Merlina Missimer

Merlina Missimer is a Senior Lecturer/Docent in the Department of Strategic Sustainable Development at Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH), Faculty of Engineering, located in Karlskrona, Sweden. Her primary research domain focuses on Strategic Sustainable Development, with particular emphasis on sustainability leadership education and transformative learning approaches.

Dr. Missimer's research interests span across several interconnected domains of sustainability. She specializes in transformative learning for sustainability leadership, investigating how educational programs can foster the development of leaders capable of driving systemic change toward sustainability. Her work explores intrapersonal capacities necessary for sustainability leadership, including the ability to hold complexity, foster a learning mindset, deeply value others, show up as one's full self, regulate the self, persist with lightness, and ensure wellbeing. She also investigates social sustainability in both municipal and business contexts, examining how organizations implement sustainability practices and how eco-municipalities structure their sustainability work.

Analysis of Dr. Missimer's recent publications reveals a strong focus on educational approaches for sustainability leadership. Her work demonstrates how specific components—community, place, pedagogy, concepts and content, disorientation, and hope and agency—when integrated synergistically, create transformative learning experiences. She has made significant contributions to understanding how sustainability education can develop intrapersonal capacities in learners, which are essential for navigating the complexity of sustainability challenges. Her research bridges theoretical frameworks with practical applications in both academic and organizational settings.

Dr. Missimer has served as a supervisor for doctoral students, including Jayne Bryant (2023) for the thesis "Education for Sustainability Leadership: Supporting and empowering agents for sustainability transformations" and James Ayers (2024) for "Education to Enhance Leaders' Capabilities to Lead Effectively in Complexity towards Sustainability." Her supervisory work focuses on developing educational approaches that build leadership capacity for sustainability transformations, with particular attention to intrapersonal development and transformative learning processes.