OBSERVA – Observatory of Environment, Territory and Society is a permanent research program of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon (ICS-ULisbon). The observatory promotes the dissemination of information on the social component of environmental and territorial issues.

OBSERVA’s mission is to acquire knowledge on the relations between society and environment. Under analysis are both the social phenomena resulting or influenced by environmental and territorial issues, and the way the environmental conditions themselves are modified by social phenomena.

The materialization of OBSERVA’s mission encompasses a vast and complex field of study reached by the SHIFT Research Group (ICS-ULisbon), and this program is translated into projects, activities and publications that are organized according to several themes: participation and environmental citizenship; organization, governance and territorial planning; assessment of environmental, territorial and urban public policies; the role of the media in the environment; consumption, lifestyle and food; socio-ecological transition processes; environmental and sustainability education; study of representations, attitudes and behaviors towards the environment, climate change, energy and territory.

Alongside the dissemination of these projects, the observatory maintains a database on environmental themes. Also part of the activities of the observatory are the publication of studies and providing useful information for policy-making and knowledge dissemination on environment, territory and society for the general public.