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Research Centre Centre for Social Sustainability

The Centre for Social Sustainability is a dynamic hub for research, collaboration, skill-building, and bold experimentation. We partner with organisations and companies of all kinds that are committed to social entrepreneurship and sustainability. Our mission is to drive ethical, lasting change that benefits people and communities.
We work closely with public-sector institutions, private companies and civil society organisations that are rethinking their role in relation to sustainability and welfare - often by empowering citizens to take a more active role in shaping their communities or engaging leaders and employees in pioneering collective leadership models, or testing how art based methods can support sustainable change and behaviour.

Who are we?

The Centre brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers with deep expertise and diverse backgrounds. Our members draw on philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology, learning theory, and organisational studies to explore social sustainability in all its complexity.

We focus on understanding and supporting both structural and local changes that people help shape every day. Our interdisciplinary approach connects to fields where social entrepreneurship and sustainability matter most—such as labour studies, technology studies, public administration and management, organisational studies, political economy, learning theory, sociology, social innovation, and political philosophy.

This breadth enables us to tackle social challenges from nuanced, multi-dimensional perspectives. Through our research, collaborations, consulting, and teaching, we deliver practical, relevant knowledge that supports real-world change.

At the Centre, we believe that real social sustainability grows from cooperation, ethical tinkering, and long term commitment.

Scope of Research

Our research centres on social sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation—driven by ethical awareness and a commitment to meaningful change. We explore new ways of understanding social and economic value, with a strong focus on reciprocity and the social and solidarity economy. In this, the logics, leadership, and organisational practices of civil society are a key source of inspiration.

We study and collaborate with NGOs, associations, and grassroots movements that shape democratic life and take on vital welfare roles. Our approach to social innovation goes beyond solving concrete problems like youth unemployment or resource use - it is fundamentally about empowerment: giving people real influence over decisions that affect their lives and enabling systemic, transformative change.

This perspective challenges conventional ideas about social investment, CSR, and impact measurement across sectors, while helping organisations strengthen their ESG efforts in more meaningful and inclusive ways.

We understand social sustainability as much more than equitable resource distribution or regulatory ESG compliance. It is also about human dignity, deep interpersonal connection, and resilient local communities grounded in solidarity and long-term engagement. At the same time, we confront the tensions and dilemmas of sustainability - whether viewed through a North–South lens, a critique of neoliberalism, or the concept of “human indebtedness” within the welfare state.

Our work also engages with themes such as:

  • Art, aesthetics, and creativity as methods for social change
  • Utopian thinking and visions for a more sustainable future
  • Alternative and regenerative organisational models
  • Participatory and collective leadership and co-production
  • Empowerment of marginalised groups, with attention to gender, culture, and class
  • Ecological interconnectedness and socio-materiality
  • Open-source knowledge sharing for democratic action
  • People-centered science that drives social change
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  • Contact

    Katia Dupret, Associate professor, katia@ruc.dk

     

    Researchers

    Researchers at Centre for Social Sustainability

  • The Centre hosts, initiates, and collaborates on a wide range of activities that promote social entrepreneurship and social sustainability, including (but not limited to):

    • Conferences designed around themes and challenges in social entrepreneurship
    • Professional and public-oriented networking events
    • National and international study tours to document lived experiences of social entrepreneurship (including video diaries)
    • PhD courses in social entrepreneurship and sustainability
    • VEU (professional adult education) activities and educational partnerships—contact the Centre if your organisation would like to co-develop a specific course
    • Partnerships to monitor developments in social entrepreneurship and sustainability
    • Analyses of the social economy register
    • Internal organisational experimentation (e.g. work environment, leadership practices, participant involvement, procurement approaches)
    • Building bridges to Nordic and international knowledge and experiences to inspire Danish actors, networks, and organisations

    If you would like to propose or initiate an activity in collaboration with the Centre, please contact Katia Dupret, katia@ruc.dk

  • The Centre for Social Sustainability takes part in a number of research projects.

    You can find a list of the projects on the Roskilde University Research Portal

     

     

     

  • The Centre for Social Sustainability collaborates with a wide range of organisations and companies that are committed to ethical approaches to social entrepreneurship and sustainable change. Our partnerships span public institutions rethinking welfare — such as through radical forms of citizen engagement - to private companies developing democratic leadership models, and ecovillages exploring circular, voluntary exchange economies.

    We work specifically with:

    • Companies seeking to evolve as part of a responsible, values-driven ecosystem
    • Organisations aiming to drive social change and foster social innovation
    • Think tanks dedicated to increasing social value and transformative innovation
    • Ecovillages and intentional communities working toward sustainable living and regenerative habitats
    • Colleges engaged in ecological and sustainability transitions across disciplines
    • Municipalities focused on social innovation and sustainable societal development
    • Educational institutions working with social entrepreneurship and systemic change
    • Interest organisations and NGOs across civil society
    • Sector research institutions, national and international universities, and knowledge centres

    If you are interested in collaborating with the Centre, please contact the Centre's management.

    The centre collaborates with a wide range of associations, networks and organisations in Denmark that work with social entrepreneurship and social sustainability. A selection is listed below.

    • Academy for Social Innovation
    • Action University - Christa Amh?j  
    • Analyse & Tal / cooperative consultancy
    • Andelsgaarde / Cooperative farms
    • BoSj / Non-profit housing Sealand
    • Centre for Action Research, Roskilde University
    • Corolab
    • Cycling without Age
    • C:ntact
    • Democratic Business / Demokratisk Erhverv
    • DISIE
    • FRAK
    • INSP! - Roskilde – Denmark
    • Genbyggerne v/Nadja Pass - Denmark
    • Greenesminde
    • Guldborgsund Municipality
    • Huset Venture
    • HERTA - Sustainable living community - Aarhus
    • Jordens Skole /Lovesoil Learning Lab & media v/Helle Solvang
    • Committee for Social Economic Enterprises - Jon Krogh
    • Kooperationen / the Danish Cooperative Employers' Organisation
    • Landskaberne.net v/Elisabeth Serena
    • Roskilde Festival
    • Roskilde Festival Folk High School
    • Settlementet

    Foundations the centre collaborates with:

    • GladFonden
    • Askov Foundation
    • Bikuben Foundation
    • Velux Foundation

     

  • The Centre is deeply connected to research and practice networks both within the Nordic region and internationally. We explore how social sustainability, and social entrepreneurship takes shape in different societies and cultures—examining its ways of organising, actors, and distinctive dynamics.

    Our work also showcases the unique features and strengths of Danish approaches to social sustainability and entrepreneurship, helping define its profile on the global stage. At the same time, we actively seek Nordic and international perspectives that can challenge, enrich, and expand our understanding of Danish approaches and outcomes.

    Examples of our international engagement include:

    • Collaborations through NordForsk
    • South–North partnerships that foster mutual learning and diverse insights
    • EU Horizon collaborations

    ERUA/RE:ERUA

    The European Commission strengthens strategic partnerships between European universities through the European Universities Initiative, where one of 24 alliances is The European Reform University Alliance, which brings together young reform universities including Roskilde University.

    The Reform Universities were founded to rethink what a university is and should be. The aim is to create close research and educational collaborations for innovative and alternative university thinking. The centre contributes not only critical thinking and interdisciplinarity to the alliance, but also a qualification of what it means to be a reform university with strong competences in radically participatory processes involving different representatives of society, socially innovative processes, etc. Among other things, the alliance will help to ensure the exchange of innovative teaching and learning methods, and the collaboration will help to ensure better student and researcher mobility.
    Contact: katia@ruc.dk  

    EMES: European Research Network

    EMES is the leading European network focussing on the third sector and social entrepreneurship. The network also has a strong global position and collaborates with centres of excellence in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The objective of EMES is threefold:

    • To build a European repository of theoretical and empirical knowledge on social innovation, social entrepreneurship, social economy and the civil society.
    • To provide scientific evidence for the development of social enterprises and active citizenship in an integrated Europe.
    • To strengthen EMES' global position and collaborate with centres of excellence from all continents.

    EMES researchers are regularly used as expert consultants by the EU, UNDP and OECD, and have conducted a number of major European research projects involving over 125 researchers in more than 25 countries.

Collaborators

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ERUA - European Reform University Alliance
EMES International Research Network
EMES International Research Network
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Roskilde University

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Centre for Social Sustainability is part of the Department of People and Technology 

Related research units: Organisation, Ethics & Social Sustainability research group // Health and Society Research Group 

PhD School: PhD School of People and Technology 

tt备用网址's and Master's degree programmes, as well as further education: Social Entrepreneurship and Management master // International tt备用网址 in Social Sciences // tt备用网址 in Global Humanities // Master i Social B?redygtighed (DA) master - further education

Research from Roskilde University 

Research - overview

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More about the research centre

Learn more about Centre for Social Sustainability

The research centre on the Roskilde University Research Portal

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Contact

Katia Dupret
Associate tt备用网址
Phone: +45 4674 3666 
katia@ruc.dk