Annual Report 2024

Words from the Director

Reflecting on my first year as LUCSUS Director, we must first acknowledge the urgent societal and environmental challenges and conflicts confronting us. Academia faces increasing political pressure to be more societally relevant and impactful, while societal trust in higher education institutions continues to decline. Additionally, LUCSUS is facing organisational rationalisation as part of a larger reorganisaton at the Social Science faculty. All of these pressures have implications for the unique organisation and culture we have worked so hard to build over the past 25 years. 

Learning the ropes of directorship has been both exciting and challenging during the first year. Reflecting on the year, several lessons have been learned in leading an academic organisation. 

First, being physically present for staff is essential for effective leadership. Being available for staff to discuss and solve the myriad matters that come up during an average day is key to keeping operations running smoothly. In addition, devoting the necessary time to my role as director is important in managing the ever increasing responsibilities that are involved in efficiently managing the organisation. Finally, and not one of my strong character traits, I have learned to have patience with the process of organisational development. This has meant needing to devote much more time to certain issues. However, this has meant we are a much stronger and hopefully better organisation because of it. 

If there is an area that I can say I am most proud of, it is the recreation of a positive, energetic and collaborative research and educational working environment at LUCSUS. This achievement is a testament to the dedication, hard work and devotion of our staff members, not only in performing their daily research, teaching, impact and administration activities, but also taking the time in manifesting a caring and supportive academic workplace for each other. As we look ahead to the coming year, I am excited about continuing to foster a vibrant and growing academic workplace at LUCSUS. Especially as LUCSUS celebrates its 25 years of existence throughout 2025. 

Thank you for your continued support and commitment to LUCSUS. Together, we will navigate the challenges and continue to thrive as a leading academic institution. 

/Barry Ness

LUCUS strive to generate theoretically innovative and empirically rigorous sustainability research to guide policy and practice to create meaningful social change. LUCSUS research tackles social and environmental challenges through five research themes.

LUCSUS Research Themes

• Climate Change & Resilience

• Land Use, Governance and Development

• Urban Governance and Transformation

• Energy Justice and Sustainability of Energy Systems

• Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management