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When one plus one equals three

It’s exciting to see how combining different areas makes both areas stronger – a genuine case of one plus one equals three. For instance when KTH’s technical and scientific disciplines come together with research environments in the humanities, social sciences and economics. These meeting are something that add a lot of value to KTH.

One example among many is the Environmental Humanities Lab, which is now a research centre at KTH. The lab conducts analyses from an experimental approach based on a raft of different human and social science theories, in an endeavour to find answers to the global challenges society is facing. This could be anything from political ecology and migration, to the role of cities in the climate transition.

Or industrial economics and organisation at the intersection between economics/management and engineering/science, highlighting areas such as logistics, production management and entrepreneurialism.

Interdisciplinary collaborations like these are ever more important in dealing with the increasingly complex issues the world is facing today. It is therefore crucial that we have these combined environments also at KTH, and I hope they can be even more successful.

The mixture of heavy engineering and humanities/social sciences can be found in many places around the world, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT. At KTH too, we have a tradition in history of technology that is crucial in broadening perspectives in research and education.