VR application

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Another week, another research application. The two applications that were handed in to Riksbankens Jubileumsfond (RJ) in the beginning of February resulted in one new application being handed in to Vetenskapsrådet (VR, The Swedish Research Council) yesterday. We encountered some problems in the other application and decided to postpone it.

The application that was handed in is (still/again) called "Cities of sharing and the growth of postconsumerist cultures" (see previous blog post with some info about the application). The extremely concise RJ application has now been expanded, but it's the same project idea. The project/application is led by Karin Bradley, and the largest difference this time around is that we have recruited a third person to work in the project, Jörgen Larssson.

Jörgen presented his Ph.D. thesis this past Friday (!) at the Department of Sociology at Gothenburg University. His thesis is called "Studier i tidsmässig välfärd - med fokus på tidsstrategier för småbarnsfamiljer [Studies in Temporal Welfare - focusing on Time Strategies and Time Politics for Families with Small Chilren] (abstract in English). Jörgen has an MBA in business administration and his research interests pertain to time, sustainability and downshifting (working less, living on a lower material level) - i.e. environmental sociology, sociology of consumption, sociology of time and work-life balance. For more info, see his private/professional webpage with lots of further information.

Another change is that we have recruited a reference group for the project, consisting of four distinguished professors:

- Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology at Boston College, PhD in Economics, whose research deals with consumerist culture, socioecological impacts, work time and economic organization. She is currently working on a project on sharing, environmental sustainability and consumption - hence having synergies with our project.

- Jeffrey Hou, Associate Professor in Landscape Architecture, University of Washington, whose work focuses on spatial activism, Do-It-Yourself-urbanism and engagement of marginalized communities in the making of place.

- Håkan Thörn, Professor of Sociology, Gothenburg University, researching social movements and currently leading projects on environmental movements in a globalized world and urban protest movements - to which this project will be linked (published books).

- Michele Micheletti, Professor of Political Science, Stockholm University, whose current research deals with political consumerism, collective action and sustainable citizenship.

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