Who gets what and why - this question is what drives Professor Lisa Dellmuth

Lisa Dellmuth is Professor of International Relations at Stockholm University and leader of work package four, focusing on policy and governance. In this short interview, she highlights what research she and her colleagues will explore in the programme, and what drives her as a researcher.

Lisa Dellmuth is Professor of International Relations at Stockholm University and leader of the research work package focusing on policy and governance.

What will you focus on in your work package?

Our work package studies the domestic and global governance of critical raw minerals. We will analyse the governance of supply chains for critical raw minerals since the 1970s, focusing on how domestic and global policies and governance arrangements have developed, how business actors, civil society, policymakers, and experts perceive trade-offs and solutions in the low carbon transition, and how we can improve current governance arrangements.

How would you like your research to be used?

The results will be relevant for understanding and governing trade-offs for critical raw minerals, such as Copper and Lithium, and other mineral supply chains, too. The reasons for the trade-offs between global sustainability transitions and adverse distributive consequences, policies and governance arrangements can be the same for other minerals as well. Ideally, practitioners reach out to us for conversations, meetings, and co-creating knowledge.

Who can gain from your results?

Our research will be relevant for business actors, civil society, and policymakers, both in Sweden and beyond, who want to understand how critical raw materials are governed. We will help to foresee how governance might be impacted by geopolitics, demand and supply, and different political strategies and interests. We will also co-create innovative governance solutions.

Why is this field of research important?

In the governance of critical raw materials, decisions are urgent, yet the understandings of the problem and the associated trade-offs, are uncertain. A hallmark of our programme is that we develop an understanding of different problem representations by involving several stakeholders, enhancing the prospect of innovation. Moreover, in the academic literature on politics and governance, we lack studies that map, explain, and evaluate the emerging domestic and global governance for critical materials.

What drives you as a researcher?

“The questions of ‘who gets what and why’, and people’s perceptions of how societies distribute resources, has always fascinated me. This is because I am interested in helping to provide robust knowledge about what explains the distributive consequences of domestic and global politics, including the politics of global sustainability transitions, and how we can distribute benefits and burdens in fair and environmentally sustainable ways.