Ioana Alexandra Duse

Leuphana University Lüneburg ·  Faculty of Sustainability

The fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has already had a wide-reaching impact the likes of which has not been seen in recent times is beyond dispute. COVID-19`s full negative economic, social, cultural and most importantly psychological effects are yet to be assessed. History is anything but short in documented data and information regarding the devastating effects and outcomes of the numerous pandemics which have plagued mankind in difficult times. Despite all the valuable lessons presumably learned over millennia, humankind continues to display important shortcomings when faced with such unfortunate phenomena, so that it can be safely assumed that it still has much to learn when it comes to dealing with regional or global pandemics. Several present and future key topics of research will have to focus on sustainability, resilience, cost cutting, enhanced public and private expenditures, better management of government spending, the general well-being of individuals and societies as well as proper access to healthy food. Consequently, rural development as a determining factor of overall human resilience to any pandemic threat is a legitimate topic of interest and research. In view of our proposed topic and new research project we take this opportunity to invite contributions from interested researchers/parties aiming at establishing a virtual repository/library dedicated to the effects of COVID-19 on Rural Development.

Understanding how changes in interconnected social-ecological systems facilitate the transformation to sustainability represents one of the key challenges of sustainability science. Drawing on insights from systems thinking and solution-oriented transdisciplinary research, this project will focus on hitherto under-recognized leverage points—system properties where a small shift can lead to fundamental changes in the system as a whole. Leverage Points will focus on changes in relatively intractable, but potentially highly influential, system properties that could help to realign complex social-ecological systems to the normative goals of sustainability. Specifically, we will analyze three sustainability-relevant leverage points: (1) institutional dynamics (RESTRUCTURE); (2) human-environment interactions (RECONNECT); and (3) sustainability-related knowledge creation (RETHINK). The three leverage points will be studied individually and with regard to their interdependencies. Following in-depth conceptual work on the three leverage points, the project will conduct empirical research on two contrasting case study regions (Transylvania in Romania and Lower Saxony in Germany), focusing on two key themes of particular relevance to sustainability (food and energy). We will link the conceptual and empirical insights via two integrative and transdisciplinary place-based case studies (one in each study region) involving local stakeholders and decision-makers. Our genuinely inter- and transdisciplinary approach will contribute fundamental understanding to the field of sustainability science, and will identify new, concrete measures to improve sustainability outcomes. The project is funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung, via the “Science for sustainable development” call, and is hosted by Leuphana University Lüneburg. https://leveragepoints.org/