VERSAM: Effective regional cooperation for a fossil-free society

VERSAM explores the complex collaboration dynamics among diverse actors involved in governing transitions at the local and regional level with an empirical focus on the transport and mobility sector in different Swedish regions. The project seeks to establish new insights about how actors can collaborate in tangled webs to create a fossil-free society by focusing on

1. How intrinsic drivers, such as values, visions, and mutual learning, shape collaborative climate action, and, drawing on psychological theory and a political economy perspectives, how governance structures and power dynamics condition their expression;
2. The deployment of intermediary actors to facilitate collaborations; and,
3. Individual actors’ experiences and perceptions of their transition work. All three doctoral students adopt a qualitative approach that involves close collaboration with practitioners to contribute to real-world change processes.

The project is carried out as three doctoral projects at Halmstad University, Lund University and Linköping University. Each thesis project is individually managed by a PhD student, yet their research intersects both empirically and conceptually, leading to collaboration within the broader scope of the project. Through their work, the doctoral students will build a unique competence of great value for the ongoing transition.