Interdisciplinary sustainability research

Sustainability science and ecosystem service research are rapidly emerging as major research fields. Another major strategy of our group is to contribute to the development of this scientific field and provide relevant knowledge for ecosystem management in the arctic and alpine tundra regions, both locally and circumpolar. We will draw on our experience in integrative science in projects such as Ecosystem Finnmark, TUNDRA and LINKAGE to develop concepts, methods and answer research questions of relevance for society. Development of methods for mapping and monitoring of ecosystem services is an important part of this strategy. Policy-relevant research questions often require interdisciplinary research as well as involvement of users of the scientific knowledge produced. This strategy meets some of the challenges at the FRAM centre which aim at scientific excellence in interdisciplinary environmental research, including cooperation between ecology and social sciences. This strategy demands incentives for collaboration with other research groups at UiT.