Multi-level Governance of Sustainable Development
Our research explores how governance operates across levels (local, national, regional, and global) to address complex sustainable development challenges. A central concern is the politics of measurement and the influence of governance indicators on policy and institutional behaviour. We examine how power, funding, and institutional design shape the production and use of data (often in the use case of sustainable development policy), with particular attention to the political economy of governance indices and development indicators. This area of our work highlights the risks and promises inherent in data-driven governance and offers critical insights into how metrics (be they of state capacity, gender equity, or the SDGs) are institutionalised and operationalised. We also analyse the role of the European Union as a global governance actor, assessing its evolving regulatory influence through empirical data, comparative frameworks, and policy foresight. Through our long-standing data platform GlobalStat, collaborations such as TRIGGER and FEMETRICS, and deep-dive publications such as the Palgrave Handbook on Indicators in Global Governance, we aim to study and contribute to more transparent and effective models of governance for sustainable development.
Our research explores how governance operates across levels (local, national, regional, and global) to address complex sustainable development challenges. A central concern is the politics of measurement and the influence of governance indicators on policy and institutional behaviour. We examine how power, funding, and institutional design shape the production and use of data (often in the use case of sustainable development policy), with particular attention to the political economy of governance indices and development indicators. This area of our work highlights the risks and promises inherent in data-driven governance and offers critical insights into how metrics (be they of state capacity, gender equity, or the SDGs) are institutionalised and operationalised. We also analyse the role of the European Union as a global governance actor, assessing its evolving regulatory influence through empirical data, comparative frameworks, and policy foresight. Through our long-standing data platform GlobalStat, collaborations such as TRIGGER and FEMETRICS, and deep-dive publications such as the Palgrave Handbook on Indicators in Global Governance, we aim to study and contribute to more transparent and effective models of governance for sustainable development.
Science for Policy and Evidence-Informed Policy
We investigate the processes, use, and limits of scientific evidence and data in policy processes, with a focus on the intersection between knowledge production, data literacy, and institutional design. Our work includes developing and curating large-scale datasets (namely on governance indicators, on sustainable development indices, and on wellbeing measures), visualisation tools, and infographics to bring robust, reliable information to targeted audiences via tailored materials. The dataset on governance indicators has been used by researchers in civil society organisations seeking to make evidence-informed decisions on grant-making to strengthen state capacity for development policy. Our long-term collaborations with the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) and the Data for Policy community focus on strengthening the infrastructure of evidence-informed governance. In parallel, we critically interrogate the ethical and political dimensions of datafication. Our research aims to enhance the tools and practices used for evidence in public decision-making, while also promoting a reflective understanding of the power dynamics involved in defining, producing, and utilizing evidence.
Foresight
The foresight research within our group aims to strengthen anticipatory governance through horizon scanning, knowledge co-production, and interdisciplinary reflection. We study how institutions make sense of uncertainty and develop capacities for navigating complex, long-term challenges. This includes contributing to the European Commission’s foresight work via the ESPAS initiative, running strategic foresight exercises at the Institute for European Politics (IEP), as well as fostering critical, interdisciplinary work on the (changing) authority of expertise through our leadership of the interdisciplinary research cluster Expert Knowledge and Authority in Transformative Times. Across these initiatives, we aim to strengthen the processes by which signals of change are detected, how futures are imagined, and how institutions respond to emerging socio-political and technological developments.
Education
Education
Our members’ work on education takes two principal strands: education practice, and the educational lens of societal learning for systems change. In our education practice, we foster interdisciplinary learning at the interface of research and policy. This includes the Applied Data Science for Social Research working group, the FEMETRICS Lab connecting global and early-stage researchers, data literacy trainings developed for the United Nations System Staff College, and developing resources (infographics, platforms, Policy Puzzles, and handbooks) that bridge knowledge and practice with specific, diverse audiences. Our attention to societal learning manifests in our ongoing study of how societies understand complex issues, relate to their institutions and to each other to govern them, and co-develop structures that aim to effect transformations at a systemic level.
Socio-Ecological Relations, Communities, and Governance
Socio-Ecological Relations, Communities, and Governance
We are interested in the interdependence of ecological systems, social structures, and governance processes. Some of our members study how communities manage natural resources under conditions of scarcity, particularly in the Global South, and how these practices intersect with formal governance frameworks. Our work emphasises the embeddedness of environmental governance in historical, cultural, and institutional contexts, seeking to inform more just and resilient approaches to managing shared resources. At the same time, we engage with questions of wellbeing and public health as expressions of socio-ecological balance, exploring how local communities conceptualise and pursue sustainable living. Initiatives such as the Siena Youth Council put into practice participatory governance models that foreground local actors in shaping their city. Across these lines of inquiry, we aim to investigate the relational dimensions of sustainability, emphasising the role of agency, community knowledge, and institutional innovation.