We Can Only Do It Together: Addressing Global Sustainability Challenges Through a Collaborative Paradigm
(2021) In World Sustainability Series- Abstract
- Urgent structural change is required in higher education to allow collaboration both within and across
universities so that achieving a rapid sustainability transition can become the overarching and main
purpose of education, research and work in society. A review of the literature reveals that fragmentation,
caused by traditional hierarchical faculty and disciplinary organisation, is a major obstacle to such goals.
Additionally, universities today operate under a competitive paradigm that prevents the transfer and
application of available knowledge, thereby blocking the development of new knowledge and coherent
future-oriented approaches. Fragmentation and competition prevent universities from pooling... (More) - Urgent structural change is required in higher education to allow collaboration both within and across
universities so that achieving a rapid sustainability transition can become the overarching and main
purpose of education, research and work in society. A review of the literature reveals that fragmentation,
caused by traditional hierarchical faculty and disciplinary organisation, is a major obstacle to such goals.
Additionally, universities today operate under a competitive paradigm that prevents the transfer and
application of available knowledge, thereby blocking the development of new knowledge and coherent
future-oriented approaches. Fragmentation and competition prevent universities from pooling resources,
understanding major challenges holistically and using systemic approaches to address them. Political
agendas, funding priorities and existing mechanisms of dissemination and evaluation of academic activity
contribute to inertia. Rather than applying fragmented sustainability goals within rigid silo structures,
action for sustainability needs to be coordinated among academic actors both horizontally and diagonally.
This requires spaces for strategic thinking, concertation, open discussion and knowledge sharing. The
insights achieved in strong sustainability research environments need to direct efforts towards achieving a
rapid sustainability transition, and priority must be given to structures, networks and research that already
enable concertation and collaboration (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/a8561363-a47e-424e-b7a0-4e68eae8141c
- author
- Avery, Helen LU and Nordén, Birgitta LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021
- type
- Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Higher education for sustainable development, systemic change, transdisciplinarity, collaboration, ethics, resilience, capacity building, global challenges
- host publication
- Universities, Sustainability and Society: Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals
- series title
- World Sustainability Series
- editor
- Leal Filho, Walter ; Salvia, Amanda Lange ; Brandli, Luciana ; Azeiteiro, Ulisses M. and Pretorius, Rudi
- pages
- 14 pages
- publisher
- Springer Nature
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85105541855
- ISBN
- 978-3-030-63398-1
- 978-3-030-63399-8
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_16
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- a8561363-a47e-424e-b7a0-4e68eae8141c
- date added to LUP
- 2021-01-18 08:37:49
- date last changed
- 2024-03-21 00:43:22
@inbook{a8561363-a47e-424e-b7a0-4e68eae8141c,
abstract = {{Urgent structural change is required in higher education to allow collaboration both within and across<br/>universities so that achieving a rapid sustainability transition can become the overarching and main<br/>purpose of education, research and work in society. A review of the literature reveals that fragmentation,<br/>caused by traditional hierarchical faculty and disciplinary organisation, is a major obstacle to such goals.<br/>Additionally, universities today operate under a competitive paradigm that prevents the transfer and<br/>application of available knowledge, thereby blocking the development of new knowledge and coherent<br/>future-oriented approaches. Fragmentation and competition prevent universities from pooling resources,<br/>understanding major challenges holistically and using systemic approaches to address them. Political<br/>agendas, funding priorities and existing mechanisms of dissemination and evaluation of academic activity<br/>contribute to inertia. Rather than applying fragmented sustainability goals within rigid silo structures,<br/>action for sustainability needs to be coordinated among academic actors both horizontally and diagonally.<br/>This requires spaces for strategic thinking, concertation, open discussion and knowledge sharing. The<br/>insights achieved in strong sustainability research environments need to direct efforts towards achieving a<br/>rapid sustainability transition, and priority must be given to structures, networks and research that already<br/>enable concertation and collaboration}},
author = {{Avery, Helen and Nordén, Birgitta}},
booktitle = {{Universities, Sustainability and Society: Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals}},
editor = {{Leal Filho, Walter and Salvia, Amanda Lange and Brandli, Luciana and Azeiteiro, Ulisses M. and Pretorius, Rudi}},
isbn = {{978-3-030-63398-1}},
keywords = {{Higher education for sustainable development; systemic change; transdisciplinarity; collaboration; ethics; resilience; capacity building; global challenges}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Springer Nature}},
series = {{World Sustainability Series}},
title = {{We Can Only Do It Together: Addressing Global Sustainability Challenges Through a Collaborative Paradigm}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_16}},
doi = {{10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_16}},
year = {{2021}},
}