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How can a plant shape knowledge, community, and activism? New doctoral thesis sheds light on cannabis activism and human–plant relations in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Today, Monday 29 September, Lucia Amaranta Thompson marks the successful defence of her doctoral thesis in Gender Studies at Lund University, presenting a unique ethnographic insight into the cannabis community in Buenos Aires, Argenti
On Friday 26 September, David Bazan Royuela successfully defended his doctoral thesis in sociology at the Eden Auditorium. The research offers new insights into how we interact with algorithms on platforms like TikTok. The thesis titled Algorithmic Interaction Ritual Chains on TikTok: Scrolling through Feedback Loops explores how every like, skip, or watch on TikTok sends signals to the platform’s
How do forests shape the climate — and how does a changing climate reshape our forests? What can science reveal about the forests of tomorrow? This mini-documentary dives into the world of climate modeling and forest ecosystems, offering insights into one of the most pressing environmental questions of our time. This short documentary explores the complex relationship between forests and climate t
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/mini-documentary-climate-modeling-and-forests - 2026-05-29
We are delighted to invite you to submit your abstract for the Swedish Climate Symposium: a symposium dedicated to advancing scientific understanding of climate change and its environmental and societal consequences. The Swedish Climate Symposium serves as a national platform for advancing climate knowledge and driving action. It brings together researchers, policymakers, and societal stakeholders
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/swedish-climate-symposium-2026-call-abstracts-now-open - 2026-05-29
On 6-8 October, the MERGE autumn meeting of 2014 was held in Kalmar. The three interesting days focused on the future possibilities of research within MERGE and what is to come. For those of you who could not join the meeting - and those of you who would like to see a particularly interesting presentation again - we have collected the presentations from the meeting here. MERGE is now at the end of
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/merge-autumn-meeting-presentations-and-summary - 2026-05-29
Whether you work in a company facing a complex sustainability challenge, manage environmental issues at a municipality, or represent an organisation with a promising sustainable development idea that has stalled, Tiger Teams may be of interest to you. Tiger Teams is an initiative where interdisciplinary teams of PhD students collaborate intensively with societal actors for one week to tackle real-
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/tiger-teams-tackling-sustainability-challenges-together - 2026-05-29
Alexandra Pongracz is a researcher at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Lund University and the programme chair for the Swedish Climate Symposium (SCS). With registration now open, we asked her to reflect on the symposium’s holistic approach, the highlights of this year’s programme, and why researchers, policymakers, and practitioners should take part. The theme of SCS 2026 is
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/alexandra-pongracz-why-you-shouldnt-miss-swedish-climate-symposium-2026 - 2026-05-29
Researchers at Lund University have produced the most detailed map of carbon emissions from Swedish forest fires to date. The results show that the largest emissions occur below the ground surface, in peat and organic soils. During the extremely hot summer of 2018, 324 forest fires were reported in Sweden. Using field measurements, models, and data from the Swedish Forest Agency, the Swedish Envir
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/large-forest-fire-emissions-are-hidden-underground - 2026-05-29
Wildfires are becoming more frequent and are ravaging new parts of the world due to global warming. A study led by MERGE-members and researchers from the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers shows that this change is increasing the vulnerability of thousands of plants, animals and fungi. As global temperatures rise, the incidence of wildfires is increasing in many regions. This is mainly because
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/wildfire-risk-species-under-climate-change - 2026-05-29
A lack of phosphorus in forest soil could lead to an acceleration of global climate change. This is shown by new research that has investigated the complex balance between carbon dioxide fertilisation, phosphorus deficiency and tree growth. The world’s forests are vital in the fight against climate change, as they absorb around a quarter of the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. Trees
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/phosphorus-deficiency-may-exacerbate-climate-problems - 2026-05-29
When Crafoord Prize laureate Veerabhadran Ramanathan visited Lund on 18 May, he combined personal reflections with a powerful scientific message: understanding aerosols and greenhouse gases is key to tackling climate chang, but solving the crisis will require new approaches, broad collaboration, and urgent public engagement. On Monday, May 18, Veerabhadran Ramanathan, Distinguished Professor (Emer
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/understanding-warming-world-insights-crafoord-laureate-veerabhadran-ramanathan - 2026-05-29
During the past week, 350 delegates from 120 countries have gathered in Copenhagen, to go through and come to a common conclusion about the state of knowledge on climate change. The result was finalized as a synthesis report which states that the human influence on the climate system is clear and recent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. But the report also sta
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/ipcc-synthesis-report-provides-common-conclusion-about-state-knowledge-climate-change - 2026-05-29
We would like to welcome Franziska Aemisegger, who will be a MERGE guest researcher for the coming two years. For the coming two years, Franziska Aemisegger will be a MERGE guest researcher with a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship (SNSF). In her current research she is studying land-atmosphere interactions in the midlatitude water cycle from a weather systems perspective. The different
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/new-guest-researcher-franziska-aemisegger - 2026-05-29
Comparing the first simple climate models with those of today is like comparing a little blurry black and white line drawing with a large, high-resolution full-color photo. Everything has increased dramatically - both complexity, geographical resolution and model datasets. Read the interview with Markku Rummukainen, coordinator of MERGE. - The development is quickly moving forward. When we started
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/advanced-climate-models-lacks-computing-power - 2026-05-29
Lund University has collected the top research of the university's twelve strategic reseach environments in a new book. MERGE is one of these environments. In 2008, the Swedish Government designated 20 ‘Strategic Research Areas’ (SRAs) in its research-policy bill. Within these 20 areas, 43 research environments were chosen for specific funding in a special evaluation in 2009. They were all conduct
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/todays-great-explorers - 2026-05-29
Today, Monday 26 January, the new report "Klimatsäkrat Skåne" will be launched. The report is a knowledge review and analysis of Skåne's climate work including opportunities and challenges. The launch event focuses on three panel discussions on how we should make our society less vulnerable to climate change, how we use ecosystem services and the implications of climate change for business. Markku
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/new-report-about-regional-climate-challenges-and-adaptation-skane - 2026-05-29
The role of biogeophysical feedbacks and their impacts in the arctic and boreal climate system is the name of Wenxing Zhangs thesis, which he defended on February 6 2015. On February 6th Wenxin Zhang defended his thesis The role of biogeophysical feedbacks and their impacts in the arctic and boreal climate system. Opponent was Laxmi Sushama.In the thesis Wenxin Zhang presents findings from studies
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/role-biogeophysical-feedbacks-and-their-impacts-arctic-and-boreal-climate-system - 2026-05-29
ClimBEco is a two-year graduate research school that promotes young scientists to engage in interdisciplinary research on climate, earth system and society in a changing world. Application to ClimBEco is open right now until the 14th of April. The Research School is open to students who are already enrolled as PhD students. Priority will be given to PhD students enrolled at Nordic Universities eng
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/apply-climbeco-graduate-research-school-2015-2017 - 2026-05-29
DataGURU is a tool for researchers to disseminate and find climate, land use, biodiversity and related data. The tool can also be of value as open data strategy in future applications for research funding. This work has been commissioned by the strategic research areas MERGE and BECC. The team, led by researcher Veiko Lehsten, developed a tool for the dissemination of the research data that can be
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/dataguru-new-tool-disseminating-and-finding-spatial-temporal-data - 2026-05-29
The Strategic Research Area initiative for research funding was launched by the Swedish Government in the research and innovation bill of 2008. 43 Swedish strategic research areas (SRA’s) was funded by the Swedish government from 2010-2014. MERGE is one of the SRA’s that now have been evaluated. Today the evaluation, together with recommendations for the future, was published and we are happy to a
https://www.merge.lu.se/article/positive-evaluation-merge - 2026-05-29
