Philosophy of science, risk communication, decision-making, ontology
54
Scopus Publications
3724
Scholar Citations
24
Scholar h-index
44
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Rivers in transition: Local perceptions of a Swedish dam removal Emma Gudmundson, Sanna Stålhammar, Henrik Thorén, John J. Piccolo, Johannes Persson, P. Anders Nilsson, Gary Brierley, Anna Scaini Ambio, 2026 Effective and locally supported river restoration requires attention to the social dimensions of rivers. This paper examines local perceptions of hydropower and restoration in the river Rönne å, an early case under Sweden’s National Plan for Modern Environmental Conditions for Hydropower. A mixed-methods approach, including a questionnaire and qualitative interviews, explores how inhabitants relate to their river and view the removal of three low-production dams, offering one of the most detailed assessments of stakeholder values in a Swedish hydropower river. The findings reveal important tensions between energy production and ecological restoration: While hydropower retains cultural legitimacy, support declines when ecological costs outweigh energy benefits. The river holds strong recreational, cultural, and symbolic meanings, embedding dam removals in broader sociocultural contexts rather than solely technical or ecological. These findings highlight the importance of participatory efforts and governance that align ecological goals with the diverse ways people relate to rivers.
Horticultural practices of invasive plants: insights into priorities, awareness, and management among garden owners C. Palmér, A. Wallin, J. Persson, K. Blennow Biological Invasions, 2025 Ornamental horticultural plants in domestic gardens can constitute a substantial dispersal pool of potentially invasive species. Understanding garden owners' preferences when selecting plants, their awareness of dispersal pathways and how they manage their gardens is critical for effective invasive species control. This study used a survey to investigate Swedish garden owners' (n = 743) plant selection priorities, awareness of invasive species dispersal pathways, and management methods across three biosphere reserves in different bio-climatic regions in Sweden. Results show that garden owners prioritise aesthetics, practical characteristics, such as habitat suitability, hardiness, and biodiversity benefits, such as pollinator support, over geographical origin when selecting plants. Management methods perceived as effective, such as hand weeding and digging, were used more frequently than methods such as hot water and salt, which were considered less effective or whose efficiency was uncertain to the respondents. Gardening interest was significantly associated with both ecological knowledge and preference for biodiversity-supporting benefits. Our findings suggest the need for targeted communication strategies that account for regional geographical and gardening variations, plant-specific information, and actual management method effectiveness. These insights can lead to effective stakeholder engagement in invasive species management in domestic gardens.
What could existential sustainability be? A conceptual study of existential dimensions of sustainability Johannes Persson Plos Sustainability and Transformation, 2024 The term “existential” is nowadays used in connection with different kinds of threat, risk and hazard–sustainability discourse included. Loss of certain forms of existence, potential, conditions and values have all been claimed to be incompatible with existential dimensions of sustainability (or “existential sustainability”, for short). In order to clarify the notion(s) of existential sustainability, two recently more discussed concepts–‘existential threat’ and ‘existential risk’–are used for comparison and contrast. With increased popularity comes the risk of conflating uses of “existential” in the sense of the meaning (fulness) of human existence and “existential” in the sense of the very existence (or annihilation) of something. It is suggested that the concept of existential might usefully be pushed in the direction of managing (the risk of) permanent or irreparable consequences related to different levels of aggregation.
Perceptions of Clinical Experience and Scientific Evidence in Medical Decision Making: A Survey of a Stratified Random Sample of Swedish Health Care Professionals Barry Dewitt, Johannes Persson, Annika Wallin Medical Decision Making, 2024 Background Evidence-based medicine recognizes that clinical expertise gained through experience is essential to good medical practice. However, it is not known what beliefs clinicians hold about how personal clinical experience and scientific knowledge contribute to their clinical decision making and how those beliefs vary between professions, which themselves vary along relevant characteristics, such as their evidence base. Design We investigate how years in the profession influence health care professionals’ beliefs about science and their clinical experience through surveys administered to random samples of Swedish physicians, nurses, occupational therapists, dentists, and dental hygienists. The sampling frame was each profession’s most recent occupational registry. Results Participants ( N = 1,627, 46% response rate) viewed science as more important for decision making, more certain, and more systematic than experience. Differences among the professions were greatest for systematicity, where physicians saw the largest gap between the 2 types of knowledge across all levels of professional experience. The effect of years in the profession varied; it had little effect on assessments of importance across all professions but otherwise tended to decrease the difference between assessments of science and experience. Physicians placed the greatest emphasis on science over clinical experience among the 5 professions surveyed. Conclusions Health care professions appear to share some attitudes toward professional knowledge, despite the variation in the age of the professions and the scientific knowledge base available to practitioners. Training and policy making about clinical decision making might improve by accounting for the ways in which knowledge is understood across the professions. Highlights Study participants, representing 5 health care professions—medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, dentistry, and dental hygiene—viewed science as more important for decision making, more certain, and more systematic than their personal clinical experience. Of all the professions represented in the study, physicians saw the greatest differences between the 2 types of knowledge. The effect of years of professional experience varied but tended to be small, attenuating the differences seen between science and clinical experience.
Effective communications on invasive alien species: Identifying communication needs of Swedish domestic garden owners C. Palmér, A. Wallin, J. Persson, M. Aronsson, K. Blennow Journal of Environmental Management, 2023 Invasive alien species threaten biodiversity with domestic gardens acting as a major pathway for the introduction of alien species. Even though the Nordic region is not currently a hotspot for biological invasions, the number of invasions in the Nordic area has been predicted to increase due to climate change. Given a time lag between introduction and invasion, many non-invasive horticultural alien species already introduced into gardens may become invasive in the future. This study aimed to identify the communication needs of Swedish garden owners regarding their management of invasive alien species. A survey among domestic garden owners, informed by topic specialists and local area experts, and interviews with garden owners were conducted in three different bio-climatic areas in a latitudinal gradient across Sweden. The questions targeted invasive alien species and their relations to biodiversity loss and climate change, as well as measures taken to control these species. Analysing the survey data collected in relation to measures taken to control invasive species, Bayesian Additive Regression Tree (BART) modelling was used to identify geographically varying communication needs of the domestic garden owners. In all study areas, the garden owners' measures taken to control invasive alien species were correlated with their strength of beliefs in having experienced local biodiversity loss. A majority of the garden owners were, moreover, uncertain about the impact of climate change on the invasiveness of alien species. In addition, the garden owners' capacity for identifying invasive alien species was often in need of improvement, in particular with respect to the species Impatiens glandulifera, Reynoutria japonica and Rosa rugosa. The results suggest that the evidence-based guidelines for effective communications we developed, have the potential to help communicators meet the local communication needs of garden owners across Sweden, in relation to the management of invasive alien garden species.
Certainty and systematicity of practice-derived evidence matter for its relative importance in professional decision-making: Survey results on the role of proven experience in Swedish medicine, nursing, OT, dentistry, and dental hygiene Johannes Persson, Annika Wallin, Barry Dewitt, Lena Wahlberg International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances, 2022 High-quality healthcare decisions need to balance input from science and clinical practice. When two sources of evidence — such as scientific and practice-derived evidence — are compared, integrated, or need to stand-in for one another, they need to be comparable on similar dimensions. Since 1891, Swedish physicians have been operating under a legal requirement to base their healthcare decisions on science and “proven experience” (approximately clinical expertise), and today all healthcare personnel in Sweden fall under this legal requirement. We investigated the dynamics between these two kinds of evidence with respect to importance, systematicity, and certainty by studying Swedish healthcare professionals. Survey to professionals; document studies of political discourse. In this study, a survey was sent to simple random samples of Swedish professionals in medicine, nursing, occupational therapy, dentistry, and dental hygiene, asking about the roles of science and proven experience in medical decision making. Outcome measures were how important, certain, and systematic science and proven experience are for successful medical decision making. The sampling frame was each profession's most recent occupational registry accessed by the Swedish federal statistical agency. 3500 surveys were distributed. 1626 surveys were returned. 26 participants were removed prior to analysis (exclusion criteria: more than one profession indicated, missing certificate, and mistake in stratum). The final sample consisted of 295 physicians, 300 nurses, 365 occupational therapists, 339 dentists, and 301 hygienists. 162 responses in questions used as variables in the analyses were either uninterpretable or empty; those were replaced with the modal response for a given participant's profession on a given question. In the study, proven experience's perceived importance for clinical decision making is positively correlated with its certainty and systematicity, and an increased certainty and systematicity is positively correlated with a diminished difference in importance between science and proven experience for almost all professions surveyed in this study. Proven experience has an evidentiary role in clinical decision making, and this role depends in part on its certainty and systematicity. Notably, this makes the EBM-based perspective that practice-derived knowledge is primarily of implementation value less plausible.
Confidence levels and likelihood terms in IPCC reports: a survey of experts from different scientific disciplines A. Kause, W. Bruine de Bruin, J. Persson, H. Thorén, L. Olsson, A. Wallin, S. Dessai, N. Vareman Climatic Change, 2022 Scientific assessments, such as those by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), inform policymakers and the public about the state of scientific evidence and related uncertainties. We studied how experts from different scientific disciplines who were authors of IPCC reports, interpret the uncertainty language recommended in the Guidance Note for Lead Authors of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report on Consistent Treatment of Uncertainties. This IPCC guidance note discusses how to use confidence levels to describe the quality of evidence and scientific agreement, as well likelihood terms to describe the probability intervals associated with climate variables. We find that (1) physical science experts were more familiar with the IPCC guidance note than other experts, and they followed it more often; (2) experts’ confidence levels increased more with perceptions of evidence than with agreement; (3) experts’ estimated probability intervals for climate variables were wider when likelihood terms were presented with “medium confidence” rather than with “high confidence” and when seen in context of IPCC sentences rather than out of context, and were only partly in agreement with the IPCC guidance note. Our findings inform recommendations for communications about scientific evidence, assessments, and related uncertainties.
Ethics of Probabilistic Extreme Event Attribution in Climate Change Science: A Critique Lennart Olsson, Henrik Thorén, David Harnesk, Johannes Persson Earth S Future, 2022 The question whether a single extreme climate event, such as a hurricane or heatwave, can be attributed to human induced climate change has become a vibrant field of research and discussion in recent years. Proponents of the most common approach (probabilistic event attribution) argue for using single event attribution for advancing climate policy, not least in the context of loss and damages, while critics are raising concerns about inductive risks which may result in misguided policies. Here, we present six ethical predicaments, rooted in epistemic choices of single event attribution for policy making, with a focus on problems related to loss and damage. Our results show that probabilistic event attribution is particularly sensitive to these predicaments, rendering the choice of method value laden and hence political. Our review shows how the putatively apolitical approach becomes political and deeply problematic from a climate justice perspective. We also suggest that extreme event attribution (EEA) is becoming more and more irrelevant for projecting loss and damages as socio‐ecological systems are increasingly destabilized by climate change. We conclude by suggesting a more causality driven approach for understanding loss and damage, that is, less prone to the ethical predicaments of EEA.
A pluralist approach to epistemic dilemmas in event attribution science Henrik Thorén, Johannes Persson, Lennart Olsson Climatic Change, 2021 In recent years, a dispute has arisen within detection and attribution science concerning the appropriate methodology for associating individual weather events with anthropogenic climate change. In recent contributions, it has been highlighted that this conflict is seemingly misconstrued even by those participating in it and actually concerns a mixture of first and second order so-called inductive risk considerations—in short, it is about values and the role values should have in science. In this paper, we analyze this methodological conflict and examine the inductive risk considerations and argue that there is also another dimension to consider with respect to values that have to do with what detection and attribution science is for. We suggest a framework for understanding this as a kind of problem-feeding situation and thus an issue of problem–solution coordination between different contexts, where the problem is solved versus where the solution is put to use. This has important implications, not least for whether we should understand this conflict as a genuine methodological one or not.
Develop—a rationale and toolbox for democratic landscape planning Kristina Blennow, Erik Persson, Johannes Persson Sustainability Switzerland, 2021 A rationale for an individuals-oriented landscape approach to sustainable land-use planning based on an analysis of bio-geo-physical components as well as the human components of the landscape is presented. A toolbox for analysing individuals’ decision-making and valuations in the landscape is described. The toolbox can provide evidence on the drivers of individuals’ decision-making in the landscape and the decision strategies they apply. This evidence can be used to identify communication needs and to design guidelines for effective communication. The tool for value elicitation separates the instrumental values (means) and end values (goals) of individuals with respect to locations in the landscape. This distinction, and knowledge of the end values in the landscape, are critical for the achievement of policy goals and for spatial planning from a democratic point of view. The individuals-oriented landscape approach has roots in geography and draws on behavioural decision research together with a model for integrating “science and proven experience” that is widely used in public decision-making in the Nordic countries. The approach differs from other scholarly disciplines addressing sustainable land-use planning. It is suitable for application on decision-making problems that include trade-offs between values. An overview of empirical studies is provided in which the individuals-oriented landscape rationale is applied to climate change.
Ruling out risks in medical research Sten Anttila, Johannes Persson, Måns Rosén, Niklas Vareman, Sigurd Vitols, Nils-Eric Sahlin Journal of Risk Research, 2019
Why metaphysicians do not explain Ingar Brinck, Göran Hermerén, Johannes Persson, Nils-Eric Sahlin Mind Values and Metaphysics Philosophical Essays in Honor of Kevin Mulligan Volume 1, 2014
Structuring sustainability science Anne Jerneck, Lennart Olsson, Barry Ness, Stefan Anderberg, Matthias Baier, Eric Clark, Thomas Hickler, Alf Hornborg, Annica Kronsell, Eva Lövbrand, Johannes Persson Sustainability Science, 2011
Mechanisms: Are activities up to the job? Johannes Persson Epsa Epistemology and Methodology of Science Launch of the European Philosophy of Science Association, 2010
Rivers in transition: Local perceptions of a Swedish dam removal E Gudmundson, S Stålhammar, H Thorén, JJ Piccolo, J Persson, ... Ambio, 1-15 , 2026 2026
Non-linear decision thresholds and adaptation lock-in under climate change: Evidence from a professional decision-making context K Blennow, J Persson, C Häggström EGU26 , 2026 2026
Ethics, Risks, and Difficult Decision-Making G Hermerén, J Persson, E Sjöstrand, R Stenwall Kungliga Vitterhets-historie-och antikvitetsakademien , 2026 2026
Horticultural practices of invasive plants: insights into priorities, awareness, and management among garden owners C Palmér, A Wallin, J Persson, K Blennow Biological Invasions 27 (11), 1-15 , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
A methodological approach to developing evidence-based communication guidelines for Populus spp. cultivation on agricultural land K Blennow, E Anander, J Persson, A Wallin bioRxiv, 2025.08. 11.669630 , 2025 2025 Citations: 1
What could existential sustainability be? A conceptual study of existential dimensions of sustainability J Persson PLOS Sustainability and Transformation 3 (8), e0000119 , 2024 2024 Citations: 3
Perceptions of clinical experience and scientific evidence in medical decision making: A survey of a stratified random sample of Swedish health care professionals B Dewitt, J Persson, A Wallin Medical Decision Making 44 (3), 335-345 , 2024 2024 Citations: 6
Developing an API Deprecation Tool for the API Developer J Persson 2024
Effective communications on invasive alien species: Identifying communication needs of Swedish domestic garden owners C Palmér, A Wallin, J Persson, M Aronsson, K Blennow Journal of Environmental Management 340, 117995 , 2023 2023 Citations: 16
The role of beliefs, expectations and values for decision-making in response to climate change K Blennow, J Persson EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, EGU-6880 , 2023 2023
Problem-feeding as a model for interdisciplinary research H Thorén, J Persson International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 36 (1), 39-59 , 2023 2023 Citations: 3
Certainty and systematicity of practice-derived evidence matter for its relative importance in professional decision-making: Survey results on the role of proven experience in … J Persson, A Wallin, B Dewitt, L Wahlberg International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances 4, 100074 , 2022 2022 Citations: 3
Confidence levels and likelihood terms in IPCC reports: a survey of experts from different scientific disciplines A Kause, W Bruine de Bruin, J Persson, H Thorén, L Olsson, A Wallin, ... Climatic Change 173 (1), 2 , 2022 2022 Citations: 52
Ethics of probabilistic extreme event attribution in climate change science: A critique L Olsson, H Thorén, D Harnesk, J Persson Earth's Future 10 (3), e2021EF002258 , 2022 2022 Citations: 26
A pluralist approach to epistemic dilemmas in event attribution science H Thorén, J Persson, L Olsson Climatic Change 169 (1), 16 , 2021 2021 Citations: 4
DeveLoP—a rationale and toolbox for democratic landscape planning K Blennow, E Persson, J Persson Sustainability 13 (21), 12055 , 2021 2021 Citations: 5
Detection and attribution science facing the future: the importance of not confusing problem-solving and solution-use J Persson ESS Open Archive 2021 (0815) , 2021 2021
The epistemic roles of clinical expertise: An empirical study of how Swedish healthcare professionals understand proven experience B Dewitt, J Persson, L Wahlberg, A Wallin Plos one 16 (6), e0252160 , 2021 2021 Citations: 20
Perceived benefits from agroforestry landscapes across North-Eastern Europe: What matters and for whom? M Elbakidze, D Surová, J Muñoz-Rojas, JO Persson, L Dawson, ... Landscape and Urban Planning 209, 104044 , 2021 2021 Citations: 57
To mitigate or adapt? Explaining why citizens responding to climate change favour the former K Blennow, J Persson Land 10 (3), 240 , 2021 2021 Citations: 10
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Why resilience is unappealing to social science: Theoretical and empirical investigations of the scientific use of resilience L Olsson, A Jerneck, H Thoren, J Persson, D O’Byrne Science advances 1 (4), e1400217 , 2015 2015 Citations: 910
Structuring sustainability science A Jerneck, L Olsson, B Ness, S Anderberg, M Baier, E Clark, T Hickler, ... Sustainability science 6 (1), 69-82 , 2011 2011 Citations: 795
Climate change: Motivation for taking measure to adapt K Blennow, J Persson Global Environmental Change 19 (1), 100-104 , 2009 2009 Citations: 282
Climate change: believing and seeing implies adapting K Blennow, J Persson, M Tome, M Hanewinkel PloS one 7 (11), e50182 , 2012 2012 Citations: 276
The philosophy of interdisciplinarity: sustainability science and problem-feeding H Thorén, J Persson Journal for General Philosophy of Science 44 (2), 337-355 , 2013 2013 Citations: 110
Understanding risk in forest ecosystem services: implications for effective risk management, communication and planning K Blennow, J Persson, A Wallin, N Vareman, E Persson Forestry 87 (2), 219-228 , 2014 2014 Citations: 77
Climate change, values, and the cultural cognition thesis J Persson, NE Sahlin, A Wallin Environmental Science & Policy 52, 1-5 , 2015 2015 Citations: 72
Toward an alternative dialogue between the social and natural sciences J Persson, A Hornborg, L Olsson, H Thorén Ecology and Society 23 (4) , 2018 2018 Citations: 69
Harnessing local knowledge for scientific knowledge production J Persson, EL Johansson, L Olsson Ecology and Society 23 (4) , 2018 2018 Citations: 63
Perceived benefits from agroforestry landscapes across North-Eastern Europe: What matters and for whom? M Elbakidze, D Surová, J Muñoz-Rojas, JO Persson, L Dawson, ... Landscape and Urban Planning 209, 104044 , 2021 2021 Citations: 57
Confidence levels and likelihood terms in IPCC reports: a survey of experts from different scientific disciplines A Kause, W Bruine de Bruin, J Persson, H Thorén, L Olsson, A Wallin, ... Climatic Change 173 (1), 2 , 2022 2022 Citations: 52
Epistemic risk: the significance of knowing what one does not know NE Sahlin, J Persson Future risks and risk management, 37-62 , 1994 1994 Citations: 48
Vetenskapsteori för sanningssökare J Persson, NE Sahlin Fri tanke , 2013 2013 Citations: 47
Decision science: from Ramsey to dual process theories NE Sahlin, A Wallin, J Persson Synthese 172 (1), 129-143 , 2010 2010 Citations: 45
Are values related to culture, identity, community cohesion and sense of place the values most vulnerable to climate change? K Blennow, E Persson, J Persson PloS one 14 (1), e0210426 , 2019 2019 Citations: 43
Misconceptions of positivism and five unnecessary science theoretic mistakes they bring in their train J Persson International journal of nursing studies 47 (5), 651-661 , 2010 2010 Citations: 41
Forest owners' response to climate change: University education trumps value profile K Blennow, J Persson, E Persson, M Hanewinkel PLoS One 11 (5), e0155137 , 2016 2016 Citations: 32
Ethics of probabilistic extreme event attribution in climate change science: A critique L Olsson, H Thorén, D Harnesk, J Persson Earth's Future 10 (3), e2021EF002258 , 2022 2022 Citations: 26
No polarization–expected values of climate change impacts among European forest professionals and scientists J Persson, K Blennow, L Gonçalves, A Borys, I Dutcă, J Hynynen, ... Sustainability 12 (7), 2659 , 2020 2020 Citations: 26
Three conceptions of explaining how possibly—and one reductive account J Persson EPSA philosophy of science: Amsterdam 2009, 275-286 , 2011 2011 Citations: 26
