In search of new solutions for coexistence at the interface of social policy and environmental sustainability

Associate Professor of Social Policy Guido Caniglia has started his work at the Faculty of Social Sciences. His research will be supported by an ERC consolidator grant about disability and queer perspectives for sustainability.

According to Guido Caniglia, one of humankind’s greatest current challenges is to reach a balance between environmental sustainability and social justice. He is fascinated by the many ways in which people around the world promote justice and sustainability.

“This is why, in my work I study all sorts of initiatives, communities, organisations and experiences that aim to give shape to a better future and which show us how to transform the world for the better.” 

The associate professor seeks to understand what motivates people to take action, what their values are, what practices they enact, how they get organised, and how they talk about what they do.

“In this way, I hope to generate knowledge that inspires others to find new ways to address the wicked sustainability problems of our time, from climate change to loss of biodiversity.” 

In addition to Caniglia´s research, he teaches at the Master’s Programme in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability (ECGS). Caniglia´s teaching in the master’s programme is a key part of social science education in environmental policy.

Knowledge benefiting society through dialogue

Caniglia's research has social significance, as it addresses the pressing need to find new ways of living together on this troubled planet. He aims to find these ways to coexist by participating in and designing collaborative projects that involve researchers and other societal actors, called knowledge co-production initiatives. The projects range from collaborations involving the arts, sciences and society to multi-actor projects that focus on issues such as more sustainable land use or gentrification in urban environments. 

“Through these science–society collaborations, we can generate new knowledge that is not only research based but also directly relevant to the people involved and their communities,” Caniglia says. 

Caniglia also studies sustainability-related initiatives that are led and driven by marginalised individuals and groups. He is interested in the activism in which people with disabilities and people from gender and sexual minorities show how to create more inclusive, just and sustainable ways of living. 

“These initiatives are often invisible, but I am convinced that they can show our societies innovative and creative ways to address environmental problems while foregrounding social justice."

Issues of inequality are particularly topical 

According to the associate professor, there is no more time to dilly-dally in issues related to social and ecological injustice and inequality. The vulnerable and the marginalised are forgotten daily. 

“Inequalities are rising in most countries, and the level of polarisation and conflict is reaching tipping levels that were unimaginable even a few years ago. At the same time, there are more and more individuals, groups and organisations that are showing how to reverse this situation.” 

Caniglia’s background is interdisciplinary and covers the humanities as well as the natural and social sciences. His training in philosophy underpins the broad questions that drive his research: how can we find ways of living together that are more just and equitable, but also environmentally more sustainable? 

“My training in the natural sciences, especially in evolutionary biology, makes me look at the complexity and uncontrollability of the natural world as being in constant evolution, transformation and change. And my work on the social dimensions of sustainability recognises the need to develop research approaches that combine critique and creativity, resistance and imagination.” 

Work on social policy and ecological sustainability brought Caniglia to Helsinki

Caniglia considers the discipline of social and public policy one of the few academic fields that clearly foregrounds issues of equity and justice, not only in theory, but with the goal of shaping policies and regulations that address the problems our societies face. He is convinced that the incredible research that is done in the discipline at the University of Helsinki is going to inspire and inform his work. 

“It is already doing this after just a couple of weeks. I am also very excited about the synergies and interactions with colleagues at HELSUS (Institute of Sustainability Science) who have conducted cutting-edge research on sustainability transformations from multiple and exciting perspectives.” 

The most important reason for coming to the University of Helsinki, Caniglia says, is the unique opportunity of working with and across the social policy and environmental sustainability topics that the University provides. 

“I really hope that with my work I can help to further bridge and connect these two communities and their research." They have many aspirations in common, as they both aspire and aim to contribute to more just, equitable and sustainable futures. 

However, Caniglia feels that their intersection and interaction is still somewhat underexplored. Consequently, he hopes that his work will help him find new synergies benefiting both social policy and ecological sustainability. 

The associate professor also expects that his teaching will have an effect on how students deal with complex issues in sustainable development. Caniglia teaches at the Master’s Programme in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability (ECGS). 

“I think these kinds of multidisciplinary degree programmes are extremely important in educating and developing the next generation of experts and researchers in sustainable development, who will be able to tackle wisely and efficiently the many wicked complexities of the world." 

Elevating disability and queer perspectives through a new ERC consolidator grant

Caniglia will for the next 5 years mainly be working in a new project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) entitled ‘Whose sustainability? Understanding and redefining just sustainability transformations through disability and queer perspectives’. 

“The funding allows me and my international team of researchers to study for the next five years sustainability initiatives led and driven by marginalised individuals and groups.”

Caniglia is particularly interested in the activism shown by people with disabilities and gender and sexual minorities in creating more inclusive, just and sustainable ways of living.

“These initiatives are often invisible, but I am convinced that they can show our societies innovative and creative ways to address environmental problems while foregrounding social justice.

“We aim to find out what people with disabilities as well as those belonging to gender and sexual minorities have to tell the rest of society about how to live together on this troubled planet,” Caniglia says.

Ongoing research projects elsewhere as well

Caniglia is also involved in other research projects and groups. For example, he is participating in a Horizon Europe project (PLUS Change) with several different European partners, which aims at solving ecological and societal challenges by developing land use strategies and decision-making processes. In this project he focuses especially on embedded considerations of environmental and social justice in the way in which the actors involved make decisions about land.

Investment on environmental policy research and education

The knowledge and experience of Associate Professor Guido Caniglia is a strong addition to the crossdisciplinary research on global socio-ecological problems at the University of Helsinki. The recruitment is a significant investment on behalf of the Faculty of Social Sciences in environmental policy research and education.

“As an associate professor of social policy, his field is concerned with concrete political problems with which Finland and other countries are struggling while striving to find a path to sustainable and fair development,” says Vice-Dean in charge of research units Timo Kaartinen of the Faculty of Social Sciences. 

Caniglia's teaching in the multidisciplinary Master’s Programme in Environmental Change and Global Sustainability is a key part of social science education in environmental policy, the popularity of which is clearly reflected in the applications to the University of Helsinki.