Earlier newsletters

GSC Conference - October 9th, 2023

At the conference, the interdisciplinary thematic solutions will present how their thematic solutions can contribute to the green transition, share their experiences on interdisciplinary collaboration and discuss the development of solutions and the visions for their respective themes.

Please encourage your young research group members – PhD students and Post Docs – to sign up

Living Lab

The first student research article is now published

Author: Lukas Mikelionis, MSc CS at UCPH
Main supervisor: Daniel Hershcovich, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor at CS, UCPH

Lukas Mikelionis is one of the five students who received a grant from "Our plant-based future", and his research article is now published. Lukas's project, "Structured Argument Mining in Persuasive Online Articles on Sustainable diets", employed Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods in order to analyse texts on plant-based diets to discover reasons for or against transitioning to a more plant-based diet.

GSC PhD course 

PhD Course: 28-11-2023 & 29-11-2023

Development of an GSC PhD course is underway.

The main aim of the course is to exchange different disciplinary perspectives on green research and thereby make the participants' suggested solutions more robust, comprehensive, and refined.

The course will enable PhD students to better contextualize their research projects within larger societal and scientific debates and agendas, thereby enhancing the impact of the research.

The course will consist of inspirational presentations by course instructors and discussions of course readings. The course will be announced through the PhD Schools of all faculties.

Please be sure to inform your PhD students.

GSC events since the last update

15-18/06/2023

Folkemødet på Bornholm, 2023

GSC had a successful presence at Folkemødet on Bornholm in June, with two engaging debates and around 80-100 people attending each debate.

The two debates were "Kampen om naturen – hvad er problemerne og løsninger?" and "Udtagning af lavbundsjorde – er en jordreform nødvendig?"

2024 Horizon Europe collaborative work programs

In collaboration with the UCPH EU pre-award team, GSC has arranged priming of 5 topics in the 2024 Horizon Europe collaborative work programs - with more than 60 attending researchers from the University of Copenhagen.

Summaries of the topics were compiled and provided to relevant Thematic Solutions mailing lists. The targeted information was followed by  ZOOM sessions with the analysis of topics selected by participants.

Do you also want to receive the topic collections? And do you want to be sure not to miss this opportunity in the future? Then contact and/or sign up for the relevant GSC thematic solution groups mailing list by contacting us at GSC@ku.dk.

GSC Conference on October 9th

On October 9th, the GSC management will host a conference on Thematic Solutions. All GSC Thematic Solutions and UCPH Green Networks have been invited to present and discuss their developments and visions. The conference is a one-day event featuring plenary inspirational talks as well as parallel sessions hosted by GSC Thematic Solutions or Green Networks (presentations will be followed by questions from appointed commentators).

Keep an eye out for your invitation, which will be sent out in late spring.

Living Labs: 

Our plant-based future

Our living lab focused on the transition to a plant-based future, now has its own webpage.
Here you can find more information about the lab and the latest activities. Feel free to use the webpage as a "business card" if you want to show or tell stakeholders about the lab. 

The "our plant-based future" Living Lab has already funded 4 student projects within a wide variety of topics.

The management group: Nanna Viereck (SCI), Christian Bugge Henriksen (SCI), Frank Sejersen (HUM), Anders Blok (SAMF), Jakob Berg Bredahl (Student) and Mette Frimodt-Møller (GSC – lab manager).

Green solutions to an urban transition

The second Living Lab will soon be a reality. The lab topic is "Urban Green Transition", and it will focus on 3 themes; Nature-based solutions, Digital infrastructure, and Post-industrial development.
The lab will be based in Nordhavn as an embedded and interconnected site for exploring themes and/or specific cases. We hope that many of you will engage and get involved once the lab is up and running.

The lab has been developed through input from a string of meetings, including a field trip to Nordhavn in August, an ideation meeting in November and the final Living Lab design meeting on March 16.

Upcoming GSC Events:

GSC will facilitate two debates at Folkemødet on Bornholm this summer:

1. Kampen om naturen - hvad er de primære problemer, og hvordan løser vi dem? - Thursday June 15th at 11:00-11:50 in the KU tent.

2. Udtagning af lavbundsjorde - er en jordreform nødvendig? - Saturday June 17th 14:00 - 14:50 in the KU tent.

Priming of Horizon Europe 2024 collaborative work programs

In collaboration with the UCPH EU pre-award team, GSC will again offer targeted information and priming sessions this spring - now on topics in the six Horizon Europe 2024 collaborative work programs.

The UCPH EU pre-award team will compile relevant topics for the GSC Thematic Solutions. During ZOOM sessions, selected topics will be analyzed, and you can ask all your questions. There are topics with interest for SSH under all areas.

GSC events since the last update:

The Workshop: "Cross disciplinarity for the green transition goals 2030+"

The workshop was attended by researchers and focused on the challenges that can arise when collaborating with other disciplines - differences in thinking, methodology, terminology, culture, expertise and agency. 

Participants were introduced to the research-based tool "CoNavigator" and thereby learned to better navigate and negotiate the dilemmas and obstacles that arise when themes are addressed from different scientific angles.                                           

GSC has bought two sets of Navigator tools that you can borrow – please write to GSC@ku.dk for more information.

The thematic solution "Reduced emission from agricultural soils" as sparring partners

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark has established a national expert group to prepare recommendations for the rewetting of carbon-rich farmed wetlands.

Jørgen Primdahl (SCIENCE – Geovidenskab og Naturforvaltning) and Jakob Vesterlund Olsen (SCIENCE – Fødevare- og Ressourceøkonomi) are members of the group.

They meet regularly with the REAS group to ensure cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer from the GSC Thematic Solution "Reduced emission from agricultural soils" to the members of the national expert group.

The Life long course (Efteruddannelse) for high school teachers, "Sustainability and green transition"

The first module had two themes. "The fight over nature" was taught by Stine Krøijer (SAMF), Stig Jensen (TEOL) and Hans Henrik Bruun (SCIENCE), and the second theme "What can and must society be responsible for?" was taught by Jens Friis Lund (SCIENCE), Signe Brieghel (HUM) and Anders Blok (SAMF).

The first module was very well received by the high school teachers. 

The thematic solution "Forestry solutions to a green transition" workshop

The government has announced an ambitious forest plan, which must ensure synergy and balance between the many purposes of new forests.

Participants from across UCPH met and discussed "Forestry solutions to a green transition" and decided to have a planning group for additional network meetings.

Related green initiatives:

The Transformation Labs - Fast-tracking Research for Societal Transformation

The lab was launched on February 17th at a kick-off event, which hosted more than 120 people from various fields and disciplines, and from all continents.

We are now in the working stage of Transformation Labs. At this stage, research ideas that are ready to be implemented broadly (or close to being ready) will be identified through three discussion events.

We need your ideas and innovative thinking to create the most comprehensive catalogue of ideas to fast-track a global green transition. So, please contact us if you have ideas that you would like to share or you would like to see upscaled under one of the six entry points in the 2019 UN Global Sustainable Development Report: 1) Human well-being and capacities 2) Sustainable and just economies 3) Sustainable food systems and healthy nutrition 4) Energy decarbonization with universal access 5) Urban and peri-urban development 6) Global environmental commons.

You can still be onboarded for rounds 2 and 3 on April 13th and May 25th. Read more at here or sign up via transformationlabs@ku.dk.

START – Centre for Sustainable Agrifood System

UCPH Scientists have already joined the Danish university cooperation START – however, there is room for more engaging minds.

START is a research-driven collaboration platform that enables crucial knowledge-sharing across Danish universities. The program allows researchers to engage in national partnerships and interdisciplinary collaboration across all sciences disciplines, such as natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and the humanities.

All researchers are invited to join START Research HUBs. The HUBs can be compared to Green Solutions Centre's Thematic Solutions with overlapping themes such as Biodiversity, Health aspects, Agrifood systems etc.

So sign up for START HUB if you want to get involved and expand your network across Danish universities, or contact UCPH START coordinator Kristine E. Arendt (kea@science.ku.dk).

Thematic solutions strategic workshop

In 2023, the GSC management will host a strategic workshop, where the thematic solutions (TS) groups will present how their area can contribute to the green transition and 2030+ goals. The UCPH management and students will then challenge the presented ideas as opponents. The groups may begin to prepare holistic ideas to present on this workshop. Reach out to the relevant TS main author if you want to be part of a TS presenting a holistic solution for the strategic workshop. Please reach out to the GSC secretariat if you need help arranging TS meetings to prepare for the Strategic Workshop.

Living Lab: Our plant-based future

We have launched our “funding for student projects” where students can apply for funding for cross-disciplinary student projects - all kinds of ECTS projects and reports relevant for the transition to a more plant-based food system. Funding (5-15.000 kr per student) can be used for materials, analysis, rental of equipment, consumer-oriented tasks etc., but cannot be used for salary or travel.

An initiative for pilot projects relevant for the plant-based food transition will soon be launched. The aim of the tool is to start up development and tests of new plant based solutions (technical, products, ideas, concepts). Projects must be developed and carried out in a cross disciplinary setting and with end-user involvement.

Lifelong Learning (Efteruddannelse) for high school teachers: “Sustainability and green transition”

The course “Sustainability and green transition” for high-school teachers has been developed in collaboration with the high school organization “Gymnasiefællesskabet” and SCIENCE Live Long Learning. The course will run over six days in 2023, each day with a new theme:1) The fight over nature 2) What can and must society be responsible for? 3) Climate shame and climate grief 4) Climate and bigger cities 5) Art and sustainability 6) Food of the future. UCPH researchers from 3 different faculties will teach on each of these themes together. All UCPH Faculties are participating to fulfill the teaching obligations. 

Upcoming GSC events  – (Events – University of Copenhagen (ku.dk))

Workshop: “Cross disciplinarity for the green transition goals 2030+” on 6 December,2023: The workshop is for researchers and will focus on some of the challenges that arise when collaborating with other disciplines - differences in thinking, methodology, terminology, culture, expertise and agency. Participants will be introduced to the research based tool “CoNavigator” and thereby learn to better navigate and negotiate the dilemmas and obstacles that arise when themes are addressed from different scientific angles. There is a limit of 40 participants – the course will be repeated if more people are interested in participating.

GSC events since last update

The event “Exploring, widening and contributing to the green transition” was aimed at expanding the focus to social sciences and the humanities, when looking for solutions for the green transition.  The Thematic Solution “Urban Solutions to Green Transitions” that arranged a bike tripin Nordhavn was/will be followed up by a cross disciplinary discussion. 

In collaboration with Food and Bio Cluster Denmark (FBCD) GSC hosted a webinar on plant-based food. The webinar focused on challenges and opportunities in the transition to a more plant-based food system, from a social science and humanity perspective. 

 GSC hosted the session “Green solutions for Agri-food Climate Targets – a digital perspective” on Digital Tech Summit. 

The GSC Thematic Solution “Urban Solutions to a green transition” invited for an Ideation meeting on 18 November 2023. All UCPH researchers were invited to participate in this network on urban green solutions and debate potential practices for and activities in "living labs" on urban green solutions.

Announcement of other green initiatives

UCPH funding for integration of climate in educational activities: As part of the UCPH Strategy 2023 funding has been allocated to teaching staff who would like to integrate climate and sustainability challenges into educational activities in new ways. Deadline for applications is 31 January 2023. “Apply for funding to integrate climate and sustainability issues in educational activities”  

Four missions for the humanities’ contribution to the green transition: The deans at the humanities faculties and research environments in Denmark (KU, AU, AAU, SDU, RUC, CBS) have jointly formulated 4 missions for the humanities’ contribution to the green transition. The four missions express overall and unifying objectives for a broad field of diverse green research projects.

GSC on LinkedIn

GSC wants to show the world that UCPH is an important player in the green transition, which is why we are also active on LinkedIn with the GSC LinkedIn profile. Please follow us and share GSC posts on your own profile – we will appreciate a tag. This will help us bring more awareness to the very important green agenda.

This is an update on the latest GSC activities or GSC-related activities since our last update in October 2021. All UCPH employees can subscribe to the email by writing to GSC@ku.dk 

GSC phase 2

GSC has now entered a new phase. In 2021 GSC focus was on 1) The kick off workshop 2) Contributing to the IFD Innomission Roadmaps and national Partnerships 3) Preparing suggestions for 2023 missions to the government and 4) Defining a GSC organisation.

GSC phase 2 will use the 20+ interdisciplinary thematic solutions as basis for knowledge exchange and co-creation at IDEATION meetings. Furthermore, we will establish LIVING LABS that will provide the basis for inviting end-users, including students, for  knowledge exchange and co-creation that can lead to green and sustainable solutions.

SCIENCE has allocated funding for a secretariat that will initiate and facilitate the activities. GSC coordinator Solveig Krogh Christiansen will serve as the head of the secretariat.

GSC homepage

It is with great pleasure that we can introduce you to the new GSC homepage greensolutions.ku.dk. Please visit and distribute the link to your network.

Thematic Solutions Revision

In the past months, we have updated the thematic solutions that comprise the scientific foundation of GSC and were initiated at the kick off workshop. The main authors were asked to give feedback on merging, closing or changing the title of their themes and we have called for new thematic solutions that were not covered by the themes from the workshop. The updated list is now available on the new GSC homepage. 

 The GSC secretariat will now reach out to the main authors to offer support for IDEATION meetings. 

If you are interested and would like to join one or more of the Thematic Solutions, please contact GSC@ku.dk or the relevant main author of a solution (see contact data at the homepage). IDEATION meetings will be announced in upcoming update mails and at the homepage.  

GSC outreach

The GSC coordination group and researchers across UCPH are presently visiting a number of ministries to present GSC and to offer future sparring on research politics that could lead to new societal missions. So far, GSC has visited:

• Ministry of Climate, Energy and Utilities
• Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries
• Ministry of Environment

We are receiving good response from the ministries and have plans for visits to:

• Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs
• Ministry of Higher Education and Science

The 28 original GSC Thematic Solutions that served as basis for the breakout sessions at the Green Solutions Centre (GSC) kick off workshop in February have been up for revision. The Main Authors have been asked to give feedback on the need for merging, shut down or change of title. The revised list of GSC Thematic Solutions is available below this mail and will be available with descriptions at the very soon upcoming GSC homepage.    

This mail is a follow up on the revision of the original Thematic Solutions: You will have a chance to define Thematic Solutions that are not already covered by the Thematic Solutions resulting from the revision process . 

A GSC Thematic Solution is defined by

• Having the potential for providing a green solution (short/long term)
• Being a UCPH cross disciplinary research theme and by pointing upon a potential funding application

 A GSC Thematic Solution can get support from the GSC secretariat for running cross disciplinary UCPH network activities. This could be arranging Ideation meetings across UCPH with the purpose of mutual inspiration and possible identification of potential partners for applications.

 The suggestion and description (Aim 2-3 lines and Description 5-20 lines) should be send to GSC@ku.dk before January 27. 

Please do not hesitate to reach out if you are interested in learning more or the above is unclear.

GSC Missions 2022-2023: One pager illustrations that you are encouraged to use

GSC contributed with suggestions for Green Transition Missions for 2022-2023 to be used in the negotiations for the Danish Finance Act 2022. We created six one pager illustrations that can be used to present the ideas and for lobbying. Please find the six one pager illustrations (in Danish) – as well as the six pages together in one folder.

1. Plantebaseret fødevareproduktion
2. Klima og byer
3. Bæredygtig adfærd
4. Biodiversitet til lands og vands
5. Fangst, anvendelse og lagring af CO2
6. Bæredygtig husdyrproduktion 

You can request printed folders for lobbying or other purposes by writing to GSC@ku.dk

The Innomission partnership process 

UCPH participates in the Innomission partnership process for all four missions and with a very tight schedule as the Innovation Foundation Denmark (IFD) deadline is October 16^th. There are multiple stakeholders and contributors in all four. A few words about the four partnership processes:

1. Capture and storage or use of CO2: UCPH contribution is led by Claus Beier, IGN, SCIENCE. 

All seven Danish universities, GTSs, energy cluster Denmark and several companies are working on a partnership based on both of the roadmaps selected by IFD. IFD has clarified that development of new green fuels belong to InnoMission2, while non-fuel utilisation still belongs to IM1

2. Green fuels for transport and industry (Power-to-X, etc): UCPH contribution is led by Pernille Harris, CHEM, SCIENCE IM2: There has been extensive discussion on the level of TRL (Technology Readiness Level) and the balance between 2030 and 2050 goals. Governance is not finally decided – industry prefers Energy Cluster Denmark (ECD) as host whereas universities have suggested Dansk Center for Energilagring (DaCES).  

3. Climate- and environment-friendly agriculture and food production: UCPH contribution is led by Svend Christensen, PLEN SCIENCE. The roadmap with UCPH participation AgriFoodTure was chosen by IFD to be the basis for a partnership. The partnership is very broad and if IFD grants the application, some parts of the roadmap will be addressed in terms of granted projects in 2022. Additional projects will be established during 2022, allowing more projects to be funded. The partnership has very broad participation at UCPH. 

4. Circular economy with a focus on plastics and textiles: UCPH contribution is led by Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, IFRO, SCIENCE. The partnership is discussing the balance between plastics and textiles. A number of projects have been chosen for pool 1 and UCPH are represented in several of these. Governance is thought to be taken care of by establishing a new association.

The Plant Based Food Production workshop

Collaboration across the food value chain is the key for achieving our vision of making Denmark a global leader in plant-based food production and contributing to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. That was one of the key messages at the Kick-off workshop for the Partnership for Plant-based Food Production organized by the Green Solutions Centre at the University of Copenhagen, in collaboration with SEGES and Food & Bio Cluster Denmark.

The workshop brought together more than 200 key stakeholders.The participants represented 53 private companies, 7 industry organizations, 7 NGOs, 11 research and education institutions, 3 funding agencies, 2 public institutions, and 1 political party, including also large corporations as Carlsberg, Chr. Hansen, Novozymes, Arla and Danish Crown, and industry organizations Dansk Industri, Dansk Erhverv, Dansk Gartneri and Plantebranchen.

A conceptual model for developing the plant-based value chain for both whole foods, processed foods and hybrid foods was presented at the workshop. Based on the output from the Kick-off workshop a catalogue of ideas is being developed to support the further development of the Partnership for Plant-based Food Production.

Climate Research Symposium

“Nationalt center for klimaforskning (NCKF)” is inviting for a climate research symposium on October 25, 2021 in Helsingør. The symposium is targeted researchers and collaborators and focus will be on how to share and develop climate research.

Green Solutions Centre – phase two

SCIENCE has allocated financial support for GSC over the next years. A secretariat will be established that together with the GSC support group will support and implement activities with cross going UCPH interest as decided by the GSC steering and coordination group.

GSC will focus on raising external funds by building upon the advantage  interdisciplinary sparring and collaboration, leading to durable green solutions.

Many more activities are on the schedule, ideation meetings, living labs and priming meetings. To address the students’ wish to obtain action competences within the green transition, interdisciplinary activities within the education area will be included. Revising the 28 Thematic Solutions defined prior to the GSC workshop in February will be a top priority as well. Thematic Solutions will – according to the main author’s recommendations - be merged or discontinued and new Thematic Solutions are waiting to be initiated.

UCPH Funding for interdisciplinary research network on climate and sustainability

Both rounds of calls for funding for UCPH interdisciplinary research network on climate change and sustainability have been finalized. Please find attached an overview of cross-disciplinary UCPH networks, which will be initiated. 

Innomission Roadmaps and partnerships

UCPH has contributed to roadmaps for all four Missions in the government strategy “Green Solutions for the Future” which were submitted to the Innovation Fund Denmark in May. Please find the roadmaps attached. The call for Innomission partnerships is expected around August 18^th 2021.

1. Mission 1 - Capture and storage or use of CO2: UCPH is lead on the CCUS roadmap “Towards a fossil free future”. Please contact Claus Beier, IGN, SCIENCE (cbe@ign.ku.dk ) for information about potential partnership.
2. Mission 2 - Green fuels for transport and industry (Power-to-X). UCPH has contributed to “Roadmap for green fuels in transport and industry”. Please contact Pernille Harris, CHEM, SCIENCE (phharris@chem.ku.dk ) for information about potential partnership.
3. Mission 3 - Climate- and environment-friendly agriculture and food production. UCPH has been co-lead in the roadmap “AgriFoodTure – A roadmap for sustainable transformation of the Danish Agro-Food System”. Please contact Svend Christensen, PLEN, SCIENCE (svc@plen.ku.dk) for information about potential partnerships
4. Mission 4 - Circular economy with a focus on plastics and textiles. UCPH has contributed to the roadmap “Circular Economy with a focus on plastics and textiles”. Please contact Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, IFRO, SCIENCE (bjt@ifro.ku.dk ) for information about potential partnership.

 Workshop on Plant Based Food Production

A workshop on Plant Based Food Production is organized by GSC and in close collaboration with SEGES and Food & Bio Cluster Denmark. The workshop is held at Nyborg Strand on August 17, 2021

Background: More and more consumers are becoming aware of the climate and health benefits of a plant-rich diet and the global demand for plant-based food is increasing dramatically. The vision of the workshop for Plant-based Food Production is to harness this momentum and make Denmark a global leader on plant-based food production. 

GSC mailing list

Until now, the GSC update mails have been sent to the 300 participants in the GSC workshop. Via the Faculties newsletters GSC will after summer reach out to and invite broadly at UCPH to sign up for receiving GSC update mails – this can be done by writing to GSC@ku.dk .

UCPH Funding for interdisciplinary research network on climate and sustainability - Second round

This is to remind you about the second call round for funding to establish interdisciplinary UCPH networks – deadline is May 19^th. 

 GSC Thematic Solutions activities

As also indicated in the previous GSC update mail below: If you would like to have support for activities in the Thematic Solutions – whether you are a Main Author or not – please come forward and we will arrange help for you.   

Innomission Roadmap process

UCPH contributes to roadmaps for all four Missions and with a very tight schedule and a deadline for the Innovation Fund Denmark of May 12^th. There are multiple stakeholders and contributors in all four. Short about the four innomissions and roadmaps:

1. Capture and storage or use of CO2: UCPH contributes in two roadmaps – One with focus on big point sources and geological storage led by DTU and GEUS, and one with focus on green CCUS initiated by AU and UCPH. UCPH contribution is led by Claus Beier, IGN, SCIENCE
2. Green fuels for transport and industry (Power-to-X, etc): UCPH contributes to one roadmap led by Dansk Center for Energilagring (DaCES) where COWI leads the writing process. UCPH contribution is led by Pernille Harris, CHEM, SCIENCE
3. Climate- and environment-friendly agriculture and food production: UCPH contributes to one roadmap with 5 sub roadmaps; Animal production, Plant-based production, land use, bio-tech and cross-cutting issues. On the roadmaps are AU, KU, SEGES and DTU. UCPH contribution is led by Svend Christensen, PLEN SCIENCE
4. Circular economy with a focus on plastics and textiles: UCPH contributes to one roadmap with a subroadmap plastic and one for textiles and led by SDU. UCPH contribution is led by Bo Jellesmark Thorsen, IFRO, SCIENCE

 Green Missions for 2022-2023

UCPH has along with other Danish actors been invited by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science to recommend Green Transition Missions for 2022-2023 to be used in the negotiations for the Danish Finance Act 2022, including the distribution of the ‘Forskningsreserven’. GSC and the Sustainability SCIENCE Center were asked to provide suggestion for input from KU. Please find enclosed the KU recommendations which was sent to the Ministry of Higher Education and Science (UFM) this week.