Sustainable Future Hub launches Think Tank

At the beginning of the year, bachelor, master and doctoral students from all over Lund University had the opportunity to apply for the Sustainable Future Hub's Think Tank at the School of Economics and Management. Out of 50 applicants, 23 students were selected, coming from 17 programmes across six faculties. The diversity of experiences and perspectives is further strengthened by the fact that more than a dozen different nationalities are represented in the group.

"We are offering external actors the opportunity to be inspired by the diversity of thoughts, ideas and insights by a selected group of students, applied on their sustainability challenges," says Martina Oxling, project manager of the Sustainable Future Hub, adding that it is an opportunity for students to engage and express their creativity while tackling real sustainability challenges. 

The participants will meet every other Thursday to work on real-life sustainability problems submitted by different organisations. The students will have the opportunity to influence the format and the type of case and actor they will work with. The actual work is done in groups, where all 23 participate and two weeks later their thoughts, suggestions and observations are presented. 

The first case was about integrating sustainability into the Bachelor of Economics programme. The Think Tank participants tackled the topic in groups of three, starting with idea generation and presenting their thoughts to the group as a whole. The work then continues with two people, case leads, compiling the ideas and selecting those that can be developed further, and finally presenting the results to the challenge owner.

The diversity of experiences and perspectives is further strengthened by the fact that more than a dozen different nationalities are represented in the group.

Simon Wiklander is a student employee in the Sustainable Future Hub and community coordinator for the think tank. He also acts as a link between the students and the Sustainable Future Hub. 

"I think we will provide new and exciting ideas and perspectives on business challenges. Already on the first occasion, you could really feel the energy and creativity in the room. It is unusual to have such a diverse group of people tackling the same problems. Everyone involved has been hand-picked for their academic credentials, work experience and volunteerism. There are mathematicians, medicine students, a student of law, environmental scientists, political scientists, one person from practical philosophy, business management students, economists, economic historians and some who specialise in development studies," says Simon.

The Think Tank initiative is as much about developing students as it is about inspiring companies, and Simon says that they have received many interesting cases to work on.