Award for research that can’t be pigeonholed into a single discipline

Text: Gaby Allheilig

Anyone who dips into Gabi Sonderegger’s dissertation will have to expand their vocabulary by two terms. First, there are the spillover effects: the consequences of an action or decision that impact other actors or locations beyond the original scope of influence.

Then, in conversation with her, the term telecoupling soon comes up. The concept facilitates analysis of socio-economic and ecological interactions between geographically distant regions that are connected, for example, through trade.

And we learn what interests Gabi Sonderegger about this: “During my work and research before my doctoral studies, I noticed that people in rural areas of the global South often experienced negative consequences due to external decisions and interventions affecting the use of their land.”

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This was the case on a small island off the coast of Sumatra, for example. Together with an Indonesian team, she wanted to research the sustainability of local agricultural systems. “Just as we were about to start our investigations, a land conflict escalated: An international paper and pulp company had acquired a large land concession from the Indonesian government that covered about a third of the island.” The local population resisted, travelling to the capital Jakarta to demonstrate, with some even sewing their lips shut. For the young researcher, it was a profound experience: “I wondered why the environmental impact assessment process hadn’t worked, why the local population hadn’t been adequately involved in the decision-making process, where the paper produced on the island would ultimately be marketed, whether it would be certified, etc. That’s when it struck me how enormously important transnational flows are.”

Then, when she saw an advertisement for a doctoral position in Bern that involved precisely such issues, she knew she had to apply. Moreover, in the years she worked after completing her master’s degree, it dawned on her that “research was and remains my passion.”

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A brief biography: After completing her Bachelor’s in Geography in Bern and her Master’s in Sustainable Development at Utrecht University, which included research in Indonesia and Ghana, she worked for the Netherlands Commission for Environmental Assessment. This was followed by jobs at the German international development agency GIZ in Bolivia, the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, and the University of Antwerp. She also worked for a Dutch NGO in northern Nicaragua. “There, I spontaneously replaced someone on the team who considered the project too risky. I seized the opportunity and conducted interviews with the local population along the Río Coco.”

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She doesn’t say that she loves such challenges. But it quickly becomes clear when she talks about her dissertation. The plan was for her to travel to Laos and conduct field research – that is, gather data – in order to investigate the spillover effects of coffee production. “I had done a lot of reading, was well prepared, and my bags were packed.” Just before she was due to leave, Covid hit and threw everything into disarray.

“The lockdown lasted too long for me to wait. So, I had to change the emphasis of my work.” The focus shifted to sustainability standards that seek to tackle problems like biodiversity loss, deforestation, or social inequalities. And Gabi Sonderegger asked to what extent these standards consider the ecological and socio-economic spillover effects of agricultural production.

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Question: “How do you deal with so much complexity?”

Answer: “Sustainability problems are just complex. I don’t think that we should allow ourselves to be put off by the complexity – especially in research. If researchers don’t engage with it, who will?”

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The dissertation provided an opportunity to dive into a new dimension of complexity. Gabi Sonderegger didn’t just investigate a couple of sustainability standards and one or two spillover effects. No, she looked at 100 key standards in the field of agriculture and 21 ecological, social, and economic spillover effects. “In the beginning, I didn’t know how complex it would really get and how challenging it would be to deal with it – in particular, when you want to do it systematically. But that’s a demand I place upon myself: If you’re going to do something, do it right.”

As a sustainability researcher, this also means that she wants to contribute to possible solutions. “Generating knowledge for decision-makers is what drives me.” So, she discussed her results with organizations that define voluntary sustainability standards and made them aware of their shortcomings. “The standards do take account of spillover effects in their sustainability criteria, but they often mainly refer to the environmental domain. There are clear gaps when it comes to socio-economic spillover effects.” For example, little attention is paid to how labour migration impacts the places of origin and the families of migrant workers.

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It was important to her to be able to bring such issues to the table in dialogue with standard-setting organizations. “Not because I think that the standards should necessarily be expanded in order to close the identified gaps.” Because sustainability standards can only cover part of the spillover effects; the rest has to be addressed by other instruments like government measures or landscape initiatives.

In her conversations with practitioners, her goal was rather to make spillovers more visible and to spark discussions within the organizations: What dimensions should sustainability standards cover? Where exactly do they want to achieve impacts? And what don’t they cover?

“In research, we need to uncover the weaknesses of existing instruments. But we can’t just criticize; we also have to try to work together with experts in the field to develop solutions that are realistic and meaningful,” she is convinced.

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And how was her vocabulary received there? Gabi Sonderegger laughs. “I knew that I couldn’t start with terms like telecoupling or spillovers. So, I created visualizations of these concepts to guide and enrich the discussions with practitioners. And that worked very well.”

Indeed, her innovative visualization method was deemed worthy of special recognition by the judges of the Environmental Research Award.

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Receiving this award for her work is a very meaningful gesture of recognition for Gabi Sonderegger, “also because it was a long and hard road.” From a professional viewpoint, she’s happy that this gives transdisciplinary research and collaboration greater visibility, “because it’s a form of research that can’t be pigeonholed into a single discipline.” And she hopes that it will “further inspire discussion around sustainability governance from the perspective of a networked, global world.”