Ellinor Isgren
About Ellinor Isgren
I work as senior lecturer at the School of Global Studies, where I teach and supervise mainly within human ecology and global studies.
I am also a researcher at Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS), where I lead the research project "Mobilizing farmer organisations for sustainable agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa", financed by Formas. Since 2024 I am 'docent' (associate professor/reader) in Sustainability Science and supervise two PhD-candidates within the aforementioned project.
I have a PhD in Sustainability Science (LU) and a background in Environmental Science and Agricultural Science. My main research interest is the intersection of agriculture, development and sustainability, especially in smallholder contexts, and processes of social and political mobilization in rural areas. My research has mainly focused on sub-Saharan Africa, but currently I also participate in the project Just Transitions in Agri-Food Systems: Acceptance and Resistance to Actions for Sustainable Transformations in Rural Areas which investigates possibilities for just agri-food system transitions in the global North.
Together with Thomas Daum I serve as the curriculum director of the Bachelor's program Hållbar utveckling, samhällsförändring och klimatomställning (Sustainable development, social change and climate transition) as well as the department's courses within human ecology and global development studies, since 2024. As a teacher, I seek to guide students through the many complex issues that 'sustainable development' entails, and especially to help students to gain deeper understanding of the social drivers of environmental problems (and what, as a result, needs changing). In particular, I have taught on courses and components to do with rural development, agriculture and food security/sovereignty, and social movements. I also enjoy supervising students at all levels through the process of thesis research and writing.