About the Centre

Research

SUM’s current research is anchored in four thematic research areas:

• Poverty and Development
• Energy and Consumption
• Culture, Ethics and Sustainability
• Global Governance for Sustainable Development

Within these broadly defined areas, SUM promotes research on a range of topics. The main geographical focus of the research is Latin America, Southern and Central Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

SUM is presently engaged in several prestigious international projects - financed by the Norwegian and the European Research Councils, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD.

SUM is the host institution of the university’s interfaculty research area LEVE, Livelihoods in Developing Countries: Health, Environment and Poverty, established in 2009. SUM is also coordinating the interfaculty research area MILEN, Energy and Environmental Change.

SUM was also the academic home of the founder of Deep Ecology, professor Arne Næss, and is the organizer of an annual event linked to the Arne Naess Chair, The Oslo Sustainability Summit.

Networks

SUM has an extensive network of national and international research partners, and works in close co-operation with researchers in the South. It is the coordinating unit for a number of networks such as the Norwegian Latin American Research Network (NorLARNet), Network for Asia Studies, Norwegian REDD Research Network (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) and the Academic Network on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (ANLEP).

Education

Although SUM is primarily a research institution, it offers courses at BA, MA and PhD levels, as well as an International Master in Culture, Environment and Sustainability. The Centre has the status of Research School which specializes in educating scholars interested in interdisciplinary perspectives on development and the environment.

Background

The Centre was established in 1990 in response to the report of the Brundtland Commission: "Our Common Future". SUM is currently one of the few institutions in Scandinavia advancing interdisciplinary research on development and the environment, combining insights from the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities. Professor Kristi Anne Stølen is the Director of SUM.