Research school with systems perspectives on sustainability and justice

With over 90 PhD students and lecturers from 37 countries gathered at NG5, the 18th edition of the Bergen Summer Research School (BSRS) was kicked off by Vice-Rector for Research and International Relations Benedicte Carlsen.

“Pursuing a PhD is not solely about achieving results; it is also about reflection, experimentation, deep intellectual engagement, and undeniably, hard work. You have come to Bergen from diverse backgrounds but with a shared aspiration to contribute something original to the world of knowledge,” said Benedicte Carlsen.

“Used wisely, reflection and curiosity combined is a true superpower that can guide you forward. I encourage you to be ambitious, remain inquisitive, nurture your ideas—and challenge them."

"What you do here matters! The world needs researchers who think critically, collaborate efficiently, and act with integrity,” added the Vice-Rector.

Photo:

Thor Brødreskift / UiB

A year in the making

Scientific Director of BSRS 2025, Professor Birgit Kopainsky, has spent the past year planning this two-week meeting of young and seasoned researchers around this year’s focus on systems thinking, sustainability, and justice.

“BSRS is the only interdisciplinary PhD school in Norway — that is what we do, what we live, and what we force you to do. We will force you to embrace interdisciplinarity”, said Professor Kopainsky at the opening.

This year, participants will tackle challenges related to health financing, sustainable business practices and accounting, higher education, climate change, and health. In this process, they will also learn practical skills in systems thinking and creative problem-solving.

Climate and communication

The opening keynotes focused on climate and communication. Professor Emerita Kjersti Fløttum shared her findings on people's attitudes and motivation for action, and language preferences from the LINCLIM and CLIMLIFE projects.

“Climate change is in fact a global threat that has gone from being manly a geophysical phenomenon to becoming a societal, political, economic, ethical, cultural, and communicational challenge,” she said.

“I have followed the research school through various positions and tasks and find it perhaps the most important academic involvement of my career,” said Professor Fløttum in her keynote.

As Vice-Rector of UiB, Professor Fløttum was instrumental in creating BSRS in 2008, which now is an annual research school bringing together Bergen’s institutions of research and higher education.

Researcher Anne Blanchard discussed some of the challenges researchers face in narrative research, such the understanding of objectivity, how to approach rigour, uncertainty and transformation, and to be sensitive to the unspoken, withheld or ambiguous. She drew on her own research from the SeMPER-Arctic project.