IRD publishes the second volume of the booklet “Science of sustainability, understanding, co-constructing, transforming”, comprising 42 fact sheets on the science of sustainable solutions.
Over the past twenty years, the production of knowledge in direct response to societal problems has given rise to a new field of interdisciplinary research, highly prized by leading international universities and the younger generations: sustainability science. A field at the interface of the sciences and the humanities, it is developing its own theories, concepts and methodologies, with one major objective: to identify sustainable solutions to major planetary upheavals.
This is a science for responding to emergencies, in full intellectual, technical and technological effervescence, whose committed dimension questions:
- How far to go in commitment?
- How to preserve the indispensable independence of research?
It also invites reflexivity from researchers.
It was against this backdrop that a collective editorial project on the science of sustainability came into being last year within the global IRD. In the second booklet just published, researchers, engineers, technicians and diplomats continue to revisit their knowledge and practices, and question their objects of study, their knowledge, know-how and savoir-être.
Multidisciplinary approach
The 2023 edition of the Science of Sustainability booklet brings together 42 fact sheets and nearly 100 co-authors. The booklet is organized around three major issues in sustainability science:
- understanding the complexity of the world;
- co-constructing between disciplines and with society;
- transforming our lifestyles and institutions.
This three-part format invites readers to explore the various texts without worrying about disciplinary boundaries, as it is above all their specific objects that can be sources of learning. Understanding dilemmas linked to agricultural and food policies, the question of gender and that of education, recognizing our attitudes beyond our abilities, methods of transdisciplinary co-construction or knowledge of the foundations of the theory of change are all cross-cutting issues in projects linked to the science of sustainability.
These in-depth reflections are accompanied by examples of concrete applications in territories (water management on the Bolivian Altiplano, conservation of East African deltas, air pollution in Southeast Asian cities, etc.) or in institutions (working differently in a development research institution, university training programs, etc.). This diversity of viewpoints forms so many threads that collectively weave the canvas of an integrated approach to “doing science differently”.
Find the booklet (in French) here.
