When someone mentions sustainability research, most people immediately think about engineering, environmental conservation, and other hard sciences. But so far, our group has welcomed scholars from the departments of English, Geology, Public Planning, Philosophy, Romance Languages and Literature, Physics, and Anthropology. United by an interest in research and sustainability, each member brings different skills, strengths, and perspectives to the table. This shows there is a need to invite voices from across the disciplinary spectrum to discussions and research plans surrounding sustainability.
Our goal is to nurture opportunities for the upcoming generation of interdisciplinary researchers to come together in meaningful, productive discussions and mutual support. So far this semester, we’ve done this in the following ways:
- Sharing our academic backgrounds and interests in sustainability, learning more about each other and how different disciplines approach the topic of research.
- Honing our “elevator pitches,” workshopping them to be more succinct and legible to an interdisciplinary audience.
- Workshopping best practices for navigating interdisciplinary understandings of the fundamentals of how science and research work.
- Inviting a panel of UC graduate students to talk about their experience turning their research into real-world action. Panelists included Louis Herzner in Archaeology, Javier Viaña Pérez in Aerospace Engineering, and Nabiha Chaudhary in Psychology (UC CORA lab).
- Providing feedback, questions, and advice on each other’s research projects and process.
Get Involved!
Summer break brings warm temperatures and schedule changes, but that doesn’t mean we can’t continue our critical engagements and inquiries! The Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research group will be meeting once a month over the summer and research-minded students from across UC (including undergrads!) are invited to join us.
In addition to continuing to develop our research skills and preparedness, we’ll be spending time outdoors to enjoy the natural world that encourages our commitment to sustainability. If you’re interested in joining us and haven’t already filled out the contact sheet, please fill that out here. Anyone interested in meeting should also fill out this schedule coordinator so we can arrange the most convenient day and time for us to meet.
This group is supported by PEWS Sustainability. PEWS Sustainability is an initiative to: highlight sustainability research at UC, support community partnerships with sustainability goals, host public-facing events about sustainability. This is initiative is funded by the Research 2030 Initiative of the UC Office of Research.
