Sustainability and Eco-Justice in Everyday Research - RE4GREEN
BackSustainability and Eco-Justice in Everyday Research - RE4GREEN
Research shapes the world – not just through big discoveries, but through the everyday choices we make: what questions we ask, which methods we use, how we share our work. The RE4GREEN micromodules can be used individually or together to guide students, researchers, citizen scientists, people reviewing research proposals and those teaching research ethics on how to embed sustainability and eco-justice knowledge, skills and values in research.
Related Initiative
Sustainability and Eco-Justice in Everyday Research
- Understand the concept of environmental justice
- Understand on how environmental harms and benefits are often distributed unequally across different communities.
- Reflect on the responsibility researchers hold in shaping sustainable and fair outcomes.
Secondary learning objectives:
Recognize that certain communities and social groups face disproportionately high exposure to environmental hazards.
Reflect on how such disparities may arise within the context of their own research or professional practice.Analyze the environmental implications of research through the lens of ethical principles related to Environmental Justice:
- Leave No One Behind
- Do No Significant Harm (DNSH)
- Precautionary Principle
- Polluter Pays Principle
- Informed consent
Apply each principle to research practice by responding to questions that prompt critical reflection.
- understand the role of ecofeminist principles in research;
- apply relevant ecofeminist principles to various research dilemmas.
By the end of the module, participants should be able to:
Explain how environmental degradation affects human health through the framework of planetary boundaries and apply the principle of planetary health to reflect on unequal health burdens and propose equitable responses.
Participants should also be able to:
- Identify the disproportionate effects of climate change on different populations.
- Reflect on the ethical implications of environmental injustices.
- Relate the concept of planetary health to research responsibilities.
1) Understand core ethics of care concepts and their basis in feminist and indigenous philosophies
2) Identify care-based practices in your own research setting
3) Propose strategies for strengthening care-based and environmentally aware practices in your own research and research setting.Embracing Complexity
By the end of the module participants will be able to:
- Understand the wicked nature of sustainability and recognize the complexity of balancing environmental, social, and economic dimensions in engineering decisions.
- Apply transversal skills — Perspective Taking, Systems Thinking, and Negotiation — to analyze and solve complex sustainability challenges in engineering contexts.
- Evaluate material and design choices considering environmental impacts, societal wellbeing, and ethical responsibilities to promote sustainable engineering practices.
- Reflect on the broader responsibilities of engineers in creating solutions that are socially responsible, environmentally sound, and technically effective.
By the end of the module, participants should be able to:
- Identify systemic factors (e.g., public policy, health equity, urban inequality) that shape research impacts and responsibilities.
- Map research linkages to climate justice, interspecies justice, and gendered (urban) contexts using the “Crisis Tree”.
- Articulate how their research connects with environmental and climate justice using intersectionality-based thinking.
By the end of the module, participants should be able to:
- Identify systemic factors (e.g., public policy, health equity, urban inequality) that shape research impacts and responsibilities.
- Map research linkages to climate justice, interspecies justice, and gendered (urban) contexts using the “Crisis Tree”.
- Articulate how their research connects with environmental and climate justice using intersectionality-based thinking.
By the end of this micromodule, participants should be able to:
- Identify and reflect on intersectional dimensions (e.g. gender, race, class, disability) in climate and health research.
- Explore how power and privilege operate in environmental and health research design and policy influence.
- Formulate more inclusive and socially just research questions using reflexive prompts.Evaluate different approaches to research design in terms of fairness, inclusivity, and responsiveness to underrepresented communities.
Apply responsible research methods in citizen science or community engagement in climate-affected contexts.Evaluate different approaches to research design in terms of fairness, inclusivity, and responsiveness to underrepresented communities.
Apply responsible research methods in citizen science or community engagement in climate-affected contexts.By the end of this module participants should be able to:
- Understand the concept of circularity and explain its relevance to sustainable research and innovation.
- Identify and apply the 9R strategies (Refuse, Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Refurbish, Remanufacture, Repurpose, Recycle) in practical contexts.
- Develop systems thinking and adaptability skills to analyze how circularity influences research, innovation, and design decisions.
- Integrate circular principles into their professional activities to promote sustainability and resource efficiency.
- Identify key environmental and climate impacts associated with technology.
- Distinguish between “greening by technology” and “greening of technology.”
- Apply practical design principles for more sustainable technology.
- Reflect on how sustainability considerations apply to their own research or innovation practices.
- Evaluate the ethical and social implications of sustainable technology choices
By the end of this micromodule, learners should be able to:
- List the advantages of NBS for research and innovation and differentiate from greenwashing.
- Reflect on a case study that applies multispecies thinking to urban design.
- Consider how you could apply these insights to your research and innovation projects.
By the end of the module, participants should be able to:
Explain how environmental degradation affects human health through the framework of planetary boundaries and apply the principle of planetary health to reflect on unequal health burdens and propose equitable responses.
Participants should also be able to:
- Identify the disproportionate effects of climate change on different populations.
- Reflect on the ethical implications of environmental injustices.
- Relate the concept of planetary health to research responsibilities.
Envisioning sustainable futures
By the end of the module participants should be able to:
- Recognize the significant differences between growth-oriented and post-growth-oriented innovation.
- Identify and understand the core values associated with each orientation.
- Reflect on the role of each approach to innovation in relation to sustainability.
- Assess the broader social significance of both approaches to innovation.
- Identify key environmental impacts of AI technologies
- Explain how AI’s infrastructure contributes to climate and environmental pressures
- Reflect on trade-offs and future governance needs regarding AI deployment
By the end of this module, participants should be able to:
Recognise the paradigm shift from extractivist/anthropocentric logics to relational, ecocentric orientations.
Reflect on their own positionality and role as planetary stewards.
Explore the role of emotion, compassion, and plural knowledge systems in transforming research and education practices.
Identify actions to support inclusive, just, and relational planetary health educationActing for sustainability
- Develop a tailored climate communication strategy for their research environment (department, group, project).
- Explore practical ways to implement small but impactful behavioral changes that promote sustainability within academic culture.
- Apply core sustainability values when planning and delivering events or conferences in their field.
- Enhance understanding of the role and importance of plastic waste recycling for a green and sustainable lab.
Secondary learning objectives include:
- Familiarize students, researchers, and lab managers with the different types of plastic materials in a lab.
- Explore actionable steps for managing and recycling plastics in a lab.
- Reflect on the challenges of developing a recycling pipeline for plastic waste in a lab.
By the end of this activity should be able to:
- Identify daily small actions that can be undertaken to make labs more environmentally friendly.
- Examine the case of inefficient energy use in labs to identify underlying causes and propose improvement strategies.
- Reflect on how changes towards sustainable management should be implemented
