(Re)Shaping knowledge: the contribution of Sustainability Science

Abstract

Global challenges faced by society in the 21st century - including climate change, resource limitations and extreme poverty - are complex and interconnected, transcending the confines of traditional scientific disciplines. Despite this, the disciplines dealing with these issues (including engineering) are becoming increasingly specialized and compartmentalized in nature. Moreover, global challenges are characterized by uncertainty and dissent, as well as asymmetrical power relations that give particular interests more weight than others. As a result, engineers and professionals face important shortcomings in problem identification and often lack new intellectual skills and competences in searching for sustainable solutions.

This course introduces participants to the epistemological and methodological challenges needed to move from conventional understanding to an inclusive knowledge more focused on holistic problem-solving. It will then explore socio-technical theories used to identify global skills and attitudes that should be embedded across engineering curriculum, including system thinking, multi and transdisciplinarity, social entrepreneurship, stakeholder analysis and public engagement.