Our understanding of sustainability is guided by the notion of regeneration. While sustainability is about minimising harm to people and planet, regenerative sustainability is based on the notion of creating thriving and flourishing living systems of humans and non-human species.
Strategy and Approach
Our vision is to actively contribute to a world in which digital technologies contribute to thriving social and natural communities and environments. We aim to do so through generating and actively sharing research-based knowledge that promotes radical rethinking of the status quo and changes mindsets. A key component of our approach is to develop systematic approaches to better understand and actively use normative futures to guide and shape future trajectories of technological change.
The research team is highly interdisciplinary, combining approaches and theories from, for example, futures studies, philosophy and ethics, design, informatics, and critical theory. Conceptual and theoretical work is combined with empirical and practice-based research in partnership with industry and civil society. Our activities are based on our core values – our “four C’s”, as shown below:
The Sustainability Lab is a research lab in which we engage with sustainability through workshops, events, and other research and practice-based activities. The Lab is a meeting place and research lab for all researchers and students working on sustainability issues at IFI. The Sustainability Lab has its own website, where we also present more details about our research projects.
Our projects
- The Materials Library for the Digital World project aims to establish a mobile library with materials used in digitalisation technologies, such as mobile phones, laptops, servers, sensors, etc. The library will make the materials inside these devices tangible and will enable a deeper understanding of the social and ecological worlds of these materials through online and offline resources and events. Participants in the project are Maja van der Velden, Andrea Gasparini, Siv Årsand, and Kari-Anne Lyng. This project is in cooperation with the University Library (UiO). We are actively seeking funding for the physical installation of the library.
- EMPOWER: Sustainable Batteries in Mobility - (Em)powering a Net-zero Energy Transition investigates the role of electric vehicle (EV) batteries in enabling a sustainable net-zero energy transition in Norway. EMPOWER is a convergence project funded by UiO:Energy and Sustainability and involves five departments at UiO. It is an interdisciplinary research project with a strong educational component. Participants are Maja van der Velden (work package leader), Arian Mahzouni (post-doc), and Kari-Anne Lyn (assoc. professor II).
Previous Projects
- In Circular Energy for a Sustainable Circular Economy (Circular Energy 2021-2023), a thematic research group financed by UiO:Energy and Environment, we investigated the role of design, maintenance, and repair in the conservation of digitalisation technologies.
- In Futuring Sustainable Nordic Business Models (Futuring Nordics, 2019 - 2023), a thematic research group financed by UiO:Norden, the Regenerative Technologies research group investigates how companies transition to sustainable business models.
- Sustainable Market Actors for Responsible Trade (SMART)