Our four impact area's

How can we collectively leverage our research and education for sustainability to actively contribute to just sustainability transformations? We defined four areas of impact that Pathways to Sustainability communities, community activities and projects have generated and strive for amplifying in the coming program period: disrupting for sustainability, experimenting for sustainability, catalysing for sustainability and (re)imagining sustainability. 

Disrupting for sustainability entails opening the narrative space (new concepts, frameworks) and/or solution space (practices, technologies, approaches) for sustainability in face of persisting unsustainability challenges. Disrupting for sustainability exemplify the use of knowledge to challenge unsustainability, disrupt unfair or harmful practices, denounce inconsistencies in proposed transitions and guide the emergence of new concepts. Interdisciplinary research disrupting for sustainability engages with emerging concepts and practices that are not yet considered mainstream to contest unfair transitions and contributes to contemporary debates by generating new insights and shed light to blind spots. 

Experimenting for Sustainability is brought about through introducing sustainable solutions to places and collaborators to evaluate and co-learn on the situated impact of proposed experimentation related to sustainability transformation. By experimenting with sustainability (technical) solutions in a real context we get a grasp on sustainability-in-the-making, including societal, ecological and political implications and informing law and regulation. Interdisciplinary projects that experiment for sustainability demonstrate how situated knowledge can inform practices and contribute to mainstreaming sustainable solutions (technical and social solutions). 

(Re)imagining Sustainability entails creating opportunities where we empower social actors through co-creation of alternative sustainable futures’ narratives, fostering collective learning and reflection. We research the relationships and processes to unpack how key decisions for more fair and sustainable futures and power dynamics are shaped. We recognize and signal emerging as well as persisting, complex sustainability challenges. Initiatives (re)imagining sustainability provide examples of how researchers can promote evidence-based debates about sustainability decisions with long-term effects with a future-oriented perspective. 

Catalysing Sustainability entails bringing sustainable solutions and sustainability as a value proposition with evidence from science to policy and society, embedding it into practices and policy agendas; bridging the gap between technical knowledge and implementation. Initiatives make evidence from science accessible to policy, industry and society, embedding it into practices and policy agendas, making the research actionable. Collaborating with industry and government allows for understanding policy needs for sustainability, and providing knowledge to guide practices and inspire different stakeholders; connecting opportunities and challenges.