Research

Tallinn University Launches SustainERA Project for Sustainable Future Research

Tallinn, January 27 – Today marked the official launch of SustainERA, a ground-breaking research project aimed at advancing sustainable future studies, hosted at Tallinn University. With a significant grant of €2.5 million from the European Commission's Horizon Europe ERA Chair programme, the project focuses on examining people's attitudes and behaviours in the context of sustainability.

SustainERA avaüritus

The opening ceremony featured remarks from Tallinn University Rector Tõnu Viik and Vice-Rector for Research Katrin Niglas, who expressed their best wishes for the project team’s success. The event also included an overview of the project presented by Anu Realo, head of the SustainERA research group and professor of sustainable future studies at Tallinn University and Warwick University.

Professor Realo emphasized the importance of incorporating human attitudes and values into sustainability planning, which has traditionally prioritized technological solutions. "You have to focus on how people see the world, what they consider important. In our project, we focus on people and their attitudes," Realo explained.

She highlighted Estonia as a unique case study, describing it as both a cultural crossroads and a nation that shows a striking dissonance between its sustainable development achievements and public awareness of these topics. "From a national perspective, we are exceptionally successful in achieving sustainable goals. However, looking at what people know and think about these topics, the situation is the opposite. It's an interesting dissonance."

The project focuses on three key areas:

  • Focus on individuals
  • Education as a key driver
  • Focus on Estonia on the global context

An interdisciplinary approach forms the backbone of SustainERA, integrating expertise from psychology, education, politics, environmental sciences, behavioural sciences, and human geography. The team also includes four doctoral and postdoctoral researchers, selected through a global recruitment process.

Professor Kai Pata, the project manager and leader of SustainERA, underscored the importance of collaboration across disciplines. "By combining these fields with environmental ecology, we can address sustainability challenges holistically," she noted. 

The project also supports the emergence of a new generation of researchers. “For this purpose, capacity building work packages have been created, which include, among other things, work with doctoral students, organizing summer and winter schools for early-career researchers, and project writing workshops,” explained Professor Pata.

Other Tallinn University researchers involved in the project also spoke at the opening event: Grete Arro, Mari-Liis Jakobson, Leif Kalev, Jaanus Terasmaa, Katrin Männik, Terje Väljataga, Tarmo Pikner. 

The SustainERA project is funded by the European Commission's Horizon Europe ERA Chair measure with 2.5 million euros and will last five years. The main goal of the project is to create an interdisciplinary research group for sustainable futures studies at Tallinn University and thereby promote high-level research competence and capacity in this field both at the university and in Estonia more broadly.

The project is led and coordinated by the School of Educational Sciences of Tallinn University. Three other institutes of Tallinn University are involved – the School of Humanities, the School of Natural Sciences and Health, and the School of Governance, Law, and Society.

Read more about the project