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Centre for Development and the Environment
Centre for Development and the Environment (Norwegian: Senter for utvikling og miljø, SUM) is a research centre at the University of Oslo. The overarching goal of SUM is to conduct interdisciplinary research, teaching, and dissemination on development and environmental issues, with a particular focus on the interconnections between development and the environment. SUM is organized as a centre without faculty affiliation, directly under the university board. The centre was established on January 1, 1990, at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Science and the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (NAVF). The initiative came in the wake of the active role Norway played in the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, 1987, where the Brundtland Report was launched.
In the aftermath of the Brundtland Report, a research centre was established at each of the Norwegian core universities. Today, only SUM remains. SUM was established by merging three previously independent entities: the Council for Natural and Environmental Sciences (RNM), the Programme for Development Research in the Oslo Region (PUFO), and the Centre for International Development Studies (SIU). In 2000, the Programme for Research and Investigation for a Sustainable Society (ProSus) was incorporated into SUM. The legacy of the Brundtland Report is deeply rooted in SUM's mandate for interdisciplinary research and education on global development and environmental issues. Today, approximately 50 employees are associated with the centre.
SUM will play a central role in the university's new interdisciplinary initiative on sustainability, the Centre for Global Sustainability. The new centre will be established as a unit under the university board with the goal of strengthening and facilitating interdisciplinary research, education, and dissemination on sustainability. The centre is to be a meeting hub for researchers, students, external partners, and guests. As of May 2025, the new centre will be established virtually, with SUM at the forefront and in collaboration with several other initiatives and units at the university. By the end of 2027, the centre will be physically established and move into what will become the Sustainability House on the Blindern campus.
SUM's vision is to promote groundbreaking, independent, and critical interdisciplinary research on sustainability, focusing on global and local challenges and crises related to health, welfare, nature, and society. The research at SUM seeks to be power-critical and globally oriented, challenge established views, and draw on interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches.
Initially, in addition to several smaller projects, SUM had three major interdisciplinary research programmes: ‘The Programme for Health, Population, Development’ (HEBUT), ‘Norwegian-Indonesian Rain Forest and Resource Management Project’ (NORINDRA), and ‘Environment and Development in Mali’. From 2003, the research was organized into three programmes that largely have influenced today's research groups at SUM. The programmes were: Local changes in developing countries; Culturally based attitudes towards the environment and development; Global governance for environment and development. In 2024, the centre has the following research groups:
- Sustainable consumption and energy equity
- Poverty reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Culture, ethics, and sustainability
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Centre for Development and the Environment
Centre for Development and the Environment (Norwegian: Senter for utvikling og miljø, SUM) is a research centre at the University of Oslo. The overarching goal of SUM is to conduct interdisciplinary research, teaching, and dissemination on development and environmental issues, with a particular focus on the interconnections between development and the environment. SUM is organized as a centre without faculty affiliation, directly under the university board. The centre was established on January 1, 1990, at the initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Science and the Norwegian Research Council for Science and the Humanities (NAVF). The initiative came in the wake of the active role Norway played in the World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common Future, 1987, where the Brundtland Report was launched.
In the aftermath of the Brundtland Report, a research centre was established at each of the Norwegian core universities. Today, only SUM remains. SUM was established by merging three previously independent entities: the Council for Natural and Environmental Sciences (RNM), the Programme for Development Research in the Oslo Region (PUFO), and the Centre for International Development Studies (SIU). In 2000, the Programme for Research and Investigation for a Sustainable Society (ProSus) was incorporated into SUM. The legacy of the Brundtland Report is deeply rooted in SUM's mandate for interdisciplinary research and education on global development and environmental issues. Today, approximately 50 employees are associated with the centre.
SUM will play a central role in the university's new interdisciplinary initiative on sustainability, the Centre for Global Sustainability. The new centre will be established as a unit under the university board with the goal of strengthening and facilitating interdisciplinary research, education, and dissemination on sustainability. The centre is to be a meeting hub for researchers, students, external partners, and guests. As of May 2025, the new centre will be established virtually, with SUM at the forefront and in collaboration with several other initiatives and units at the university. By the end of 2027, the centre will be physically established and move into what will become the Sustainability House on the Blindern campus.
SUM's vision is to promote groundbreaking, independent, and critical interdisciplinary research on sustainability, focusing on global and local challenges and crises related to health, welfare, nature, and society. The research at SUM seeks to be power-critical and globally oriented, challenge established views, and draw on interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches.
Initially, in addition to several smaller projects, SUM had three major interdisciplinary research programmes: ‘The Programme for Health, Population, Development’ (HEBUT), ‘Norwegian-Indonesian Rain Forest and Resource Management Project’ (NORINDRA), and ‘Environment and Development in Mali’. From 2003, the research was organized into three programmes that largely have influenced today's research groups at SUM. The programmes were: Local changes in developing countries; Culturally based attitudes towards the environment and development; Global governance for environment and development. In 2024, the centre has the following research groups:
- Sustainable consumption and energy equity
- Poverty reduction and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Culture, ethics, and sustainability