In September 2024 the university board decided that a new Centre for Global Sustainability will be established in the spring of 2025. The centre will actively work to improve critical interdisciplinary research, education, and communication necessary for a global sustainable and more just future.
An interdisciplinary foundation
Centre for global sustainability will be established in the spring of 2025. The first to join the new centre will be the following:
- Centre for development and the environment
- SUSTAINIT – Sustainable health unit
- UiO's three interdisciplinary initiatives: UiO:Energy and Environment, UiO:Life Science and UiO:Democracy
The centre will have a flexible structure that will allow for both permanent and temporary research groups across all academic disciplines, and it will be open for affiliation of researchers who remain based in their own discipline at an institute/faculty. It will be organised under the university board.
It should be an attractive space to study, meet and network for students, researchers, and external partners and guests, and it should also have potential to increase external funding for research and education on global sustainability.
All under one roof
The Centre for global sustainability will be located in B?rekrafthuset (the Sustainability House), currently the Pharmacy Building at Blindern. The building will undergo renovations following the move of the Pharmaceutical Institute to the Life Science Building in 2026/27. During the autumn of 2024, further planning will take place in collaboration with all parties involved and the recruitment of a centre director will commence.
Background
Under UiO's climate and environmental strategy, one of the sub-goals is to propose a comprehensive sustainability effort in the area of lower Blindern campus. In 2023, a working group was established to develop a proposal for B?rekrafthuset. Following the report, the proposal has been discussed in various academic environments and forums, and now a proposal is being presented to the University Board in September 2024 to establish a Centre for Global Sustainability that will move into a building named B?rekrafthuset – the Sustainability House – which is currently the Pharmacy Building.
More information
- The university board's decision the 18th of September 2024 (in Norwegian)
- The group’s mandate (in Norwegian, pdf, 175 kB)
- Supporting document ’The Sustainability Hub – the catalyst in UiO’s sustainability efforts’ (in Norwegian, pdf, 162 kB)
- UiOs budget proposal to KD (in Norwegian) v-sak-41-2023-uios-innspill-til-satsningsforslag-til-kd-for-statsbudsjettet-for-2025.pdf