Kornelia Johansson

I am a Ph.D student in environmental communication, working in the project Shadow forests – Re-thinking dominant forest cultures in times of emergency, exploring socio-cultural factors affecting the transformation of the Swedish forest industry. In particular my research focuses on the role of the journalist - how forest journalists in their profession has the opportunity to both challenge and reproduce established socio-cultural structures in the forestry industry and to influence public opinion. 

I have a master's degree in rural development and natural resource management from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. In my master's thesis Stories from the forest, I investigated how private forest owners and forest owner associations perceive and relate to the concept of forest bioeconomy.

I have also worked as a research assistant in the project Governance, Justice and Transition - On the way to a fossil-free society, where I, among other things, studied the fund on the EU's Just Transition Fund (JTF) and how the fund influences the industrial transition taking place in Sweden.

I'm the Chair of the PhD council at the Department of Urban and Rural Development, and I'm also the safety representative at the department.

Scientific article in Forest Policy and Economics: Reporting on the polarised ‘forest issue’: sensitive terminology, complex relationships, and centrifugal effects as challenges for journalistic role performance (2026)

Johansson, Kornelia., Berglez Peter., Grubbström, Ann. (2026) Reporting on the polarised ‘forest issue’: sensitive terminology, complex relationships, and centrifugal effects as challenges for journalistic role performance. Forest Policy and Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2026.103924.

Scientific article in Environmental Policy and Governance: Doing Justice, Doing the Transition: Narratives of the Just Transition Fund and the Swedish Steel Industry (2025)

Joosse, Sofie., Johansson, Kornelia., Förell, Nora., Fischer, Anke. (2025). Doing Justice, Doing the Transition: Narratives of the Just Transition Fund and the Swedish Steel Industry. Environmental Policy and Governance. DOI: 10.1002/eet.70020.

Book chapter in Socioecological Transformations: Linking ontologies with Structures, Personal with Collective Change Change (2025). 

Holmgren, Sara., Powell, Stina., Grubbström, Ann., Söderlund-Kanarp, Christopher., Johansson, Kornelia., Lundin, Cecilia. (2025). Looking around for liveable forest futures. I: Ramcilovic-Suominen, Sabaheta. (ed.) Socioecological Transformations: Linking Ontologies with Structures, Personal with Collective Change. London. Routledge. Doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003466109 

Scientific article in Journal of Environmental Planning and Management: How justice shapes transition governance - discourse analysis of Swedish Policy debates (2023).

Fischer, A., Joosse, S., Strandell, J., Söderberg, N., Johansson, K. (2023). How justice shapes transition governance – a discourse analysis of Swedish policy debates.Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2023.2177842

Policy brief (in swedish).

Stoppar rättviseargument Sveriges omställning till ett fossilfritt välfärdssamhälle? – en analys av politiska debatter (Policy brief authored by Kornelia Johansson, Nora Söderberg, Nora Förell and Anke Fischer)