Work Experience at the Stockholm Environment

Institute (SEI)

Adam John – Brown bag talk13th November 2014At the Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies (IKDPM)Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)

Mission – Provide independent policy analysis based on science-based evidence to decision-makers

Scope – International, national and local

Target audience – academia, policymakers, private sector, media, NGOs, local communities

Funding – mainly for the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), new researchers bring funds to SEI also

SEI - An environment and development research institute

Seven research centres globally Main centre in Stockholm Management includes SEI director, centre directors, policy and research directors, finance, communications and human resource directors

Three divisions, however a shift in importance to four key themes. ◦ Managing environmental systems◦ Reducing climate risk◦ Transforming governance◦ Rethinking development

Each has a theme leader and co-theme leaders

Organisational structure

Researchers: ◦ academic and non-academic ◦ natural sciences and social sciences ◦ public and private sector ◦ every continent

Project managers, communications, finance, human resources, editors, librarian, interns◦ Interns usually given 3 month placements

A lot of interaction between everyone – professionally and socially◦ Communications and editors often involved in projects◦ Finance and human resources follow projects closely

SEI themes are overarching so multi-disciplinary

Personnel

Open plan office space – no designated place for staff except for admin

Two floors – Quiet zone downstairs Several meeting/discussion rooms including Skype meetings

Phone booths for telephone discussions Schedule rotation for keeping kitchen tidy Working hours very flexible –

◦ working away from office is common◦ Individuals up to meeting deadlines with little surveillence from top management

Working culture

Bi-monthly staff meetings at each centre◦ Everyone attends – researchers and admin◦ Updates given by centre, research and admin directors, and theme leaders (duration 1-1.5 hrs)

Bi-monthly division meetings◦ Everyone updates on what they have been doing, including interns

◦ Usually only 50% attendence Theme groups across centres meet for workshops twice a year

Frequent presentations over lunch – Brown bag talks◦ Researchers presenting recent work◦ Inviting outside speakers to present◦ Interns present their work with SEI◦ Also informal discussions about ideas for potential projects after work

Staff meetings/discussions

Mixture of publication types based on who the audience is

Policy briefs and discussion briefs valued more than journal articles◦ More relevant to decision makers and other stakeholders

Researchers publish one or two journal articles a year◦ But, in well respected journals and they collaborate in lots of other publication types

SEI founded journal Climate and Development in 2007 Two full-time editors for reviewing all publications

Output - Publications

Always collaborates with other institutes and other stakeholders, both international and local or large and small-scale setting

Examples:◦ A member of the Independent Research Forum (IRF2015) – Providing policy suggestions to UN for forming the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015

◦ Developing and allocating gas cooking stoves to rural communities in Kenya

◦ Developing simulation tools for managing water and energy resources sustainabily. E.g WEAP, LEAP

◦ Providing forums for stakeholders to discuss about adapting to climate change E.g weADAPT

Output – Projects and Policy Tools

A user-friendly software tool that takes an integrated approach to water management

Allocating water to different sectors, integrating supply, demand, water quality and ecological considerations

Runs policy scenarios to assist in water management decision making

Collaboration between SEI, UN, World Bank, USAID, EPA, etc and applied in over a dozen countries

WEAP – Water evaluation and planning systems

weADAPT

Frequent, daily updates on recent SEI publications, projects, SEI staff participating in events

Policy briefs and othe publications disseminated at lots of high profile events like UNFCCC

SEI posts videos of their events on their website Twitter is used a lot! Especially when attending events

Communicating output

An international annual survey of academics, policymakers and NGOs ranked SEI as the second most influential environment think tank in the world behind the Washington-based World Natural Resources

Usually, other organisations approach SEI to participate in projects and SEI is quite selective in the projects it decides to participate in

SEI’s reputation

Thanks for your attention

I look forward to your questions!