The overall objective of the development of society locally and globally

Sustainable development research is a key issue for Uppsala’s two universities. Basic and applied research on e.g. education, landscape architecture, cultural geography, history, ethics, language and literature, economy, urban and rural development, medicine and science and technology related to sustainable development is currently being conducted throughout various disciplinary domains in Uppsala.

An important area within research on Sustainable Development is research on Education and Sustainable Development (ESD). The Department of Education conducts most of this research in curriculum studies. The research focus is to understand training, teaching and learning in relation to the educational content of sustainable development. Much of this didactic research is conducted in Studies of Meaning Making in Educational Discourses (SMED). At SWEDESD research and development activities are conducted in the same research area, and several of the Department's researchers and PhD students in Education is also active at SWEDESD.