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.
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 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.
