David Olsson

David Olsson is an associate professor in political science. He is an active researcher at two research centers: center for societal risk research (CSR) and center for social science didactics (CSD). Currently, David is also a researcher in three externally financed projects: (1) Impact Assessment for Action Competence (IMP>ACT), an EU financed horizon project, in which he does research on instruments to assess and evaluate learning for an active citizenship (so called Action Competence) related to sustainable development and climate change, and; (3) Cross-border climate resilience through collaborative learning modules and digital transformation (INCREDILAB), an EU financed Interreg project, in which his research is focused on the development of a so called serious game with the purpose of increasing cross-border climate change adaptation.

David did his PhD-thesis on the governing of climate change adaptation in Sweden.

David has also conducted research in the reseach project Resilience in Sweden: Governing, Social Networks and Learning (RISE) funded by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the school development project Education, Learning, Research (Swedish: Utbildning, Lärande, Forskning, ULF) focused on professional development for teachers in primary and secondary education, and in research on the role of Swedish regions in the EU.

David has teaching experience in, among other things, environmental politics, democratic resilience, policy analysis, public administration, international politics, methods in political science (qualitative and quantitative), organization theory and spatial planning.

Most of the cooperation that David is involved in takes place through Risklab®, which is an environment at Karlstad university for developing and disseminating knowledge about societal risks. 

Olsson, D. (2022) From Technocracy to Democracy: Ways to Promote Democratic Engagement for Just Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Building. Sustainability,14,1433. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031433

Olsson, D. (2021) Empowering political engagement with unsustainable actions: the possibilities and limitations of teaching guides for climate change education, Environmental Education Research, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2021.2007221

Olsson, D. (2021) Facilitating democratic processes for sustainability: the possibilities and limitations of teaching guides for climate change education, Environmental Education Research, DOI: 10.1080/13504622.2021.1994927

Olsson, D., Öjehag- Pettersson, A., Granberg, M. (2021) Building a Sustainable Society: Construction, Public Procurement Policy and ‘Best Practice’ in the European Union. Sustainability,13,7142. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137142

Olsson. D & Öjehag-Pettersson, A. (2020) Buying a sustainable society: the case of public procurement in Sweden, Local Environment, 25(9), 681-696, DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2020.1820471

Olsson, D. (2020) The Transformative Potential of Resilience Thinking: How It Could Transform Unsustainable Economic Rationalities, Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 45(2), 102–120, DOI: 10.1177/0304375420938284

Olsson, D. (2019) Improving Teaching and Learning Together: A Literature Review of Professional Learning Communities, Research Report, Karlstad: Karlstad University Studies

Olsson, D. (2018) Conditions of 'Sustainability': The Case of Climate Change Adaptation in Sweden, Doctoral Thesis (monograph), Karlstad: Karlstad University Studies