Jesper Larsson receives a consolidation grant from the European Research Council

Of this year's total of 2,130 applicants, 308 researchers were awarded a consolidation grant by the ERC. The funding aims to support excellent researchers at a stage of their career where they can still consolidate their independent research teams to pursue their most promising scientific ideas.

- I am overwhelmed and very happy. This proves that the agricultural history research at SLU meets the highest international standards, says Jesper Larsson.

Over the next five years, Jesper Larsson will receive 1,989,816 euros for his project, which focuses on how people manage natural resources and how a change in use affects social relations, the economy, and institutions in society.

- This research project is about a profound change in natural resource management in northern Eurasia, from the Atlantic in the west to the Bering Strait and the Pacific in the east when people in a hunting and fishing economy with small reindeer herds transition to reindeer pastoralism with hundreds and sometimes thousands of domestic reindeer. The project examines a fundamental change in the transition from a food-gathering to a food-producing economy and how that change affects people, says Jesper Larsson.

By studying the Sámi-people´s use of natural resources from the year 1550 to the year 1800, the project examines how indigenous people dealt with the transition.

- Even though my research is basic research, I am convinced that deeper knowledge about how people build institutions to manage natural resources is one of the most important issues of our time. Historical research contributes to a better understanding of our own time, says Jesper Larsson.