Sustainability science: the changing landscape of sustainability research

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuya Kajikawa ◽  
Francisco Tacoa ◽  
Kiyohiro Yamaguchi
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Sustainability Research

scholarly journals Does public outreach impede research performance? Exploring the ‘researcher’s dilemma’ in a sustainability research center

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 710-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Kassab
Keyword(s):  
General Public ◽  
Evaluation System ◽  
Career Advancement ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Research Performance ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Center ◽  
Public Outreach ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Broad Consensus

Abstract Researchers and universities are increasingly urged to communicate their findings to the general public. Despite the broad consensus about the necessity of this task, researchers are still reluctant to engage in public outreach activities. One major reason is that while being somewhat time consuming, engagement in public outreach is not adequately reflected in the metrics that are relevant for career advancement. The study at hand examines to what extent this dilemma is empirically justified. A series of statistical analyses are carried out on the basis of data from a sustainability science research center in Switzerland. The study comes to the conclusion that research performance is overall positively associated to engagement in public outreach activities. This insight has implications for the academic incentive and evaluation system.

scholarly journals The Concept of Resilience in Recent Sustainability Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2735
Author(s):  
Verena Nüchter ◽  
David J. Abson ◽  
Henrik von Wehrden ◽  
John-Oliver Engler
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Boundary Object ◽  
Conceptual Basis ◽  
Participatory Approaches ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
Bibliographic Analysis ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Sustainability Challenges

The concept of resilience gained increased attention in sustainability science, with a notable spike from 2014 onwards. However, resilience is a multifaceted concept with no unanimous definition, making applications in the context of sustainability, a similarly multifarious term, a challenge. Here, we examine the use of resilience in well-cited sustainability literature in the period from 2014 to 2018. Based on our analysis, resilience as a concept proves its analytical strength through a diverse set of frameworks, indicators, and models, while its usefulness as boundary object is less clear. Most of the examined publications do not cite one of the well-established resilience definitions as a conceptual basis. The normativity of resilience is often implicit and rarely critically questioned, and strong participatory approaches are lacking. A multivariate statistical full-text bibliographic analysis of 112 publications reveals four distinct research clusters with partial conceptual proximity but hardly any overlap. While the majority of publications consider human well-being as an integral factor in their research, some research marginalizes this concept. Resilience to climate change dominates the discourse in the literature investigated, which signifies a need to broaden research efforts to other equally pressing—but in terms of the concept, widely neglected—sustainability challenges.

scholarly journals Paradigm Found? Immanent Critique to Tackle Interdisciplinarity and Normativity in Science for Sustainable Development

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Boda ◽  
Turaj Faran
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Normative Values ◽  
Science Literature ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Immanent Critique ◽  
Potential Strategy

The ambition of this two-part article is to argue for immanent critique as a research strategy in sustainability studies. We do this by picking up and developing two central, cross-cutting themes in sustainability research, namely interdisciplinarity and normativity. It is widely suggested that the problem-driven and solution-focused orientation in sustainability studies necessitates interdisciplinarity and an engagement with questions of normativity, each creating problems regarding how science is conducted. For interdisciplinarity, questions remain regarding by what scientific procedure rational (i.e., non-arbitrary) interdisciplinarity can be accomplished. For normativity, it is unclear whether normativity can be addressed scientifically, or only politically; in other words, can normativity be objectively incorporated in sustainability research, and if so, how? Ultimately, the paper asks and answers the following questions: when should a researcher move from one discipline to another in sustainability research and, how do we judge the validity of the normative values that are deemed necessary for sustainability? In Part I, we show the silences, gaps, vagueness and inadequacies of how these themes are currently addressed in sustainability science literature, and from this move to propose immanent critique as a potential strategy for dealing with them in a scientific manner. In Part II, we exemplify our strategy by applying it to re-construct the debate over sustainable development, by far the most prominent topical focus in sustainability science research, producing a novel systematized typology of sustainable development approaches in the process. We conclude with reflections on how this paper amounts to an initial contribution to the construction of a Lakatosian research programme in sustainability studies.

scholarly journals Sustainability science in education: analysis of master’s programmes’ curricula

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 901-915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne J. Salovaara ◽  
Katriina Soini ◽  
Janna Pietikäinen
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Sustainability Education ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Research Competencies ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Educational Programmes ◽  
Key Competencies ◽  
Future Education

Abstract Sustainability science is an emerging, free-standing scientific discipline. It has introduced a new approach to both sustainability research and educational programmes, while evoking novel perspectives to stronger societal contextualization. Among several other areas of sustainability research, competencies for sustainability have become a focal topic of sustainability education research. This research explores the educational programmes and the representation of the theory-based key competencies for sustainability. Through a qualitative content study of 45 master programmes associated with sustainability science, we aim to understand what kind of sustainability competencies can be found in sustainability science master’s programmes and how they reflect the current discussions of the discipline of sustainability science and possibly drive the future education in the field. The study reveals that commonly suggested competencies including systems thinking, anticipatory, strategic, interpersonal, and normative competencies were frequently mentioned as content and learning outcomes in the curricula and are firmly present and widely employed in sustainability education. Additionally, this study identified three other clusters of competencies: diverse modes of thinking, methodological plurality, and competencies for autonomy. In addition to the contribution to education in the field by suggesting three emerged competencies for sustainability science specifically, we aim to contribute to the ongoing discussion about the discipline by suggesting a process-oriented framing of sustainability science.

scholarly journals Values, science, and competing paradigms in sustainability research: furthering the conversation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad S. Boda
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Science ◽  
The Core ◽  
Research Paradigms ◽  
Sustainability Research

AbstractSustainability science is fundamentally a problem-driven and solutions-oriented science which necessitates engagement with questions of interdisciplinarity and normativity. Nagatsu et al. (2020) recently investigated the significance of these peculiar characteristics and produce a useful and timely overview of the problems facing sustainability science, as a science. Perhaps the most crucial and crosscutting challenge they identify regards the need for researchers to justify the particular values guiding sustainability research. In the spirit of advancing Nagatsu et al.’s agenda for further developing the role of values in sustainability science, I argue two things. First, that there are in practice several active and competing approaches to dealing with the problem of normativity in sustainablity science that provide options to researchers. Second, that this unresolved tension at the core of sustainability science points to a more overarching problem, namely the need to more explicitly identify coherent, competing research paradigms within the field.

scholarly journals Realising potentials for arts-based sustainability science

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Heras ◽  
Diego Galafassi ◽  
Elisa Oteros-Rozas ◽  
Federica Ravera ◽  
Luis Berraquero-Díaz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Engagement ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Arts Based Research ◽  
Hybrid Approaches ◽  
Plastic Arts ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Literary Narrative

AbstractIn recent years, a profusion of methods, practices, and experiences has emerged in the interface between arts and sustainability science. Drawing from two strong currents within sustainability science, namely, the emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches and the need to move towards societal transformations, such hybrid approaches seemingly contribute with unique methods to sustainability research. Despite repeated claims from sustainability scientists about art’s role in sustainability transformations, joint analyses with artists and practitioners are still rare. We conveyed a collaborative and exploratory workshop with scientists, artists, and practitioners from the fields of education, public engagement, and activism to identify the potentials for arts-based sustainability research. Participants were invited to facilitate and trial various artistic practices from disciplines of performative, literary, narrative, audio-visual and plastic arts. In this paper, we present five key areas identified in the workshop, where arts-based methods can significantly contribute to sustainability research: embracing more-than-cognitive aspects of knowledge, improving communication, grappling with power dynamics, shifting relationships to nature, and facilitating futures visioning. Workshop participants also identified challenges related to power dynamics, tensions across paradigms, and implementation conditions, providing insights into how to leverage arts’ potential to respond to global environmental challenges while boosting societal transformations. We then discuss research questions identified that address challenges and limitations for arts-based research in sustainability. Overall, these results suggest there are yet untapped resources and experiences within the field of arts-based sustainability science. (Audio-visual abstract available on S1)

Integrating Inner and External Dimensions for Holistic Sustainability

2019 ◽  
pp. 226-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica A. Berejnoi Bejarano ◽  
Natalia Rodriguez ◽  
Leah V. Gibbons ◽  
Chloe Sykes ◽  
Beth Ann Morrison ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Primary Literature ◽  
Attitudes And Perceptions ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
External Sustainability

Over the past century, sustainability scholars and scientists have largely focused on the complex relationships between society, economy, and environment. The authors refer to this approach as external sustainability research, which positions the built and natural environment as key to a sustainable future. Yet, our external environment is a manifestation of deeply held beliefs, values, attitudes, and perceptions of the world—the inner dimensions of sustainability. Within sustainability science, a deeper understanding of the inner dimensions could promote lasting external sustainability measures, strategies, and interventions. This chapter envisions sustainability as a holistic collection of internal and external guiding principles that can be enhanced through practice. First, the authors draw on perspectives from “Western sustainability” and Indigenous philosophies. Next, case studies integrating holistic sustainability approaches are shared. They conclude by integrating the primary literature with the case studies and call on sustainability science to more deeply consider the inner dimensions.

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