Umeå University and the Department of Economics is looking for PhD students in Labor Economics and Environmental and Energy Economics.
Within the field of Environmental and Energy Economics it mainly evolves around two research projects: “In the first, the purpose is to explore how demand flexibility at the electricity distribution level can be designed to reduce grid congestion and improve grid efficiency. Specifically, the research project is focused on the design of distribution tariffs that incentivize households to reduce peak demand, and on measuring households´ response to such incentives. In the second research project, the purpose is to explore the potential of solar power to support the transition towards a more sustainable society.”
Provide incentives forest owners to manage forests for different ecosystem services. Put a “price” on carbon storage and biodiversity. Göran Bostedt and Runar Brännlund dicuss the solution in Ekonomisk debatt 1, 2022 (only available in Swedish).
Climate and environmental policies must be allowed to be costly. However, there are no sound reasons to put a disproportionate burden on the rural population by overcharging. Subsidies to rural households would be reasonable whilst scrapping or reforming other general climate policy instruments. Runar Brännlund and Bengt Kriström, vk.se, published February 18, 2022. (only available in Swedish)
With two masters and a PhD in her suitcase, Chaitanya Suárez Rojas left sunny Gran Canaria and landed in a snow white Umeå in February to learn more about Environmental Economics. CERE looks forward to learning more about her analysis of consumer and firm behavior when it comes to whale-watching tourism that made up her thesis.
After a bachelor’s in environmental sciences and a Master in Natural Protected Areas at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Chaitanya took a second Master this time on Coastal Management at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. It was during the second master that she met Professors and CERE friends Carmelo León, and Matías González. They advised and encouraged her to do a PhD on Tourism, Economics and Management at the University Institute for Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development (Tides). She took their advice and defended her thesis “Whale-Watching Tourism in The Nautical Sector: Consumer Behaviour and Firm Prospects Towards Sustainability” last October. The thesis analyses the characteristics of both nautical tourism consumer and firms and finds a need for the nautical tourism industry to support animal welfare and environmental health as well as adopting a corporate ethical stewardship.
While doing her masters, she worked in both the Sierra Nevada National Park in Granada, Spain and the Los Flamencos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary in the Caribbean region of Colombia, quite the contrary to her present location. So how did she end up here? Tides and CERE have a close relationship and she met both Runar Brännlund and Magnus Lindmark and took part in a seminar they had on sustainable development that piqued her interest. “Here I expect to find common key issues and synergies that CERE and partner University Institute for Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development can research together”, says Chaitanya.
She also hopes to enjoy the snow during her three month stay and try all sorts of winter activities.
A new way of compensating forest owners that are required to set aside forest land for conservation could be by a fund based on a production oriented fee. This system would also facilitate a landscape view on forest management, which in turn would contribute to Sweden reaching their environmental goals, according to a resent study.
In the article published in Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research we find researchers from SLU, Uppsala University and Bern University of Applied Sciences. One of them CERE's Göran Bostedt.
Bostedt, G., de Jong, J., Ekvall, H., Hof, A., Sjögren, J. & Zabel, A. (2021): An Empirical Model for Forest Landscape Planning and its Financial Consequences for Landowners. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research, 36 (7-8), 626-638. https://doi.org/10.1080/02827581.2021.1998599
With two masters and a PhD in her suitcase,