Networks in Nature (NINA): Exploring Relational Leadership in Friluftsfrämjandet

This project investigates how leadership is enacted within Friluftsfrämjandet, Sweden’s largest popular movement for outdoor life (friluftsliv). Since 1892, the mission of Friluftsfrämjandet has been to contribute to increased public health, joy of life, and respect for nature through sustainable friluftsliv, with all activities carried out in the greatest possible respect for nature, the environment, and human rights.

Developed and carried out in close dialogue with Friluftsfrämjandet, the study begins with the assumption that friluftsliv arises from the relationship between humans and nature, employing an actor-network theoretical (ANT) approach to examine how such relationships are shaped in practice by leaders, participants, environments, technologies, and organisational structures. Rather than viewing leadership as an individual skill or quality, the project conceptualises it as a relational achievement, in other words, the outcome of heterogeneous relations that bring together people, equipment, landscapes, weather conditions, pedagogical traditions, and institutional frameworks. The close collaboration with Friluftsfrämjandet ensures that findings will generate both new academic knowledge and practical impact by informing the organisation’s leadership training and development.

The aim is to explore how leaders enact friluftsliv in their outdoor practices and how different versions of “nature” are produced in the process. Key research questions include: Which human and nonhuman actors participate in shaping leadership in Friluftsfrämjandet? How do leaders relate to and mobilise “nature” in their practices? What tensions emerge when multiple forms of friluftsliv, such as educational, recreational, traditional, and technological, intersect?

Methodologically, the project combines interviews with leaders and participants, participant observation of outdoor activities in different seasons, and analysis of organisational materials. Fieldwork will be conducted in several local Friluftsfrämjandet groups across Sweden to capture regional variations.

Over the course of one year, the study will generate new insights into ongoing debates regarding human-nature relationships in Nordic friluftsliv research. Findings will be shared in academic publications with open access as well as in direct dialogue with Friluftsfrämjandet to inform their leadership training and development.

Methodology
The project adopts a qualitative, Latour (2005) inspired actor-network theoretical (ANT) methodology to investigate how leadership is enacted within Friluftsfrämjandet, Sweden’s largest popular movement for outdoor life (friluftsliv). ANT provides a lens for tracing the heterogeneous relations through which leadership is enacted as a relational assemblage, rather than a fixed personal attribute (Latour, 2005; Law, 1999). Methodologically, this implies following both human and nonhuman actors to understand how leadership practices are assembled, negotiated, and stabilised in outdoor activities. By situating leadership within the complex interplay of leaders, participants, equipment, landscapes, weather conditions, and organisational frameworks, the project will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of human–nature relationships in contemporary friluftsliv.

Fieldwork design
Fieldwork will be carried out in several local Friluftsfrämjandet groups across Sweden. Groups will be strategically selected to capture variation in geography, seasonality, and activity. This design ensures that the study attends to the multiple ways in which leadership and friluftsliv are enacted across diverse contexts. Fieldwork will involve a combination of short-term, intensive observations of specific activities and longer-term engagement with selected groups to build trust, generate deeper insights, and track actors over time.

Interviews
Semi-structured interviews will be the primary form of data collection, providing insight into how leaders and participants make sense of their practices. Interviews with leaders will explore how they conceptualise leadership, how they mobilise “nature” in their pedagogical approaches, and how they respond to tensions between different versions of friluftsliv (educational, recreational, technological, and traditional). Interviews with participants will capture their perspectives on leadership, their experiences of outdoor activities, and their own understandings of human–nature relationships. Interviews will be audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded thematically, with an eye to how actors articulate networks of relations and attribute agency to both humans and nonhumans.

Participant observation
Participant observation will complement interviews as a data collection method. The researcher will participate in activities as both an observer and a participant, utilizing their embodied involvement to access the situated knowledge that emerges when humans interact with nature, equipment, and one another (Pink, 2015). Detailed field notes will be kept during and after activities, documenting the sequence of events, forms of leadership interaction, and the roles of nonhuman actors. Attention will be paid to moments of breakdown, improvisation, or negotiation, as these are analytically productive in revealing the often-hidden relations that sustain practices. For example, the sudden arrival of rain during a hike, or a close encounter with wildlife, may reshape leadership practices and redefine human-nature relationships, as well as what counts as friluftsliv in that moment.

Organisational materials
To situate friluftsliv practices in relation to institutional framings, the project will also analyse organisational materials. This includes leader training curricula, handbooks, pedagogical guidelines, annual reports, and online materials. Such documents provide insight into how leadership and “nature” are discursively constructed within the organisation and how these constructions circulate to shape local enactments of friluftsliv. In addition, digital platforms such as websites and social media channels will be examined to see how visual and textual representations of friluftsliv shape expectations, attract participants, and mediate the organisation’s relationship with broader publics.

Analytical approach
The analysis will be guided by the ANT principle of “following the actors” (Latour, 1987). This entails mapping how leadership practices are held together by relationships between heterogeneous actors, including people, technologies, landscapes, and institutional structures. Rather than assuming that leadership is a property of individuals, the project will trace how leadership is distributed and enacted across networks. The analysis will focus on three dimensions:

1. Assemblages of leadership – identifying which actors (human and nonhuman) participate in enacting leadership in different outdoor activities.
2. Mobilisation of “nature” – examining how leaders draw on material environments, weather, and landscapes as pedagogical and organisational resources.
3. Tensions and negotiations – analysing moments where multiple versions of friluftsliv intersect, such as when recreational goals conflict with educational and sustainable objectives, or when digital technologies reconfigure traditional understandings of “being in nature.”

By focusing on these dimensions, the project will generate rich, empirically grounded accounts of how leadership is enacted through relational and material practices.

Timeline and scope
The proposed two-year project will allow for extended fieldwork across at least two seasonal cycles, enabling the researcher to observe the enactment of leadership in varied conditions. Year one will focus on building relationships, conducting fieldwork in selected groups, and beginning interviews. Year two will extend fieldwork, deepen interviews, and analyse organisational materials, leading to systematic analysis and writing. A one-year project, while feasible, would necessarily involve fewer field visits, reduced seasonal coverage, and more limited analytical depth. Nonetheless, it would follow the same methodological principles and yield valuable insights.

Dissemination
Findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed academic publications in open access journals, presentations at international conferences in outdoor education, and in dialogue with Friluftsfrämjandet. A key part of the dissemination strategy is to return results to the organisation through workshops and leader training seminars. In this way, the project not only contributes to academic debates on human–nature relations and friluftsliv but also informs the ongoing development of leadership practices within Sweden’s largest outdoor movement.

Ethical Considerations
The project will follow the ethical guidelines of the Swedish Research Council (2024) and comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Informed consent will be obtained from all participants before interviews and observations, and participants may withdraw at any time without explanation. All data will be anonymised, securely stored, and used solely for research purposes. Care will be taken to protect the privacy of participants and to avoid publishing identifiable details. As the researcher participates in outdoor activities, issues of safety and responsibility will be considered, ensuring that participation does not interfere with group dynamics or impose additional burdens on leaders. Ethical reflections will be ongoing, recognising that ANT-inspired fieldwork requires attentiveness to both human and nonhuman actors while prioritising the dignity, safety, and autonomy of the research participants.

References (list is incomplete)

• Latour, B. (1987). Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society. Harvard University Press.
• Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press.
• Law, J. (1999). After ANT: Complexity, naming and topology. In J. Law & J. Hassard (Eds.), Actor Network Theory and After (pp. 1–14). Blackwell.
• Pink, S. (2015). Doing Sensory Ethnography (2nd ed.). SAGE.
• Swedish Research Council. (2024). Good Research Practice. Stockholm: Vetenskapsrådet.

Detta projekt undersöker hur ledarskap utövas inom Friluftsfrämjandet, Sveriges största folkrörelse för friluftsliv. Studien utgår från antagandet att friluftsliv uppstår ur relationen mellan människa och natur och använder en aktör-nätverksteoretisk (Latour, 2005) metod för att undersöka hur sådana relationer formas i praktiken av ledare, deltagare, miljöer, teknologier och organisationsstrukturer.

Syftet är att utforska hur ledarskap utövas i deras friluftspraktiker och hur olika versioner av människa-natur-relationer skapas i processen. Det nära samarbetet med Friluftsfrämjandet säkerställer att resultaten genererar både ny akademisk kunskap och praktisk effekt genom att informera Friluftsfrämjandets ledarskapsutbildning och utveckling.