A global futures-oriented research collective on education for advancing sustainability

The challenge

The multifaceted nature and urgency of the climate crisis require interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to transform education and stimulate cultural shifts toward more sustainable global futures. This challenge cannot be solved through research solely focused on technical solutions as it requires a critical review of underlying assumptions about knowledge, education and social change. Successfully addressing the challenge also depends on establishing strategic linkages among U.S. research networks and complementary networks globally to leverage research and educational resources. The National Science Foundation (NSF), through the Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program, has outlined goals to accelerate the process of scientific discovery and prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multi-team international collaborations. The NSF has called for the development of international networks to address “scientific grand challenges” that are either aligned with the NSF Big Ideas initiative or other grand challenges.

The approach

In response to this challenge, the AccelNet-Design: Global Futures Oriented Research Collective on Education for Sustainability (G-FORCES), is a research project led by principal investigator Iveta Silova, associate dean of global engagement and professor at ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College (MLFTC), with the collaboration of  MLFTC co-principal investigators: Gustavo Fischman, professor, and Andrea Weinberg, associate professor. 

G-FORCES aims to bring together international sustainability-oriented research networks from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to rearticulate the role of education in advancing planetary sustainability in formal and non-formal lifelong learning settings. G-FORCES aims not merely to improve but to fundamentally reshape the relationship between education and sustainability research across global networks in ways that effectively integrate different knowledge ecosystems, bridge the research-practice divide,and prioritize education for planetary wellbeing and ecological justice. The project is aimed at: 

• Facilitating innovative convergence research and authentic collaboration among the sciences, social sciences and humanities.
• Enhancing the practical impacts of scholarship and the effectiveness of knowledge mobilization for advancing planetary sustainability. 
• Advancing sustainability research and education models and practices grounded in a comprehensive vision of climate and ecological literacy that supports democratic outcomes, including peace, equity and robust public participation.
• Creating enduring local-to-global networks of scholarship and action capable of rising to meet the multi-scalar challenge of the climate crisis through equitable collaboration.
• Broadening participation in sustainability research and education by addressing institutional barriers and structural limitations that presently limit integrated interdisciplinary climate research by creating new opportunities for diverse, inclusive leadership — especially for early-career and marginalized scholars, particularly from the global South.

The initiative pursues these goals by bringing together multi-team representatives from 10 diverse, globally-leading research networks that share a common commitment to mobilize the power of education for planetary sustainability. It builds on activities and partnerships already underway, such as collaborations with national and international networks like the Learning Planet Institute and the Regional Centers of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (RCEs), and creates new connections between related networks, including the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Sustainability Education and Policy Network (SEPN), Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN), and others. Leveraging design approaches that enable structured but robust collaboration across networks, G-FORCES aims to establish a shared vision and strategic operational links to advance a comprehensive vision of sustainability education and climate literacy encompassing scientific, energy, media and ecological literacy under a unified framework.