Skip to ContentSkip to Navigation
Rudolf Agricola School for Sustainable Development
Bringing sustainability science forward
Rudolf Agricola School Research SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPES & REGIONS

Networks & Sustainability

Sustainability is inherently a multidimensional concept considering how humans and ecosystems can co-exist, within planetary limits, for both the present and future generations. In a general sense, sustainability translates into developing and perpetuating human/social practices that are in alignment with the preservation of  ecosystems. Increasingly, however, sustainability also encompasses an awareness of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by members of the UN in 2015.

Our research cluster of Groningen-based scholars approaches the concept of sustainability via the use of a variety of network tools and approaches. We operate under the premise of co-creation, i.e. that each of us has a unique perspective on the phenomena of sustainability and networks, and that via processes of mutual respect and increased understanding, we can arrive at deeper, more holistic view of what constitutes sustainability from a network perspective. 

Our range of skills stems from the multidisciplinary nature of our group, with members coming from the fields of Communication & Journalism, Economics, Economic Geography, Education, Human Geography, International Relations, Media, Science & Engineering, Economics & Finance, Social Complexity, Social Psychology, and Sociology. Despite these disciplinary differences, we share commonalities in our theoretical approaches and network-based methodological toolkits, as well as our concern for improving our understanding of the links between networks and sustainability. 

Our list of members is found below. Please feel free to reach out to any of us if you have any questions or would like to join our group.

Members & Examples Their Individual Research
  • Dr. Milad Abassiharofteh: Mapping and investigating regions' and firms' trajectories towards green and digital transitions based on firms' web text data.

  • Dr. Marc Esteve del Valle (Co-coordinator):  combining the methods of network science and computational social science with theories of communication studies to investigate digital environmental networks. 

  • Dr. Incenz Frey: Researching how people form beliefs about others in social networks and how these beliefs affect their own behavior, including sustainability related behavior.

  • Dr. Wander Jager: Simulating opinion dynamics in communities related to projects addressing sustainability issues.

  • Jeong Han Lee: Investigating the media discourse surrounding the EU's four pillars of decarbonisation: Energy Efficiency, Electrification, Low Carbon Fuels, and Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS). Using Discourse Network Analysis, I am exploring how central actors shape coalitions across these pillars and identify the most contentious areas, revealing key challenges and opportunities in the EU’s decarbonisation efforts.

  • Prof. Dr. art Los: Evaluating to what extent SDGs related to global GHG-emission reductions and SDGs related to improving standards of living in poor countries can be reasonably pursued simultaneously, using world input-output tables and associated methods. 

  • Nuccio Ludovico: Investigating how individuals and organizational actors shape their and collective knowledge concerning sustainability-related phenomena within digital environments, combining network modeling methods with Natural Language Processing techniques.

  • Dr. Cristina Pinna: assessing the challenges and potential of geopolitical rivalries and international relations for the advancement of sustainable development. Focus on the role of China and the EU-China strategic partnership especially in the green-tech area.

  • Dr. Christina Prell (Co-coordinator):  Researching how social/human networks, at different scales, operate as drivers of climate change and environmental degradation as well as supporting sustainable, adaptive solutions to environmental problems.

  • Dr. Franco Ruzzenenti: Modeling the carbon emission of supply chain based on enterprise-level data and data-scraping techniques

  • Dr. Daniella Vos: Joining forces with plants for urban resilience: the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration and interspecies interaction for climate adaptation in cities.

  • Prof. Klaus Hubacek, professor in Science, Technology and Society. His research focus is on conceptualizing and modeling the interactions between human and environmental systems. He has published over 200 research articles in peer-reviewed journals on topics such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, participatory modeling, management of ecosystems services, land use change and governance.
  • Dennis Nientimp, combining survey research with social network analysis and simulations to understand and increase participation in the energy transition, to enable a just and successful energy transition and provide policy advice.
Contact

Christina Prell (Faculty of Spatial Sciences)

Marc Esteve Del Valle (Faculty of Arts)

Last modified:05 December 2024 11.19 a.m.