Agenda 2030 PhD courses

Admission priority will be given to the PhD students within the Agenda 2030 Graduate School. There is a possibility for PhD students from other universities and master students to participate in courses - please contact the course coordinator of the specific course for further information. Below you find information about currently offered courses, course registration and course coordinators.

PhD courses, Autumn 2025

All My Relations IV: Nomadic Encounters

1-2, 4-6, 17 & 18 September 2025 (3 ECTS)

All My Relations IV is a course and three-day intensive Ecocamp that explores the potential of performative and interdisciplinary practices to trigger transformation in human behavior and ecological awareness. Artists and interdisciplinary researchers interested in existential resilience, more-than-human encounters, and sustainable development are invited to bring their questions to a laboratory designed to connect art, research, and everyday life. For its fourth edition, the Ecocamp transforms into a nomadic experience. During the three days walking, travelling, and traversing landscapes will be central to our practice, fostering new connections on the move and reflecting on human nature as one of migration, transition, and relational encounters. Both collaborative and solitary moments on the journey will foster reflection, dialogue, and creative engagement with ecology, interspecies relations, and sustainable futures. Prior to the workshop, seminars will provide a foundational understanding of key ecological concepts, resilience theories, and sustainability principles, complemented by an overview of the shared curriculum. 

• Course description (PDF, 193 kB, new tab).
• Longer course description at thm.lu.se.
• Course registration: Submit a max one-page application (PDF) to jan [dot] michelsen [at] thm [dot] lu [dot] se (jan[dot]michelsen[at]thm[dot]lu[dot]se) with the subject line ALL MY RELATIONS IV, including:
  • A short statement explaining your interest in the workshop;
  • A brief bio;
  • The questions, challenges, or phenomena from your practice, related to the themes of All My Relations, that you wish to bring to the walk.
• Registration deadline: 20 May 2025.
• Course convener: Sofie Lebech
• sofie [dot] lebech [at] thm [dot] lu [dot] se (sofie[dot]lebech[at]thm[dot]lu[dot]se)

Global environmental governance today - actors, institutions, complexity

22 September - 26 September 2025 (3 ECTS)

Global environmental governance is an ongoing process with recurring changes and challenges. Established rules and treaties – such as the UN Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the 2030 Development Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals – have been facing considerable hurdles to their implementation; other issues like biodiversity of the high seas and plastic pollution have only in recent years become subject to comprehensive treaty negotiations, while such a treaty is still out of sight for further problem areas like forestry. The course frames such challenges to global environmental governance as problems of human interaction. It starts from the premise that, in addition to natural and physical barriers, there are severe social and political barriers that often stand in the way of an effective management of transboundary environmental threats. 

• Course syllabus and literature (PDF, 405 kB, new tab).
• Course schedule (PDF, 273 kB, new tab)
• Course registration: Send an e-mail including a short motivation statement (max. 300 words) to Fariborz Zelli (fariborz [dot] zelli [at] svet [dot] lu [dot] se (fariborz[dot]zelli[at]svet[dot]lu[dot]se))
• Registration deadline: 5 September 2025. Applicants will be notified by 12th September at the latest.
• Course convener: Fariborz Zelli and Nils Droste
• fariborz [dot] zelli [at] svet [dot] lu [dot] se (fariborz[dot]zelli[at]svet[dot]lu[dot]se)
• nils [dot] droste [at] svet [dot] lu [dot] se (nils[dot]droste[at]svet[dot]lu[dot]se)

Water and Sustainability

October - November (5 ECTS)

Water is one of the most essential substances on Earth. It flows through cultures and history – allowing cities and civilizations to flourish, but sometimes also threatening them. Water can be used for the good and for the bad: for technical development, as an economic asset, to control human populations during war, to grow plants, in traditional rituals and ceremonies, and for many other applications. Water is basically everywhere. In this PhD course, we will dig deep into the connection between sustainability and water management. We will examine the types of future solutions and ideas that must be developed and implemented, as well as our roles as researchers. The course is multidisciplinary with teachers and participants from several faculties and aims to highlight sustainability from both a Swedish and an international perspective. . It will consist of two parts: 1) Theories, ideas, inspiration and 2) Deepen your research. Between the two parts, participants will work individually on writing a text related to their PhD research topic and reading about sustainability within their field. The course is highly interactive, featuring discussions on various perspectives on sustainability.

• Course description (PDF, 294 kB, new tab).
• Course schedule will be announced shortly.
• Course registration: Send an e-mail to Johanna Sörensen (johanna [dot] sorensen [at] tvrl [dot] lth [dot] se (johanna[dot]sorensen[at]tvrl[dot]lth[dot]se)).
• Registration deadline to be announced shortly.
• Course convener: Johanna Sörensen
• johanna [dot] sorensen [at] tvrl [dot] lth [dot] se (johanna[dot]sorensen[at]tvrl[dot]lth[dot]se)

Whose world? Resource (ab)use in the longue durée

1 December 2025 - 16 January 2026 (7,5 ECTS)

Who has the authority to shape the world—and at whose expense? Whose World? Resource (Ab)use in the Longue Durée is a doctoral course that invites participants to examine the historical foundations of environmental and social injustice. Bridging history, human rights, environmental studies, and legal scholarship, the course investigates how both natural and human resources have been defined, exploited, governed, and contested over time. This course offers insights about sustainability issues from a historical perspective by covering early modern and modern periods. Focusing on theoretical, yet empirically anchored themes such as mining industry, forestry, family law, time and temporality and rights tradition, both from indigenous/minority and majority population perspectives, the course unfolds resource abuse and use related to these themes and how this knowledge can be used as an integrated part of work on sustainability issues. 

• Course description (PDF, 179 kB, new tab).
• Course schedule: A specific schedule will be added shortly, but scheduled dates are 1/12, 5/12, 12/12, 19/12, 5/1, 9/1, 12/1 and 16/1.
• Course literature (PDF, 78 kB, new tab).
• Course registration: Send an e-mail to Joachim Östlund (Joachim [dot] ostlund [at] hist [dot] lu [dot] se (Joachim[dot]ostlund[at]hist[dot]lu[dot]se)).
• Registration deadline: 21 November 2025.
• Course convener: Joachim Östlund
• Joachim [dot] ostlund [at] hist [dot] lu [dot] se (Joachim[dot]ostlund[at]hist[dot]lu[dot]se)