Eva Friman

I am an intellectual historian and ecological economist, with an interest in theory of science, discourses, the power of language, and ecological economic theory development. I am engaged in transdisciplinary sustainability studies with the long-term objective of ecological sustainability and global equity. Since recently, I'm also devoting myself to transformative learning and global health. Current positions: Researcher, Program director and Adjunct Professor. Please see further below.

Research interests and short biography

I am an intellectual historian and an ecological economist, with an interest in theories of science, discourses, the power of language, and ecological economic theory development. I am deeply engaged in inter- and transdisciplinary sustainability studies with the long-term objective of ecological sustainability and global equity. Since recently, I'm also devoting myself to transformative learning, global health and health equity.

I have been at various universities during my career. I studied economics at Luleå Technical University in 1987, but found the basic assumptions in neoclassical economics narrow and reductionist. I took my bachelor’s degree there, and then worked for a couple of years at the university. In 1993 I started studying intellectual history and human ecology at Umeå University, and my PhD thesis in intellectual history (No Limits, 2002) focus on the discourse of unlimited economic growth.

During my PhD studies, from 1996 to 2002, I also taught intellectual history, environmental history, and human ecology, edited books, as well as organized PhD and research conferences. In the fall of 1997 I was granted a scholarship to go to the Energy and Resource Group at University of California at Berkeley, where I worked with Richard B Norgaard as co-supervisor and Carolyn Merchant as main lecturer.

A couple of years before my PhD thesis defense, I was thrilled to be invited to teach ecological economics at Mälardalen University, and after my defense I was employed there as senior lecturer in ecological economics, as well as the head of the ecological economics unit. In 2002 I gave birth to my daughter and went on maternal leave for a couple of years. After continuing as senior lecturer in ecological economics, I took on the position as director of the Centre for Environment and Development (Cemus) at Uppsala University and SLU Uppsala.

The Uppsala Center for Sustainable Development (CSD Uppsala) was inaugurated in 2007, and Cemus was organized as part of that larger center, and I took on the position as director for CSD Uppsala. During the years of 2008-2014 I had different positions at CSD Uppsala: as director, as program director, and as researcher and research coordinator. Apart from the leadership positions, I was teaching and supervising students and PhD students, and did other strategic work with courses and programs during that time, as well as published articles, edited a few books, and organized research conferences. And as to research at CSD Uppsala, our most comprehensive project was the 10-researcher 4-year “Sustainable Global Patterns of Production and Consumption” one, financed by The Swedish Research Council, VR.

Im 2014 went on to become the director of Swedesd - then the Swedish International Center of Education for Sustainable Development, and currently the Sustainability Learning and Research Center at the Dept of Women's and Children's Health at Uppsala University.

I am currently a researcher at Swedesd, Adjunct Professor at the Sustainability Research Center at University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia, and program director for theresearch program Mistra Environmental Communication - Reframing Communication for Sustainability.

Selected Publications

peer-reviewed papers

Alarcón, Cristián, Eva Friman et al., “A Political Ecology and Emergy Analysis of Agrofuels in Brazil”. Submitted to the Journal of Global Environmental Change.

Friman, Eva. ”Is Growth Sustainable? Crisis Responsive Economists”. Ecological Economics, accepted in 2003, will be resubmitted, forthcoming.

Hajdu, Flora, Eva Friman et al., “But tractors can’t fly… An Transdisciplinary Analysis of Neoliberal Agricultural Development Interventions in South Africa”. International Journal of Transdisciplinary Research 2012 6:1.

Stoddard, Isak, Eva Friman et al., “Igniting a Learning Revolution: Student-Run Education for Sustainable Development”. Solutions 2012 3:5.

Rydberg, Torbjörn, Eva Friman et al., “Emergy Systems Diagramming and Discourse Analysis – The Case of Large-Scale Biofuel Production”. Emergy Synthesis 2011 7.

Gallardo, Gloria and Eva Friman, “New marine commons along the Chilean coast – Disparate outcomes in the Peñuelas and Chigualoco’s management areas (MAs)”. International Journal of the Commons 2011 5:2.

Friman, Eva, ”Domedagsprofeter och tillväxtpredikanter: Debatten om ekonomisk tillväxt och miljö i Sverige 1960-1980”, Historisk Tidskrift 2001:1.

Finnveden, Göran, Eva Friman et al., “Evaluation of integration of sustainable development in higher education in Sweden”, 4th World Symposium on Sustainable Development at Universities (WSSD-U-2018) – Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development: Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Paper accepted to be presented at Universiti Sans Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia, August 2018, forthcoming.

Gallardo, Gloria and Eva Friman, “Capable Leadership, Institutional Skills and Resource Abundance Behind Flourishing Costal Marine Commons in Chile”. In David Bollier, Silke Helfrich & Heinrich Böll Foundation eds., The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State. Amherst: Levellers Press, 2012. Also printed in a German version in Silke Helfrich & Heinrich Böll Foundation eds. Commons: Für Eine Neue Politik Jenseits von Markt und Staat. 2012.

Friman, Eva, “Ecological Sustainability and Equity within the Discourse and Practice of Capitalist Global Exchange? Conservation Policy and Small-scale Fishers Bread”. NIES international research conference. Reykjavik and Höfn, Iceland, 2011.

Gallardo, Gloria and Eva Friman, “New marine commons along the Chilean coast – Disparate outcomes in the Peñuelas and Chigualoco’s management areas (MAs)”. The IASC North American Regional Meeting Capturing the Complexity of the Commons. Arizona, USA. 2010.

Alarcón, Cristián, Eva Friman et al., “Sustainable Global Patterns of Production and Consumption: Current Problems and Future Possibilities”, Proceedings of the 2nd VHU Conference on Science for Sustainable Development, 2007, Science for Sustainable development? The social challenge with emphasis on the conditions for change. Linköping: Linköping University, 2008.

Friman, Eva, “De-Growth by Sustainable Discourse and Sustainable Patterns of Consumption”. Economic De-growth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity International Conference. Paris, France, 2008.

Friman, Eva, ”Global Sustainability Governance: Narrative, Legitimacy, and Community”. International Sustainable Development Research Conference. Manchester, England, 2004.

Friman, Eva, No Limits: The 20th Century Discourse of Economic Growth. PhD Thesis. Umeå: Umeå University, 2002.

Friman, Eva, ”Challenges and Opportunities in Teaching Ecological Economics”. Frontiers in Ecological Economics: Fundamentals of Ecological Economics. International Research Conference. Cambridge, England, 2001.

Friman, Eva, ”The Economy as Subsystem or Autonomous: Economists on Growth and Sustainability 1987-1997”. Towards A Sustainable Society in the New Millennium. NESS International Research Conference, Umeå, 1999.

Friman, Eva, ”Tillväxtdebatten – en analys av retorik och argumentation”. Miljöpolitik och ideologi. Nordic Research Conference. Helsingfors, Finland, 1998.

Finnveden, Göran, Eva Friman et al., ”Sätt fart på universitetetens hållbarhetsarbete”, Curie, 2017-10-02.

Friman, Eva et al., ”Bannlys alla politiska beslut som ger mer klimatutsläpp”. DN debatt 2014-05-10.

Kronlid, David O., Eva Friman & Elisabet Nihlfors, ”(Mar)drömmen om den integrerade forskningen”. Hela vetenskapen! 15 forskare om integrerad forskning. Vetenskapsrådet och Svenska Unescorådet, 2014.

Friman, Eva et al., ”Varför brister politikerna när det gäller miljömålen?”. DN debatt 2012-12-27.

Friman, Eva and Flora Hajdu, ”Neoliberal Interventions in Subsistance Farming: Stakeholder Report from the GloPat Research Project”. Summary report presented and discussed at participatory conference with all involved respondents, actors and stakeholders, South Africa, 2011.

Friman, Eva, ”Common Obstacles when Working in Transdisciplinary Research Groups, and How to Overcome them”. NIES International Symposium and Researcher Training Course, the Sigtuna Foundation, Sweden, 2010.

Friman, Eva and Gloria Gallardo, “El Área de Manejo de Chigualoco: Particularidades y Resumen” and “El Area de Manejo de Peñuelas: Particularidades y Resumen”. Posters presented and discussed in participatory workshops with and for the respondent small-scale fishers in Chile, 2010.

Friman, Eva and Gloria Gallardo eds., Politicized Nature: Global Exchange, Resources and Power. Uppsala: Cefo Publication Series, 2010.

Friman, Eva and Gloria Gallardo, “Politicized Nature Introduction”, In Eva Friman & Gloria Gallardo eds., Politicized Nature: Global Exchange, Resources and Power. Uppsala: Cefo Publication Series, 2010.

Gallardo, Gloria and Eva Friman, “The Politicized Nature of Global Trade: The Continuous Commoditization of Land and Marine Resources, and Struggles for Livelihoods in Chile”. In Eva Friman & Gloria Gallardo eds., Politicized Nature: Global Exchange, Resources and Power. Uppsala: Cefo Publication Series, 2010.

Friman, Eva, ”Cemus External and Internal Challenges”, in Matilda Hald ed., Cemus – 20 Years of Creating ESD. Uppsala: Uppsala University, 2010.

Borgström-Hansson, Carina and Eva Friman eds., Hållbar utveckling och lärande – inspirationsskrift för universitetslärare. Stockholm: WWF, 2008.

Friman, Eva, ”Tillväxtens gränser”. In Eric Giertz ed., Då förändrades Sverige. 25 experter beskriver drivkrafter bakom utvecklingen. KTH Tema: Från stagnation till krismedvetande. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2008.

Öckerman, Anders and Eva Friman eds., Hela världen: Samhälleliga och kulturella perspektiv på miljökrisen. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2003.

Friman, Eva, ”Ekologisk ekonomi – miljö, etik och rättvisa”. In Öckerman & Friman eds., Hela världen: Samhälleliga och kulturella perspektiv på miljökrisen. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2003.

Friman, Eva, ”Metaforernas makt – människan, naturen och språket”. In Öckerman & Friman eds., Hela världen: Samhälleliga och kulturella perspektiv på miljökrisen. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2003.

Friman, Eva, ”Växt för välfärd: Den ekonomiska expansionens löften kring sekelskiftet 1900”. In Ann-Katrin Hatje & Peder Aléx eds., Sekelskiftets utmaningar: 12 essäer om välfärd, utbildning och nationell identitet vid sekelskiftet 1900. Stockholm: Carlssons, 2002.

Friman, Eva, ”Självtillit, kunskap och engagemang – om miljöhistoriska möten med lärare och elever”. In Per Eliasson ed., Miljön har en historia från Skanör till Kiruna: Miljöhistoria i svenska skolor. Malmö: Malmö University, 2002.

Friman, Eva, ”Indien som ’det andra’: Om konstruktionen av en främmande kultur”. In Ronny Ambjörnsson, Mohammad Fazlhashemi & Anders Öckerman eds., Vidgade vyer: Globalt perspektiv på idéhistoria. Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2000.

Friman, Eva et al., Med tanke på framtiden: En humanekologisk antologi. Umeå: Forum för tvärvetenskap, 1999.

Friman, Eva, ”Global normbildning – om strävanden att undanröja oönskat ekonomiskt tänkande”. In Ronny Ambjörnsson, Stefan Gelfgren & Gunilla Jonsson eds., En globaliserad värld: 11 uppsatser om globala processer. Umeå: Umeå University, 1999.

Friman, Eva, ”Den ekonomiska tillväxten och dess kritiker”. In Bo Lindberg ed., Efterkrigstid och samtid: Det nyss förflutnas historia. Stockholm: Stockholms University, 1999.

Friman, Eva, ”Värdering av kurslitteratur” in Lära – lärande – lärare. Umeå: Umeå University, 1999.

Friman, Eva, ”Miljö eller utveckling?: Ett avhandlingsprojekt samt en delstudie i ekonomiskt tillväxttänkande” in Martin Johansson, ed., Miljöhistoria idag och imorgon. Karlstad: Karlstad University, 1998.

Friman, Eva, ”Föreställningar om ekonomisk tillväxt: Exemplet Handelshögskolan, 1957-1967”. In Bosse Sundin, ed., Idéhistoria i norr. Umeå: Umeå University, 1998.