Nordic Post-Graduate Sustainable Design and Engineering Research from a Supervisor Perspective

The multi- and interdisciplinary field of sustainable product innovation is rapidly expanding as an arena for scientific research. Universities in Nordic countries can be considered as an exponent of this type of research, with active research groups in, among others, Göteborg, Helsinki, Lund, Lyngby, Linköping and Trondheim. In the context of a Nordforsk funded project, seven second generation PhD supervisors from these universities, who have been active in this field for many years, discuss funding, publication, research traditions, education and supervision practices related to PhD research in this field. A number of recommendations to improve current practices are made, including the mapping currently existing differences in different academic institutions, studying the cross-over learning effects between academica and non-academic partners, and the development of ‘quality indicators’ of research in the SPI domain.