Comprehensive Climate and Environmental Strategy

¡°UiO will lead the way in environmental work, both nationally and internationally, and act as a role model for other institutions.¡±

The quote is from UiO's Strategy 2030. The climate and environmental strategy is based on the overall strategy, and has the following main objectives:

UiO will:

• Education: offer all students research-based education on climate, the environment and sustainability, and, when possible, integrated into their respective disciplines.
• Research: lower barriers to, and strengthen, interdisciplinary research and collaboration on climate, environment, and sustainability.
• Dissemination and dialogue: expand local and international cross-sectoral cooperation on climate, environment, and sustainability.
• Climate and green campus: reduce the university¡¯s climate footprint and develop ¡®green campuses.
• Organisation: incorporate all work related to climate, environment, and sustainability in the organisational culture and structure.

See details in the Climate and Environmental Strategy

Research

¡°UiO will further develop disciplinary depth and interdisciplinary cooperation, and lead the way in the development towards a sustainable society.¡± ¨CUiO¡¯s Strategy 2030 

UiO is characterised by its strong basic research milieus. Many of these also make important contributions to addressing major societal challenges, including within the fields of climate and environment. At the same time, climate and environmental challenges are extremely complex and require more multi- and interdisciplinary cooperation. It is therefore crucial that UiO improves the ways in which we facilitate for the exchange of knowledge and collaboration across academic communities and faculties, and with external national and international stakeholders. UiO will build on existing climate and environment-related research milieus while paving the way for more cross-disciplinary cooperation. This involves assessing new interdisciplinary structures that can support, for example, interdisciplinary initiatives, temporary interdisciplinary projects, centres, and other existing major initiatives. 

Much of UiO¡¯s basic research is undertaken using the university?s own funds, whilst externally funded activities are becoming increasingly important, both as a source of research funding and as an arena for cooperation with other national and international institutions and sectors. For research on climate, environment, and sustainable transitions, there is a great potential in funding opportunities through the European Research Council (ERC) and, to a greater extent than today, by way of the thematic areas of the Research Council of Norway, Horizon Europe, and other international research funds. UiO conducts world-leading research on renewable energy, the environment, and climate science within different disciplines. We will contribute towards putting research on the human and social aspects of these topics on the national and international research agenda to a greater degree than at present. 

In practice, UiO will facilitate disciplinary and interdisciplinary career paths. A particular concern among younger researchers is professional standards relating to interdisciplinary research (ciens.no, Norwegian).  UiO should consider the timeframes for multi- and interdisciplinary research fellowships with a view to ensuring that more young researchers have the opportunity to build expertise across traditional barriers between the natural sciences, humanities, and social sciences, without weakening academic quality or work opportunities. Likewise, UiO will endeavour to make it easier to employ people in interdisciplinary, cross-faculty positions.

Key research funders in Norway and abroad are introducing guidelines on how the projects they allocate funding to shall be undertaken in the most climate and environmentally friendly way possible. At UiO, managers and directors are responsible for ensuring that any potential negative climate or environmental consequences of our research are assessed where this is relevant, and there must always be transparency as to who is funding the research. 
 

Education

¡°UiO will educate students who place their subjects in a broader social perspective and lead the way in the green shift¡± ¨CUiO¡¯s Strategy 2030 

Global climate and environmental challenges are complex, and UiO will offer students teaching and learning methods that encourage critical thinking, ethical reflection, creativity, and the ability to solve problems and engage in societal changes. Many of the academic disciplines at UiO can, either by themselves or in collaborative multi- and interdisciplinary research and education, contribute with knowledge relevant to how we solve major societal challenges. UiO will engage a wider range of disciplines in the study of climate and environmental issues. We will facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and ensure that students and candidates with strong disciplinary expertise also have the opportunity to communicate across subjects and to orient themselves at the intersection between knowledge, expertise, and political decisions. Students have called for such action on numerous occasions, among others through student organisations and the Student Parliament.

In order to achieve this, we must reduce barriers that make it challenging to establish new interdepartmental and cross-faculty study programmes, and better enable students to make use of such opportunities. It can be challenging for researchers to teach students with different academic backgrounds and varying degrees of prior knowledge, and we must establish more arenas for the sharing of experiences between those who try to engage in interdisciplinary teaching. We already offer several student-active and work-relevant study programmes that address climate, environment, and sustainability, but our portfolio appears to be fragmented, and it is too difficult for the students to find proper information. Our goal is not to undermine existing academic disciplines, but to give our students better opportunities for developing top-quality international research-based expertise on climate, environment, and sustainability as part of their education, preferably as an integral part of their own field of study.

This will also strengthen the relevance to working life of their studies, as there is a growing need for candidates with ¡®green expertise¡¯ (PDF, Norwegian) and knowledge of climate and sustainability (PDF, Norwegian) in both the private and public sectors in Norway and abroad (voced.edu.au).  Like the rest of the world, Norway will need to undergo a transition of economy and society over the next few decades, and today¡¯s students are likely to become a driving force in this. With a basis in our research on climate, environment and sustainability, UiO will take a more active role in building courses relevant to ¡°lifelong learning". We will establish offers of continuing and further education of high scientific quality in the relevant subject fields. We will also contribute towards the basic state education system providing teachers with further education and developing teaching materials.

Many students and student organisations have been working for a long time to strengthen UiO¡¯s climate and environmental work. UiO will cooperate more closely with student organisations in the future in order to facilitate various activities and initiatives from our students related to climate and the environment. 

Innovation and Relations with Society

¡°UiO will contribute to sustainable social development and the green shift¡± ¨CUiO¡¯s Strategy 2030

Society¡¯s trust in research and scientific knowledge is strengthened through openness, transparency, and diversity related to methods and access to data. To ensure continued high legitimacy for UiO as a knowledge-intensive organisation, we must be open to the world to a greater extent than at present. By working to ensure that knowledge is put to use, UiO will encourage the development of new ideas, technologies, and initiatives that might help improve services, resolve societal needs, and contribute to a sustainable transition. The groundwork for a knowledge-based democratic society and knowledge-informed decisions is laid through open science. Conveying the role, method, uncertainty and integrity of science ¨C also within the fields of climate, environment, and sustainability ¨C must be part of our dialogue with society.

The green shift and its goal of making a fair transition away from an economy dependent on fossil fuel require significant behavioural changes at a collective, institutional, and individual level. UiO aims to strengthen its research-based dialogue with decision-makers, business, industry, and others. We are a key partner in Oslo Science City (OSC), which is Norway¡¯s first innovation district. Here, ¡®climate, energy and the environment¡¯ represent one of four focus areas, and sustainable urban development will be a consistent feature of all work being done. This initiative opens doors to increased cooperation with both the public and private sectors, with research institutes, and with society at large. UiO will contribute towards OSC also becoming an arena that initiates sustainable student innovation, green projects, and innovative learning. 

When it comes to public dissemination, UiO will also focus on its own arenas and activities throughout the organisation. There is exciting potential in the fact that UiO has two museums located in the central part of the country¡¯s capital, and Klimahuset (The Climate House) at the Natural History Museum plays a special role in relation to research on climate and the environment. UiO also engages in extensive and close cooperation with schools in the Oslo region. Such networks are important arenas for competence development and knowledge sharing in the education sector, and for research and innovation on sustainable transition in the university¡¯s surrounding areas.

Climate, environment, and sustainability are also obvious topics for close and extensive international cooperation, both in Europe and in the rest of the world. UiO will maintain an active role in the European network for research-intensive universities, The Guild, in the European university alliance Circle U., and in our other collaborative ventures with universities globally. One of the most significant challenges for climate and environmental work worldwide is the enormous economic and social differences that exist both within and between countries. This underlines the importance of emphasising topics such as ethics, social inclusion, socio-economic inequality, and fairness, in research on climate, environment, and sustainability. UiO has the potential to further make use of its extensive academic domains and take a leading role.