Research Group on Climate, Environment and Change (REGROUP)

The Climate Research Group (REGROUP) is an interdisciplinary research group that focuses on the whole spectre of research within national and international climate politics and environmental governance at the Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen.

Climate people street crowd. Photo: Pexels — Photo: Pexels

REGROUP is the interdisciplinary hub for theorising and doing empirical research on green transitions at the Department of Political Science. REGROUP is first and foremost an intellectual space for the exchange of different ideas and research on climate and sustainability. To understand the challenges of ensuring effective, durable and legitimate climate and sustainable policies, REGROUP offers a platform to understand how the green transition operates at different scales than most other political problems.

To this end, the aim of REGROUP is to

organise monthly research seminars, and occasional thematic workshops exploring the conceptual, theoretical and methodological developments in research on political theory, comparative politics and international relations related to the green transition,
provide a platform for development of research applications, foster innovative research idea and initiate collaborative initiatives with external partners,
coordinate climate and sustainability teaching at the department,
enable public engagements in the climate and sustainability debate in society,
facilitate policy impact activities and outreach activities with relevant decision-makers and societal stakeholders, and
cooperate with research centres and initiatives such as Centre for Sustainability and Society (SUSY), Sustainability Science Centre and Green Solutions Centre at the University of Copenhagen as well as national and international academic partners.

Teaching

Our teaching in 2021:

ASTK18020U Core subject: Perspectives on sustainability

This course challenges students to think outside their normal disciplinary boundaries, and develop their skills in problem-oriented cross-disciplinary thinking. Through the lectures and the cross-disciplinary case-based group work the master students at this course learn to approach concrete problems and cases of sustainability. By seeking concrete solutions to such sustainability problems, the students develop skills, which are highly valued by relevant employers.
Course coordinator: Jens Villiam Hoff, e-mail: jh@ifs.ku.dk
ASTK18019U Core subject: The Politics of Environment and Climate
In nine intensive weeks, this masters’ core course will introduce, inform, and equip students for understanding and analysing the politics of the environment and climate change for the 21^st century. Masters’ students studying this course will become knowledgeable with both traditional and critical explanations for environmental and climate change in order to understand how and why the discipline of political science has to engage in deep adaptation.
Course coordinator: Jens Villiam Hoff, e-mail: jh@ifs.ku.dk
ASTK18246U Greenland at the crossroads: Climate change, Asian interest in the Arctic and developments in Greenland

This course will discuss scenarios for development in Greenland within the context of developments in the Arctic and of the relations between Greenland and Denmark by focusing on dynamics in three areas of drastic change: Continuing climate change, increasing Asian interests in the Arctic together with the resulting governance implications for Greenland.
Course coordinator: Uffe Jakobsen, e-mail: uj@ifs.ku.dk
ASTK18361U From paper to practice: the implementation challenges in the European Union environmental policy

This course will analyse the development and challenges in the implementation of environmental policy in the European Union. The main goal of this course is to untangle the complexities around the implementation challenges and the emerging governance instruments such as transnational networks, the role of European agencies and the “new environmental policy instruments”.
Course coordinator: Ana C Campera de Rezende Soares, e-mail: anasoares@ifs.ku.dk

Impact

Our ongoing events and activities:

Environmental Social Sciences: Challenges and Solutions for Sustainable Development is taking place at the Nuffield College of the University of Oxford, United Kingdom from Wednesday 28, 14:00, to Friday 30 July 2021, 13:15. The organisers are calling for abstracts from all social science disciplines and especially appreciate contributions from researchers in an early stage of their career. The aim is to harvest the synergies between the social sciences for fruitful interdisciplinary research that the solution of environmental problems demands.

Researchers

Name	Title	Job responsibilities
Search in Name	Search in Title	Search in Job responsibilities
Bertram, Caroline	PhD Fellow	European Union, trade policy, foreign policy, sustainability, sustainable development, international political economy, international organizations...
Betsill, Michele Merrill	Professor
Bueger, Christian	Professor	International relations, practice theory, ocean governance, maritime security, interpretive methods, informal governance, transnational organized c...
Campera de Rezende Soares, Ana C	PhD Fellow	European Administrative Networks; Implementation of EU's policies; EU Environmental policy; Regulatory governance; Europeanization
Corry, Olaf	Associate Professor	Climate change, climate politics, environmental politics, geo-engineering, global movements, international political theory, international relation...
Ejsing, Mads	Research Assistant	Political Theory, democratic theory, radical democracy, climate politics, New materialism
Hoff, Jens Villiam	Professor	Citizens, climate change, governance, ICT, local, participation, policies, political communication, stakeholders, sustainability
Jakobsen, Uffe	Associate Professor	Arctic, Greenland and Denmark-Greenland relations, Asian/Chinese interests in the Arctic/Greenland, conceptual history, climate change's impact on ...
Jensen, Ingrid Helene Brandt	PhD Fellow	Political theory, Democratic Theory, New materialism, Climate politics, Affect theory, Climate Citizens Assemblies
Mortensen, Jens Ladefoged	Associate Professor	EU external relations, international political economy, international trade
Toft, Maria	PhD Fellow	Actor Network Theory ANT, civil society, climate policy, governance, local, norms, participation, social (environmental) movements, sustainability
Tønder, Lars	Professor with special responsibilities	American politics, the Anthropocene, culture, democracy, free speech, multiculturalism, political philosophy, power, satire, tolerance
Wæver, Ole	Head of Centre, Professor	Climate change, conceptual history, conflict analysis, international relations, philosophy of science, religion/secularism, security theory, sociol...