Research School on Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction

The research school deals with sustainable development and poverty reduction in low-income countries, with a particular focus on aspects of governance, power, and inequality.

The school has two overarching objectives: (1) to contribute to high-quality and boundary-crossing doctoral research in the focus area; and (2) to strengthen collaboration and networks between the four partner universities and between individual doctoral students within and beyond these universities.

The school is organised as a partnership between the universities of Lund, Gothenburg and Uppsala, and the University of Ghana.

While the school is coordinated and administered by Lund University, a programme committee and an international advisory board will oversee its work.

The school will be open to doctoral students from the four partners but also from other universities and from any discipline.

The work program is structured in five activities: (a) jointly developed interdisciplinary doctoral courses, (b) a monthly research seminar, (c) policy dialogues with invited guests intended to bridge the gap between research and policy, (e) a mobility programme, and (e) other capacity-building and skills training activities.

Through its work, the school seeks to close a major gap in Swedish doctoral training.

So far, there has been a lack of both systematic knowledge and collaboration on issues related to governance, power and inequality within the overall context of the sustainable development goals.