Annual report 2009

Publication review

The year 2009 marked the end of the three-year start-up phase of the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

During this period the Centre has developed a broad interdisciplinary research programme on
the understanding of social-ecological systems and governance and management for resilience and sustainable development.

On the initiative of the Mistra Foundation, the Centre was evaluated in preparation for the first ordinary phase 2010-2013.  This external evaluation, carried out by Professor William C. Clark from Harvard University, ranked the Stockholm Resilience Centre as a “world leader in the conduct of interdisciplinary research on the dynamics of inter-connected social-ecological systems".

Based on its record of publication, the Centre is among the top three scientific institutions in the world in this area. This firmly positions the Centre as a global node at the frontier of research on resilience and sustainability. It is also exactly what the Centre set out to achieve when it was launched in 2007.

It aimed to develop a thriving and dynamic international research environment, where scientists from the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities could experiment and advance novel research for the sustainable governance and management of social-ecological systems.

The achievements so far are the result not only of the major scientific accomplishments of the centre-based researchers, but also of the broad international research collaboration between the Centre and researchers from around the world.