to meetings with other researchers and external partners,” says Aarti Gupta.
Research needs to become a greater part of society
One of Aarti Gupta’s key focuses is to ensure that research takes a more prominent role and becomes an important part of society. She lectures on the researcher’s role in public debate, the importance of communicating research results, and sometimes taking a stand as a researcher. During her visiting professorship, she has also lectured and engaged in discussions with other researchers about the importance of involving politics in future decisions regarding technological development.
“We cannot predict how, when, or where problems with new technology might arise, so we must be prepared and have policies in place for how to handle potential issues on a global level. We cannot wait until problems occur,” says Aarti Gupta.
The focus is on the need for politicians to understand that sustainable common policies are essential to steer the world toward a safe and secure future.
“It means a lot to me to share my views and knowledge about, for example, ‘solar engineering.’ We need to find both long-term and short-term solutions and eliminate so-called ‘false solutions'” says Aarti.
Solar engineering is a new technology that is not yet fully developed or evaluated but can be simply described as influencing the Earth’s atmosphere. Aarti argues that since we do not yet know how this and other new technologies will affect the climate, current decision-making structures must change—especially regarding these new technologies.
“The technologies don’t exist yet, but we need to talk about them anyway,” Aarti explains. “My research focuses on how to engage political leaders worldwide, how to get them to understand and commit to developing common policies that guide research and development in the right direction to avoid future dangers.”
“We cannot predict today how, when, or where problems might arise with new technologies, so we must be prepared and have policies in place on a global level to handle potential issues. We cannot wait until problems arise,” Aarti concludes.
Global Politics Needs to Change
Frank Biermann is Professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Utrecht University. During his time as a guest professor, his goals have included participating in research, teaching, and external collaboration, as well as writing a book on global politics and the need for a reorientation within it.
Frank Biermann has conducted research for three decades on, among other things, effective and just climate policy. He was an early pioneer in studying how planetary and political systems can be coordinated and strengthened to achieve global sustainability goals. Photo: Erica Magnusson
The idea behind the book Frank is writing is that it will focus on how we can collaborate in new ways—both on climate issues and on human rights and other rights-related matters.
“I believe that global politics needs to change, and in my book, I want to reflect on the idea that we are all part of the same Earth, and that this needs to be reflected in how we govern our world. In the 1990s, we had the idea that everything would get better. I want to develop a theory on how to build plurilateral systems where several countries cooperate,” he explains.
“Planetary crisis in the time of Trump”
Frank Biermann’s theme during his time as a guest professor was “Planetary crisis in the time of Trump,” and parallel to his stay in Uppsala, the situation in the US has changed dramatically, with Trump’s decisions having a major impact both on democracy in the country and the rest of the world.
“His attacks on the parliament are anything but positive for democracy, and we will have to see how this develops over time. The fact that the US has withdrawn much of its development aid to WHO has a big impact on the Global South, which will cause suffering for many people. What we can do is find alternative ways to finance, for example by imposing higher taxes on air travel and shipping. By taxing things that are bad for the environment and negatively affect the climate, we can help the Global South adapt to climate change,” says Frank Biermann, adding that “all movements towards the good contribute to changes in the world.”
Positive about UUniCORN
Aarti Gupta and Frank Biermann participated in the inauguration of UUniCORN in March, and both say that UUniCORN fulfills an important role in promoting interdisciplinary research and collaboration with external partners.
“I truly welcome Uppsala University’s initiative with UUniCORN; it is a way to renew research. Previously, everyone worked within their own field, and that approach needs to change. Of course, we need expert knowledge from each individual field, but it must be combined with other research areas and societal actors. Initiating interdisciplinary research is absolutely the right approach, and I congratulate Uppsala University for creating this. It’s superb” says Frank Biermann.
Aarti Gupta agrees:
“It is very important to understand that there are conflicts of objectives! I like the focus that UUniCORN has, making it easier for researchers to collaborate and acknowledging that conflicts of objectives exist and that we have to make choices. Society always has winners and losers – and not all goals can be met” says Aarti Gupta. She also adds that she appreciates UUniCORN’s role in co-financing The International Project Office (IPO), which as of this year has its headquarters at Uppsala University.
Continued cooperation with IPO and Uppsala University
From this year, the international organization Earth System Governance (ESG) has its headquarters (IPO) at CCL, making continued collaboration with the research group at Uppsala University a given. Frank Biermann founded Earth System Governance, and both he and Aarti Gupta are active within ESG.
“Our collaboration with Uppsala University, and especially with the CCL group, has been so fruitful and rewarding—we will stay in contact with them and the PhD students we’ve met” says Aarti Gupta.
“We will continue to write articles together, and there are also plans to host an international conference in 2027,” says Frank Biermann.
See you again!
Their time as guest professors ends at the end of July, followed by a holiday in Sweden. During their stay, Aarti and Frank have traveled around Sweden, visiting Linköping University, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and participated in panel discussions during Almedalen Week. Now, they look forward to more travel within Sweden before returning to their respective universities in the Netherlands. But their connection to Sweden will not end there—both Frank and Aarti are eager for the collaboration with Uppsala University and other partners to continue in the future.
Facts
Uppsala University has for the past ten years had a guest professorship, inviting a new professor every one or two years. The guest professorship is funded through a previous donation to the university by entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and his wife Catherine Zennström, and placed at the Department of Geosciences.
This year, for the first time, two professors were invited to be guest professors in Climate Leadership at Uppsala University: Professor Aarti Gupta from Wageningen University and Professor Frank Biermann from Universiteit Utrecht, both in the Netherlands.
Aarti Gupta is a Professor of Global Environmental Governance at Wageningen University. She is a prominent researcher in issues relating to the intersections of science, technology, and politics, especially in climate matters. She also holds a leading role in the international network Earth System Governance Project.
Frank Biermann, Professor of Global Sustainability Governance at Universiteit Utrecht, has for three decades conducted research on effective and just climate policy. He was an early pioneer in studying how planetary and political systems can be coordinated and strengthened to achieve global sustainability goals.