My Sellberg’s research focus is on transformations to sustainable and resilient food systems, and how to apply resilience thinking in societal and environmental planning, from local to regional levels

In her PhD, Sellberg used participatory case studies of resilience practice in different contexts; mainly in the Stockholm-Mälaren region in Sweden, but also in Australia. The aim of her PhD was to advance understanding of how to apply resilience thinking and strengthen its potential to contribute to sustainability transformations. Her starting point is a method for resilience assessment, developed by the Resilience Alliance. Among various tools and guides to operationalize resilience, the resilience assessment, is one of few initiatives that is firmly based in social-ecological resilience research. The latest online guide to resilience practice, which Sellberg helped to review, is Wayfinder.

Her PhD was part of SEEN, a project on social-ecological dynamics of ecosystem services in the Norrström basin, i.e. the Stockholm-Mälaren region. The SEEN project is connected to other local-regional case studies of social-ecological systems around the world through the Program on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS).

In her current work, Sellberg is developing a pilot training programme in resilience practice aimed at civil servants from municipalities, county councils, and regions in Sweden. The project will pave the way for utilizing resilience practice approaches and methods within strategic societal planning in Swedish governance organizations.

Sellberg’s research is transdisciplinary in that it engages actors outside of academia. Through her case studies, Sellberg has collaborated with the Transition Movement, Eskilstuna municipality, and different food actors in the Stockholm-Mälaren region. The longest collaboration has been with Eskilstuna municipality, where she was involved in a project to test resilience assessment as a method within strategic municipal planning. The project focused on the resilience of food systems and resulted in the development of a municipal plan on the topic. From this project, she became interested in transformations to resilient and sustainable food systems. In a more recent participatory case study, she engaged diverse food actors to develop a positive scenario for food in the Stockholm-Mälaren region. The study was part of the ongoing sustainability science project Seeds of a Good Anthropocene.

Sellberg has a MSc in Sustainability from the Social-Ecological Resilience for Sustainable Development programme at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, and a BSc in Environmental Science at Lund University. Sellberg also has a background as the chairman of Lund Students for Sustainability (2009–2010) and as an environmental consultant within sustainable business development (2011–2013).

Awards and achievements:

• Successfully defended her PhD thesis in October 2018
• Co-authored a report for Eskilstuna municipality on the resilience of their food system
• Chaired the SRC PhD council 2015–2016