The professorship in Political science has been established at SLU's Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, and is part of the ambition to strengthen Social science and interdisciplinary perspectives on the environment and sustainability at the university.
– The connection between knowledge and policy, regarding biological diversity and other environmental issues, is an area that we want to explore, says Faculty Dean Torleif Härd. As the political dimensions of the environment and sustainability become increasingly important, SLU's research in the area needs to be broadened.
New professor in place since October
How do we bring about the necessary political decisions, and get them to really make a difference in reality? This is what interests Erik Hysing, the new professor of political science at SLU. It brought him into the field of political science, and the research focus: what prevents or enables social change.
Erik Hysing will now be the unifying force in building a completely new subject at SLU: Political science.
– Developing political science as a new research subject is an exciting challenge and a unique opportunity. It provides new opportunities to highlight the political dimensions of environmental and sustainability issues in research, education and collaboration at SLU, he says.
This interest in social change, encompasses more concrete research interests in the design and change of policies and policy tools, the importance of individual actors in driving and facilitating change, as well as bigger questions about power and legitimacy. In addition to being key societal challenges, environmental and sustainability issues are an interesting area to study in order to better understand these complex processes, says Erik.
– In addition to being central societal challenges, environmental and sustainability issues are an interesting area to study in order to better understand these complex processes, states Erik.
A completely new research environment
– Initially, the research area of political science will have a focus on policy and governance issues, but Erik hopes that over time, the subject will develop into a broader political science environment with research in various theoretical, methodological and empirical areas. The plan is to establish a wide-ranging research environment, that includes both research and education - at undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate level.
His ambition is that political science at SLU, will be an environment where both political scientists with an interest in environmental and sustainability issues (in a broad sense) and environmental and sustainability researchers from other social science disciplines with an interest in political science theories and issues feel welcome.
Previous activities
Erik Hysing comes from Örebro University, where he has worked as a senior lecturer in political science since 2015.
His research has largely focused on policy and governance issues related to various environmental problems. He received his PhD in political science in 2010, with a dissertation on policy and governance changes in Swedish forestry and transport policy. Since then he has studied policy design and change, the role and importance of public officials, new (and old) forms of governance such as collaboration and networking, and the changing role of the state.
In addition to research and management assignments, teaching has been an important part of his work. He has developed, led and taught a number of courses and programs in political science, public administration and urban and regional planning. For him, teaching is a natural part of working at a university, and something he finds (in moderation) both fun and rewarding.
The possibilities of multidisciplinarity
So what attracted Erik Hysing to SLU? He believes that the strength of SLU is its multidisciplinarity, the closeness between research and practice, and the university’s common focus on environmental and sustainability issues. Another thing that raised his interest was the multidisciplinary environment - where researchers from different disciplines can contribute with their expertise and thereby, hopefully, better understand the very complex societal challenges connected to the environmental issues of our time.
– Taking advantage of these strengths will be important in our development of political science. The subject is well established, and there is strong research at many universities, but our specialisation here at SLU, with a focus on environmental and sustainability issues, will attract researchers, students, and collaboration partners. Our activities will be carried out in close collaboration with researchers and teachers from other research subjects, units and centres at SLU.
Already after one month in office, he sees several research areas, research projects and individual researchers conducting exciting research of high political science relevance.
Stina Powell, Head of the Department, is very much looking forward to the department broadening and deepening its field of activity:
– It is incredibly exciting for the department to get this new subject. Many of us currently work with issues related to governance and politics in various ways, but now we have an opportunity to dive deeper and broaden our expertise, with the recruitment of Erik Hysing as a professor of political science.
– We will let the subject grow in its own right and in collaboration with the other subjects we already have at the department. I see so many opportunities for exciting research and education in the future.
