Julia Leventon

Research interests

I am an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist working to understand the governance of place in the field of sustainability.  My research examines governance networks, including the ideas and actions of policy actors or stakeholders, and the structures and relationships that shape them.  I am interested in the multi-level, interdisciplinary nature of governance networks, and in connecting on-the-ground activities into policy processes. In this way, issues of scale (spatial and temporal) often feature in my work.

My research methods include stakeholder and network analysis, participatory methods and transdisciplinary research forums, and elite interviews.  I am particularly interested in mixed-methods research approaches in sustainability science.

I am particularly interested in how governance processes are shaped by both the political context and the material/physical context.  I have therefore conducted in-depth case study research into a range of environmental challenges in a number of political systems.  These include the management of groundwater in Eastern Europe; climate governance in sub-Saharan Africa; and biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in Western Europe.

Active projects:

Leverage Points for Sustainability Transformations (www.leveragepoints.org).  Co-Principal Investigator, and project manager.  Funded by the VW Foundation.  

Processes of Sustainability Transformations (http://post.achievingsustainability.com/).  Co-Principle Investigator. Funded by the Robert Bosch foundation.

Recent projects:

MULTAGRI: Rural Development through Governance of Multifunctional Agricultural Land Use (www.cec.lu.se/research/multagri).  Senior Research Associate.  Funded by ERA-Net RURAGRI.

RECARE: Preventing and Remediating degradation of soils in Europe through Land Care (www.recare-project.eu).  Co-Investigator.  Funded by the EU's 7th Framework Programme.  Through this project, I retain links to the Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds, UK.

I am a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Earth System Governance Network.

I am an associate editor of the peer reviewed journal Environmental Policy and Governance.

I am external examiner to the BA and MEnv programme in Sustainability and Environmental Management at the University of Leeds, UK.

Teaching

I lead the governance strand on the Minor in Sustainability Science. I also provide contributions to the Leuphana Semester and complementary studies programme.