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UvA Sustainability Research Groups

Faculty of Economics and Business

  • A Sustainable Future (ASF) – a platform for stimulating cross-disciplinary research on sustainability between the Amsterdam Business School and the Amsterdam School of Economics and/or with other faculties. 
  • Amsterdam Centre for Responsible Consumption - a platform for behavioral researchers, businesses and policymakers to exchange ideas with the goal of finding novel means to arrive at a more responsible consumption pattern. 
  • Analytics for a Better World - a non-profit collaboration between University of Amsterdam, MIT and ORTEC. Their mission is to apply analytics to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
  • Amsterdam Centre for Responsible Leadership – In 2023, the Amsterdam Centre for Responsible Leadership (ARLead) has been newly established within the Amsterdam Business School at the University of Amsterdam. 

Amsterdam Law School

  • Sustainable Global Economic Law –focusing on how global economic law and governance can be changed to make the processes of globalization more socially and environmentally sustainable, and more legitimate and effective at the same time. 
  • Law Centre for Health and Life – research platform aiming to generate knowledge at the intersection of law, health, and the human environment. 
  • Amsterdam Center for Law & Economics - a cooperation of the Amsterdam Law School with the Faculty of Economics and Business to promote research at the intersection between law and economics, with a focus on sustainable corporate governance and financial regulation.

Faculty of Humanities

  • Environment & Society Group - a research group focusing on the intellectual history of the environment and the climate, social contestation around environmental issues, and global governance
  • Centre for Latin American Studies (CEDLA - a research group that conducts Social Science and Humanities research on developments in Latin America

Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences 

  • Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (CSDS) - a research platform that promotes joint research across social sciences on sustainable development issues
  • Centre for Urban Studies - aims to facilitate the interdisciplinary, international, and societal collaborations that are essential to comprehend the societal challenges linked to urbanization
  • EcoLab - a research group that investigates environmental communication, environmental behavior, and their interplay
  • The PsySci (Psychology of Science) Lab investigates attitudes to science and sustainability across topics, individuals, and countries.

Faculty of Sciences 

  • Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) – research institute pursuing an integrated approach to study biodiversity, ecosystems and the environment using methods typical of the disciplines of ecology, physical geography, and environmental chemistry. 
  • Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS)
  • AI for Sustainable Molecules and Materials (AI4SMM) - a research priority area focused on combining deep learning methodological research with fundamental scientific experimental research on molecules and materials.
  • Systems Biology (Faculty RPA at FNWI) - research group in which SILS cooperates with IBED integrating scientific disciplines such as biology, mathematics, physics, biochemistry, bioinformatics, and computer science, aiming to acquire a (quantitative) understanding of how biological systems change over time and respond to changing conditions. 
  • Global Ecology (Faculty RPI of FNWI), focusing on the functioning of ecosystems and on how they change due to natural processes or human impact. 
  • Green Life Sciences (Faculty RPI of FNWI) - research group in which the Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS) cooperates with IBED, aiming to understand aims at understanding at the molecular level how plants deal with biotic and abiotic constraints, how they interact with insects (herbivores, pollinators), microbes and other organisms and how they diversified during evolution. 
  • Sustainable Chemistry (Faculty RPA at FNWI), focused on researching and developing sustainable materials and processes. 
  • Photanol: A spin-off from SILS, with the aim of converting CO2 into valuable chemical products 
  • Plantics: A spin-off from HIMS, with the aim of developing a sustainable business case for bioplastics. 
  • Solardam: A collaboration between the UvA, VU, AMOLF and ECN focused on research into solar energy. 
  • SolarFoil: A spin-off from Faculty of Science, SolarFoil aims to increase greenhouse productivity by optimizing sunlight to increase crop yields.

Amsterdam UMC (Faculty of Medicine) 

  • Green Health Community - network of employees that work together in small breakthrough projects aimed at making Amsterdam UMC more sustainable 
  • Green Academy – aimed at incorporating sustainability in the educational programs within Amsterdam UMC 
  • Green Labs – nationwide initiative to make research labs more sustainable (reduce waste, prevent use of toxic chemicals, etc.). 

RPA’s  

Other UvA Sustainability Initiatives

  • The UvA White Paper
  • The Green Office 
  • The Green Knowledge Hub (Green Office initiative) 
  • Amsterdam Green Campus - A partnership with, among others, the IBED, HIMS and SILS. The aim of the Amsterdam Green Campus is to promote knowledge exchange between the participating parties in the field of sustainable development. The main topics are chemistry, the environment, genetics and food. 
  • IIS (related to teaching initiatives on sustainability) 
  • IAS (Institute for Advanced Sciences), especially the theme 'Future of Energy' 
  • SustainaLab - impact initiative bringing together UvA researchers on sustainability and external partners (companies, governments, NGO’s) facing challenges concerning sustainability
  • Sustaina Student Lab (Community Service Learning lab) 
  • Anna's Tuin & Ruigte: A piece of polder nature next to the Science Park location with the aim of learning more about nature, nature management and permaculture.