MFS National Conference 2026

During the conference, eighteen students from ten higher education institutions shared experiences and findings from their Minor Field Studies (MFS) conducted during 2024/2025, offering unique, field-based insights into development work.

The conference opened with an introduction by Jane Reichel, Vice President of Stockholm University, who was also previously a faculty representative for Law in the MFS central committee. She emphasized the importance of the MFS programme, which over the years has given the opportunity to thousands of students to travel around the world, carry out field studies in a wide range of subjects, and gain first-hand insight into what development cooperation looks like in practice.

First Panel: Women Shaping Colombia – Economic Empowerment and Social Change

The first panel brought together students who explored how women in Colombia contribute to social change and economic development in contexts marked by inequality, environmental vulnerability, and post-conflict conditions. The panel was moderated by Emma Nilenfors, Head of the Latin America Unit at Sida.

Hanna from Stockholm University conducted a study in Medellín on how female leaders, known as lideresas, take on informal leadership roles in addressing social and environmental challenges in their local communities. Felicia from Uppsala University presented a project on gender disparities in access to capital, highlighting how corruption affects women’s opportunities to finance entrepreneurship. Sofia from Linköping University examined the reintegration process of former female FARC-EP leaders and the role of the government agency ARN.

The panel also included a comparative perspective from Argentina, where Klara from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences analyzed women’s involvement in environmental governance in the Buenos Aires region.

The discussion highlighted both the obstacles women face in contributing to sustainable development, peacebuilding, and economic growth—such as violence, corruption, and limited institutional support—and the resources and strategies they bring, including care-based leadership and locally rooted solutions. The projects underscored the importance of integrating local community knowledge into planning processes and designing gender-aware policies that recognize and support these actors’ roles.

A recurring reflection also concerned the research process itself: several students described expectations from fieldwork participants for tangible outcomes or feedback. This highlights the importance of research not only as a means of documenting experiences, but also as a tool for driving change by bringing forward perspectives that might otherwise fail to reach

Poster Session

Following the first panel, a poster session featured seven projects. Thematically, these addressed issues such as young women’s identity formation in Indonesia; mental health in relation to food insecurity; health and well-being in India; access to emergency healthcare in Addis Ababa; social work in Thailand; disaster preparedness in Guatemala; and youth engagement in ecotourism in Bolivia. The posters are presented below along with their project titles and the students’ names.

Closing Panel: Sustainable Growth and the Green Transition in Africa

The closing panel, moderated by Gonzalo Pozo Martin, Associate Professor of International Relations at Stockholm University, brought together projects that in various ways addressed sustainable growth and the green transition in African contexts.

The panel featured several projects approaching sustainability and green transition from different perspectives. Gilda from Stockholm University examined the consequences of excluding local knowledge from development processes, using a case study from Mauritius. Jakob from Lund University focused on how machine learning can be used in anti-poaching efforts through cost-effective technological solutions. From the same university, Kwasi presented a project on how unfinished building structures can be repurposed and integrated into local contexts in Ghana.

Elias from the Stockholm School of Economics presented a study on digital credit in Kenya and its effects on household welfare. Johanna from Stockholm University analyzed the relationship between public debt, health expenditure, and investments in renewable energy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, Vera, also from Stockholm University, examined how so-called “challenge funds” function as a development mechanism in Kenya, focusing on the interplay between market-based solutions and local ownership.

The discussion emphasized the importance of long-term perspectives in development efforts, noting that short-term priorities risk creating instability and disruptions in local processes. It also illustrated how field studies can challenge initial research assumptions. One example described a project that initially focused on abandoned buildings but evolved into an analysis of unfinished structures after it became clear that these were already being used by local communities.

My project initially focused on abandoned buildings but evolved into an analysis of unfinished structures after it became clear that these were already being used by local communities.

 - Kwasi Adjavon

From Field Studies to Practice: Lessons from the Conference

The purpose of the MFS programme is to share the knowledge that students collect through their field studies. The conference provided a concrete illustration of what this means in practice. Through the students’ presentations, it became clear how their position—characterized by proximity to the field and relative independence—offers insights into local experiences, challenges, and solutions that might otherwise go unheard. When these perspectives are linked to institutional work, a more nuanced understanding of development issues emerges.

The conference also demonstrated the value of bringing together students, researchers, and development cooperation practitioners to exchange experiences and perspectives. Involving society more broadly in this knowledge exchange is particularly important at a time when priorities within development cooperation are shifting in political debate.

Contact details for participating students and theses available for download