Fruitful collaboration among university departments in Sustainability Week 2026

Published 29 April 2026

Three panelists and a crowd — Photo: Håkan Rodhe

The public event Sustainability Week 2026 took place in April in Lund. The event was a success with about 4000 visitors attending a range of events. This year was the anniversary edition - 10th year of the event - and added to program was also a series of breakfast seminars. The seminars allowed for topical sustainability discussions looking back and looking forward on topics including energy, biodiversity, food and climate. IIIEE helped organise and IIIEE researchers participated as expert panels to discuss, looking back and looking ahead on these topics.

The 10th round of the Sustainability week in Lund was successful with in total about 4000 participants. The event offered plenty of discussion and suggestions for action, as well as inspiring visions of the future. Over six days, sustainability issues were highlighted in different ways within social, ecological and economic sustainability. The event is a collaboration between Lund University and the municipality of Lund and the program has grown over the ten years of running. The program offered 73 different seminars, workshops, presentations and other activities. All events were free and open and different events targeted different groups. The event is coordinated by Lund University's Sustainability Forum on behalf of the university.

Special for this anniversary edition of the event were four breakfast seminars, organised and run by researchers and experts from several Lund University departments and organisations including IIIEE, BECC, LUCSUS and Sustainability Forum.

The aim of the seminars was to present and discuss the developments in relation to the key topics: energy transition, food and agriculture, biodiversity and climate. In the seminars, statements from the discussions touched upon that a transition is no longer just technological but rather systemic and behavioral; that progress is happening (however too slowly and unevenly and potentially with growing tensions); and that efficiency, sufficiency, and resilience are becoming central priorities for authorities and market actors alike.

Panelists

Energy

Bregje van Veelen, associate senior lecturer at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies
Max Åhman, Professor at Environmental and Energy Systems Studies
Katharina Reindl, lecturer at IIIEE

Biodiversity

Henrik Smith, Professor, Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (MGeo) and BECC member
Allison Linnea Perrigo, Director, Lund University Botanical Garden, BECC member
Håkan Wallander, Professor, Microbial and Functional Ecology

Food

Mark Brady, researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (MGeo), and analyst at AgriFood Economics Centre
Vera Sadvoska, postdoctoral fellow at IIIEE
Cecilia Tullberg, associate senior lecturer at the Division of Biotechnology and Applied Microbiology, and leader of FORCE: Centre for Food Resilience and Competitiveness

Climate

Markku Rummukainen - Professor in climatology at MGeo focusing on climate models and provision of climate science expertise for policy
Lina Lefstad – Doctoral student at LUCSUS focusing on decarbonisation technologies including carbon capture and storage (CCS)
Sofie Sandin Lompar – Researcher at IIIEE and policy expert in Climate and Energy, focusing on local governance