SEEDS - Studies in Education for Equity, Democracy and Sustainability

SEEDS is a research group in the field of educational sciences that studies how education, teaching processes and policy are motivated, designed, narrated and retold in text and practice with a particular focus on democracy and equity as central dimensions of social sustainability.

The SEEDS research group investigates education and training for social sustainability in different fields and at different levels. The relations between the changeability and stability of education and training in practice, policy and/or research are highlighted with an openness to multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches. An important starting point is that all practice is based on ideas that are important to make visible and relate to consequences for people's conditions.

In particular, attention is paid to issues of individuals' and groups' living conditions, conditions for learning, the teaching profession, assessment practices and subject constructions in education and teaching as they are considered important aspects for promoting social sustainability.

Ongoing research projects

The research group runs internal and external research projects. Here is a selection of ongoing external research projects:

Ongoing funded workshops

• Swedish Research Council: Exploratory workshop om digital wellbeing
• EU GREEN: Digital workshop Challenges and possibilities for developing policies and practices for gender equality and diversity in higher education

Ongoing funded networks

• Swedish Research Council: Network Research on Children's Rights
• Swedish Research Council: Historical Consciousness and Democracy (Sweden, Australia, Finland, Israel, Turkey, Canada, Ghana, Spain, Norway, Denmark)
• Swedish Research Council: ROCIT Graduate School for Practice-oriented Research
• FORTE: Network for research on gender-based violence and violence in close relationships
• EESF - EU - Establishment of a regional platform for social innovation in Gävleborg (partner with Region Gävleborg)

Ongoing non-funded networks

• University West: The Children and Youth Research Network
• Uppsala University: Research Network on Gender-based Violence and Domestic Violence
• Universidad a Distancia de Madrid: Project Group Didactics for Human Rights Education
• Universidad de Granada: Instituto universitario de investigacion de Estudios de las Mujeres y de Genero
• Universidad de Sevilla/Universidad de Malaga Spain/ Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Chile: The International Observatory for school culture and violence preventions
• SEEC - Spanish Society of Comparative Education: SEEDS member of Research Committee Conference 2025
• University of Aberdeen: Interdisciplinary Institute External Advisory Board.

Democracy and Equality Research Program

The SEEDS research group is strongly linked to the Democracy and Equality research program, which is part of the Innovative Learning strategic research area.

Read more about the research program Democracy and Equality

ROCIT Graduate School

The ROCIT Graduate School - Research on Collaboration in Teacher Education is a collaboration between six universities to develop a greater understanding between experiential knowledge and scientifically based knowledge in the world of schools.

More information about the ROCIT Graduate School

Forskare i SEEDS

SEEDS includes researchers in pedagogy, didactics and humanities. The group consists of professors, associate professors, lecturers and doctoral students as well as a number of associated members nationally and internationally.

Publications

Bok: Democracy and Teacher Education