Sustainable Future Hub
Sustainable Future Hub is a collaboration hub for students, researchers and external actors focusing on economic and social sustainability. Sustainable Future Hub catalyzes projects and collaborations where different actors can work together to drive development in the area of sustainability.
News and events on sustainability

Ester Barinaga new comissioner in Malmö's Tillväxtkommissionen
Ester Barianga, Professor of Social Entrepreneurship at Lund University School of Economics and Management, has been appointed as one of 17 commissioners for the purpose of analyzing and improving the conditions for inclusive and sustainable growth in Malmö.
Find out more in the recent press release from Malmö stad.
More information about Tillväxtkommissionen here.

Webinars on sustainability challenges for the industry and financial market
Is industry and the financial market sustainable enough? No, not according to many researchers all over the world. Soon several important key questions will be addressed on this topic. Learn more and sign up for the upcoming webinars hosted by Susanne Arvidsson, Associate Professor and Senior lecturer at Lund University School of Economics and Management. The webinars will be given digitally on the following dates: 15 April, 22 April, 6 May and 19 May.
Find out more here.
Trendspotting: The future of food — How we eat into the future
Webinar on Thursday March 25 at 17:00-18:30 arranged by VentureLab.
In recent years, food has become much more to us than just nutrition: food symbolizes culture, socializing, and integration. Together with exciting profiles from the food and culture society, we will ignite a conversation about how we will be eating in the future. One of the panellists is Claudia Manzo, founder of Entomovis - Insect for food - and member of Sustainable Future Hub's student network!
Digital coffee with researchers - Episode 3 out now!
A new episode of Digital coffee with researchers is now out! Watch the 10-minute Zoom interview below, made by Judith Baeta from our Student network, with Ph D student Joachim Peter Tilsted on political economy and governance of climate change!
Webinar on Corporate Taxation and Social Responsibility with Axel Hilling
March 17 at 9:00-10:30
Listen to Axel Hilling, Associate Professor at Lund University School of Economics and Management, explaining concepts such as aggressive tax planning and why it is so important, for both companies and individuals, to understand the role and responsibility as taxpayers to enable a sustainable future. In the discussion he will be joined by Lorena Sorrentino, Manager Markets from CSR Europe och Anders Tegelberg, Head of Tax at Vattenfall.
The webinar is arranged by The Bridge and Sustainable Future Hub at Lund University School of Economics and Management.
Listen to two new podcast episodes with our researchers on sustainability!
- Ester Barinaga, Professor, is interviewed on local currencies in the podcast Mind the Shift. You can listen to the 60-minute-long episode 45. We need globalized and localized money at the same time via Spotify here or Apple/Itunes here.
- Axel Hilling, Associate Professor, is one of the guests in CSR Sweden's podcast Whose agenda?, episode 19. Sustainable taxation is a prerequisite for the world to achieve the Agenda 2030 goals. Listen to the 48-minute-long episode here.
Newsletter February 2021
Don't miss the first newsletter of the year from Sustainable Future Hub, read it here.
Sustainability Week 2021 May 3-8 - Save the date!
Sustainability Week is organized by Lund University and Lund Municipality 3–8 May 2021. More information here.
Scale up your company sustainable after the pandemic
Three workshops on accelerating growth in life science companies
How can we give entrepreneurs in life science companies an understanding of how the best conditions are created to come out stronger after the Corona pandemic?Three digital workshops are now offerend and arranged by Medicon Village and Sten K. Johnson Centre for Entrepreneurship, funded by Sparbanksstiftelsen Finn.
- 29 January at 08.30-10.30, Workshop #1: From invention to organization with Anna Brattström, Associate professor. More info here.
- 12 February at 08.30-10.30, Workshop #2: Innovation and internationalization activities of startups with Claudio Fassio, Associate professor. More info here.
- 12 March at 08.30-10.30, Workshop #3: Building trust across organizational boundaries with Anna Brattström, Associate professor. More info here.

How to be a change maker - The SYSAV way of a circular business model
On January 26 at 12:00 you could find out how to make sustainable changes through our lunch webinar How to be a change maker - The SYSAV way of a circular business model. A panel discussed how sustainable changes can be implemented in the operations of businesses. The event was a great opportunity to learn more about sustainability, get inspired and becoming a change maker!
The panel:
- Hervé Corvellec, Professor in Business Administration, Lund University
- Ann Nerlund, Environmental Educator at SYSAV (South Scania Waste Company)
- Harmke Luken, Master’s student at LUSEM, Member of Sustainable Future Hub's Student network, and moderator
More information about the event here. Watch it on YouTube here.
11 new students accepted to our Student network
Welcome Catarina, Miriam, Anastasia, Annika, William, Oleksandra, Nicola, Kristborg, Katharina, Jannick and Cecilia! 11 new students have joined Sustainable Future Hub’s Student network since January 2021. They will soon be presented and introduced here on our web together with the rest of the Student network.
Reversed mentorship spring 2021 with four innovative startups
In this round of our Reversed mentorship we are collaborating with four startups from two of UNOPS Global Innovation Centers: UNOPS GIC Japan in Kobe and UNOPS GIC Sweden at Ideon Science Park in Lund. The Reversed mentorship is only open for students in the Sustainable Future Hub's Student Network and is held online.

A new MOOC course in sustainable taxation soon to be launched
Sustainable Future Hub collaborates with researchers, such as Axel Hilling, Associate Professor at Lund University School of Economics and Management, CSR Sweden and CSR Europe, to develop a digital course in sustainable corporate taxation with the aim of increasing knowledge about the subject. The course - Corporate Taxation and Sustainability - is given in English and has two target groups; partly University students, partly business leaders, primarily with responsibilities in tax and sustainability. More information to come.
Newsletter November 2020
Don't miss out our third newsletter from Sustainable Future Hub, read it here.
Companies must broaden their sustainability work
On 18 November 2020, the annual conference Sustainable Business was held, where Susanne Arvidsson, Associate professor and Senior lecturer at Lund University School of Economics and Management, participated and talked about how sustainability affects growth and profitability. This year's edition of the Di Group's ranking Sustainable companies focus on risk. Here, Swedish companies are generally in a learning process, according to Susanne Arvidsson, who also led the work with the ranking. Read the whole article from DI here (in Swedish).
Susanne Arvidsson ranks sustainable companies
In this year's version of the ranking Sustainable companies, great emphasis has been placed on how the companies map and manage risks in climate and sustainability. This is how the stock market giants are ranked - "some seem completely unconscious". Read the full article from DI here (in Swedish).
New sustainability plan approved and Sustainability Forum broadens its remit to include students and education
A new sustainability plan has been approved at Lund University and Sustainability Forum will be permanent with a broadened mission to include students and education. Full article here. More about the new sustainability plan here (in Swedish only).
Newsletter October 2020
Don't miss out on the second newsletter from Sustainable Future Hub, read it here.
Social Innovation Summit 2020: Community currency – a tool for bringing premises to life around the clock?
On November 11 Ester Barinaga, Professor in social entreprenurship, gave a talk on community currencies during an event hosted by Midroc during the conference Social Innovation Summit 2020. More info here.
How to be a change maker - The IKEA way of social sustainability
Did you miss our recent digital talk focusing on people, impact and sustainability? You can watch it on YouTube above. This was the panel:
- Lisen Wirén, Programme Manager at the IKEA Social Entrepreneurship at Inter IKEA Group and alumni from Lund University School of Economics and Management
- Caroline Wigren, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at Lund University School of Economics and Management
- Harmke Lüken, Master's student in Innovation and Global Sustainable Development, member of Sustainable Future Hub's Student Network and moderator of the event
Digital coffee with researchers - Episode 2 with Lina van Dooren
The student Els Heile is interviewing researchers about their current research on sustainability over a cup of coffee. Watch the second YouTube episode here.
The Reversed mentorship programme - a mutual eye opener
How can sustainable ideas be implemented and used in Alfa Laval's business operations? That was one of the topics discussed through the Reversed mentorship programme, a pilot project conducted this spring, which has been a mutual eye opener for the involved students and the company Alfa Laval. Read the interview with their own reflections.
Call for cases: does your company or organisation want to review your sustainability strategy from a communication perspective?
Our students in strategic marketing can help with reviewing your brand strategy, finding a clear and unique position in the market, strengthening the customer relationship, doing an external analysis and future prospects or a digital marketing strategy. Contact Martina if you want to know more!
Interdisciplinary collaboration inspires to reflect on our economic systems
There is a new podcast episode and a blog post with our PhD student Juan Ocampo (who is alo part of the student network), about the values of our current and future financial systems! Listen to the section here and read the blog post here.
Sustainable Future Hub’s student network
In our network of students, we act together on the sustainability challenges through competitive intelligence/strategic intelligence, reversed mentorship and cases from companies and organizations. The network consists of around 30 students at different levels with different academic backgrounds, from Lund University School of Economics and Management and other areas of Lund University.
Get to know the students who are currently part of our student network.

Funded by Sparbanken Skåne
Sustainable Future Hub becomes a reality through the investment of Sparbanken Skåne and Sparbanksstiftelsen Finn. In a first step, this is planned to extend over five years. Through the foundation, profit distribution from the bank can be invested in community development efforts.
We want to invest in a future that is good for both us and future generations. By working with other actors, we can increase our focus on sustainability issues together. Sustainability work is about a long-term approach to the outside world and a willingness to make a difference. It's a journey we want to be part of.
Today, the sustainability perspective is an integral part of Sparbanken Skåne's operations, where the investment with the School of Economics and Management is an example. More about the bank and the foundations here.