Academic literature on the topic 'Ecologically sustainable human engagement'
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Journal articles on the topic "Ecologically sustainable human engagement"
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Phillips, Rob, and Naho Matsuda. "Engaging design for ecological citizenship: Informing approaches to human‐nature interactions." Journal of Design, Business & Society 8, no. 1 (March 1, 2022): 39–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/dbs_00032_1.
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The COVID-19 pandemic forefronted public urban and suburban nature interactions. ‘Human‐nature interactions’ produce positive health impacts, knowledge production, risk perception, sustainable behaviour, engagement in conservation and more. Governmental and charitable reporting documents ‘nature deficit disorder’. The Design Economy report (2021) highlights that social, environmental and economic design must engage communities. Ergo, building community empowerment, is paramount to catalyse and embed sustainable design practices. The authors define a contemporary design space, unpick strategies and present ‘approaches to human‐nature interactions’ insights. The My Naturewatch (NW) project features an accessible DIY camera trap, fostering beneficial nature engagements regardless of location, technological and/or wildlife expertise. NW is central within the outlined design space. The article reports on NW deployment(s) and catalysing organizations and communities. Three studies include: (1) The Wildlife Trusts #30dayswild, digital campaign, (2) The Durrell Trust, placed-based activity and (3) Nova New Opportunities, working with re-located communities. The authors acknowledge communities are sacrosanct and a substantial sustainable design asset for regeneration. The work leverages contemporary ‘phy-digital’ engagements, highlighting practices of social, environmental and public design spaces. The findings insights benefit cultural institutions, practitioners, conservation projects and more.
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Sulkowski, Adam J., Melissa Edwards, and R. Edward Freeman. "Shake Your Stakeholder: Firms Leading Engagement to Cocreate Sustainable Value." Organization & Environment 31, no. 3 (July 28, 2017): 223–41. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1086026617722129.
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While most extant scholarship has focused on how stakeholders influence firms, we propose that firms play a critical role in “shaking” stakeholders. Shaking stakeholders means to proactively initiate cooperation with those affected by a firm to alter awareness, behavior, and networks so as to catalyze change in society and the marketplace to reward cocreated innovations in core operations of the firm that improve social and environmental impacts. Two previously underappreciated aspects of stakeholder relations are highlighted. First, the firm can be the entity that leads engagement that shakes stakeholders out of complacency. Second, firms can catalyze collaborative relationships to cocreate sustainable value that is shared with stakeholders. We offer several cases to illustrate this strategy. While stakeholder shaking may be useful in any business environment, global ecological crises, societal problems, and governance failures heighten the need for firms to take action to bring about profound and systemic changes.
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Parkes, Margot W., Blake Poland, Sandra Allison, Donald C. Cole, Ian Culbert, Maya K. Gislason, Trevor Hancock, Courtney Howard, Andrew Papadopoulos, and Faiza Waheed. "Preparing for the future of public health: ecological determinants of health and the call for an eco-social approach to public health education." Canadian Journal of Public Health 111, no. 1 (December 2, 2019): 60–64. http://dx.doi.org/10.17269/s41997-019-00263-8.
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AbstractAs a collective organized to address the education implications of calls for public health engagement on the ecological determinants of health, we, the Ecological Determinants Group on Education (cpha.ca/EDGE), urge the health community to properly understand and address the importance of the ecological determinants of the public’s health, consistent with long-standing calls from many quarters—including Indigenous communities—and as part of an eco-social approach to public health education, research and practice. Educational approaches will determine how well we will be equipped to understand and respond to the rapid changes occurring for the living systems on which all life—including human life—depends. We revisit findings from the Canadian Public Health Association’s discussion paper on ‘Global Change and Public Health: Addressing the Ecological Determinants of Health’, and argue that an intentionally eco-social approach to education is needed to better support the health sector’s role in protecting and promoting health, preventing disease and injury, and reducing health inequities. We call for a proactive approach, ensuring that the ecological determinants of health become integral to public health education, practice, policy, and research, as a key part of wider societal shifts required to foster a healthy, just, and ecologically sustainable future.
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Tamayo, Unai, and Gustavo Vargas. "Biomimetic economy: human ecological-economic systems emulating natural ecological systems." Social Responsibility Journal 15, no. 6 (September 2, 2019): 772–85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/srj-09-2018-0241.
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of biomimicry to inspire sustainable development in economic systems. The research purpose is to explore the link between ecological systems and economic systems to highlight applied environmental solutions. The goal is to propose some driver to develop sustainable business practices inspired on the principles of biomimicry. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides a theoretical approach that builds the basis for a better understanding of the relationship between nature and sustainable economic decisions. The premise is that in the field of sustainable development, strategies based on “learning from nature” are useful. Furthermore, the concept of biomimicry provides principles and tools specifically aimed at design practice. Findings The complexity of economic systems has shown that high levels of abstraction are required when conceptualising problems and explanations related with nature-inspired solutions. Stakeholder engagement and transdisciplinary collaboration are required to face long-term environmental challenges. Moreover, the exploratory analysis applied in this paper appeared suitable to compile existing literature. Practical implications The study provides some general guidelines and empirical approach through case studies that could help decision makers convert nature-inspired alternatives into valuable strategic business opportunities. Although presented practical cases are framed in the local sphere (i.e. the Basque Country), they can serve as references in other international contexts. Social implications New business models should recognize the positive synchronization between well-managed social, environmental and economic systems. Originality/value The proposed ideas deepen the understanding on the sustainable development and the link between ecological and economic systems. In fact, the concept of biomimetic economy has not been dealt with or developed in depth in previous academic works, nor has it been published thoroughly in the field of research.
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Hsu, Kuo-Wei, and Chieh-Yu Chao. "The Effects of Youth Entrepreneurship Community Engagement on Sustainable Design: A Case Study of Guangfu Village Redevelopment." E3S Web of Conferences 57 (2018): 05002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20185705002.
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Public participation plays a decisive role in the way to achieve sustainability deign for local redevelopment. Guangfu Village, the first garden city model town in Taiwan is facing redevelopment issue when executing sustainable design with human resources after 921 earthquake in 1999. Recently, youth entrepreneurship program imported 70 non-residential participants for the purpose of promoting Guangfu Village as an ecological urbanism demonstration base on garden city planning in Taiwan. Previous studies approved sustainable development was benefited with place attachment of residents. Relative literatures indicated that imported creative community brought positive effects for local redevelopment This study focused on exploring how community engagement as a trend of human resource influenced local redevelopment when facing the challenge of sustainable design. 70 questionnaires of youth entrepreneurship community members were analysed to verify place attachment of imported community in Guangfu Village. The study furthermore applied semi-structured questionnaire to explore the effects on sustainable design for local redevelopment. According to the research analysis, community involvement factors including involvement, participation and control, local dependency factors including local dependence and local identity are the major factors for sustainable design with social, economic and ecological aspects.
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Yee, Tan Xin, Chong Chin Wei, and Adedapo Oluwaseyi Ojo. "Green Volunteerism – A new approach to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals." Tourism and Sustainable Development Review 2, no. 1 (March 30, 2021): 19–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.31098/tsdr.v2i1.32.
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The Earth's climate has changed in great measure throughout history, and it significantly impacts human society, economic development, and ecological degradation. Understanding how to sustain green volunteerism among youth is an important issue to confronting today’s ecological challenges, especially when they may serve as future leaders of environmental movements. In a focus group setting, 25 representatives of multi-stakeholders discussed how and why students in higher education institutions participate in green volunteering. Transcripts from the conversation were analyzed to comprehend the motives, challenges, and benefits of youth engagement in green volunteering. Findings suggested that young adults are aware of and working on climate issues. A few issues were raised as challenges and/or demotivating factors in youth engagement among green volunteerism.
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Vatovec, Christine, and Haley Ferrer. "Sustainable Well-Being Challenge: A Student-Centered Pedagogical Tool Linking Human Well-Being to Ecological Flourishing." Sustainability 11, no. 24 (December 15, 2019): 7178. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11247178.
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Human behavioral change is necessary if we wish to evolve into a more sustainable human society, but change is hard, especially given that many people equate environmentalism with personal sacrifice. This paper highlights a semester-long assignment in which undergraduate students examined five behaviors that claim to increase happiness with minimal ecological footprints. We used mixed methods to analyze students’ self-reported positive and negative affect scores before and after completing each of the five activities, along with descriptions of the carbon footprint of each activity and student self-reflections on whether each challenge promoted “sustainability”. Results indicated that students’ positive affect increased with each activity, while negative affect decreased. Student reflections indicated that engagement with systems thinking can be used to examine the relationship between their own well-being and the ecological outcomes of each of their chosen activities, as well as alternatives that would decrease their footprint. In final reflections, 85% of students stated that they would promote these five behaviors among the general public to enhance sustainability efforts. We discuss using the Sustainable Well-being Challenge as a tool to promote behaviors that support both human and ecological well-being.
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Sahoo, Dr Kalpana, Dr J. Satpathy, Dr Vandana Mohanty, Dr Kavitha Subramanium, and Keerthan Raj. "COGNITO - TECTONICS IN STRESS INDUCED EMOTIONAL BEHAVIOUR." YMER Digital 20, no. 11 (November 23, 2021): 340–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.37896/ymer20.11/31.
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The success of an institution is mainly dependent on its effective human capital and in execution of strategic sustainable HR functions. Currently, human resources are under colossal pressure to ascertain its value, facing severe demands to create an innovative, resultoriented workforce. Ecological - connect practices save money through awareness and communication while reducing environmental predicaments. Personal or professional engagement of individuals will have a long-lasting effect on the environment. Innovation coupled with business processes can change the mindsets of people and businesses and reduce incremental costs. The hallmark of ecological - connect is that it brings about enduring stress - induced thinking competence. One of the prime doctrines of ecological - connect is maximization of positive benefits of an institution for all stakeholders and specifically it should commence with its domestic human resources
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Nikologianni, Anastasia, Alessandro Betta, and Alessandro Gretter. "Contribution of Conceptual-Drawing Methods to Raise Awareness on Landscape Connectivity: Socio-Environmental Analysis in the Regional Context of Trentino (Italy)." Sustainability 14, no. 13 (June 30, 2022): 7975. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su14137975.
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This paper deals with landscape understanding and connectivity from an ecological as well as a human perspective. It is based on a broader research study known as EIT Climate-KIC SATURN (System and sustainable Approach to virTuous interaction of Urban and Rural LaNdscapes) co-funded by the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT), Climate-KIC and the institutions participating in this project. The aim of the study was to explore how landscape connectivity is perceived, on urban and regional scales, by decision-makers and key stakeholders as well as the impact this can have on building sustainable cities. The paper used a series of drawing and visualization workshops, community engagement methods, and participatory tools to identify the connection communities and decision-makers have with their landscape surroundings as well as the impact landscape connectivity has on our health and wellbeing. Through a series of specifically designed workshops following a landscape visioning approach, the paper explored how drawings and visualizations can support decision-makers to create a vision that addresses landscape connectivity, considering the socio-ecological factors in their area and creating a holistic regional approach between urban and rural landscapes. The study concludes that landscape connectivity is of major importance when creating visions for a sustainable future; however, a better connection between ecological and human elements needs to be established to improve landscape design.
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Kabanga, Charlie, Olaf Valverde Mordt, Florent Mbo, Medard Mbondo, Donatien Olela, Rinelle Etinkum, Dieudonne Nkaji, Bienvenu Mukoso, and Lubanza Mananasi. "Communities’ Perception, Knowledge, and Practices Related to Human African Trypanosomiasis in the Democratic Republic of Congo." Diseases 10, no. 4 (September 26, 2022): 69. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diseases10040069.
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Background: The number of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has significantly reduced, thanks to more effective drugs and screening tools and regular mass screening. However, this potentially jeopardizes HAT control activities, especially community engagement. Methods: We used an ecological model framework to understand how various factors shape communities’ knowledge, perceptions, and behavior in this low endemicity context. Community members, frontline health providers, and policymakers were consulted using an ethnographic approach. Results: Communities in endemic areas are knowledgeable about causes, symptoms, and treatment of HAT, but this was more limited among young people. Few are aware of new HAT treatment or screening techniques. Participation in mass screening has declined due to many factors including fear and a lack of urgency, given the low numbers of cases. Delays in seeking medical care are due to confusion of HAT symptoms with those of other diseases and belief that HAT is caused by witchcraft. Conclusions: Community members see their role more in terms of vector control than participation in screening, referral, or accepting treatment. We propose recommendations for achieving sustainable community engagement, including development of an information and communication strategy and empowerment of communities to take greater ownership of HAT control activities.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Ecologically sustainable human engagement"
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Barnes, Katherine Rachel, and n/a. "Reconstructive Strategies for Artists Engaging With ecology: An Examination of the Relationship Between Culture, Nature and Technology in Ecological Art." Griffith University. Queensland College of Art, 2005. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20061011.150154.
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With the rise in industrial capitalism during the 20th Century, artists increasingly focused on the threat of a disappearing natural world. In the high technology era of the late 20th Century, artists whose practice is termed 'ecological' based their work around new understandings of the relationship between nature and culture, fundamentally underpinned by a shift toward evolutionary, systems-theoretical perspectives from those of conquest and exploitation. Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, the information era has brought into intersection the discourses of information technologies, quantum physics, and biological science, awakening artists to the challenge of engaging with ecology as the primary subject of their practice. The doctoral project that is the subject of this exegesis focuses critical attention on our scientific and aesthetic understandings of water - a crucial symbolic element of global import in survival. It explores the representation of water in and through art practice that is informed by political ecological awareness and new (digital) technologies. My practice exploits the potential of recent digital technologies to create experiences that aim to encourage a more ecologically sustainable human engagement with nature through this focus on water. This exegesis describes and locates the creative work within an ongoing discourse in contemporary culture that actively seeks to re-establish and redefine the relationship between culture and nature.
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Barnes, Katherine Rachel. "Reconstructive Strategies for Artists Engaging With ecology: An Examination of the Relationship Between Culture, Nature and Technology in Ecological Art." Thesis, Griffith University, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/366109.
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With the rise in industrial capitalism during the 20th Century, artists increasingly focused on the threat of a disappearing natural world. In the high technology era of the late 20th Century, artists whose practice is termed 'ecological' based their work around new understandings of the relationship between nature and culture, fundamentally underpinned by a shift toward evolutionary, systems-theoretical perspectives from those of conquest and exploitation. Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, the information era has brought into intersection the discourses of information technologies, quantum physics, and biological science, awakening artists to the challenge of engaging with ecology as the primary subject of their practice. The doctoral project that is the subject of this exegesis focuses critical attention on our scientific and aesthetic understandings of water - a crucial symbolic element of global import in survival. It explores the representation of water in and through art practice that is informed by political ecological awareness and new (digital) technologies. My practice exploits the potential of recent digital technologies to create experiences that aim to encourage a more ecologically sustainable human engagement with nature through this focus on water. This exegesis describes and locates the creative work within an ongoing discourse in contemporary culture that actively seeks to re-establish and redefine the relationship between culture and nature.Thesis (Professional Doctorate)
Doctor of Visual Arts (DVA)
Queensland College of Art
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Crinion, Jonathan Hugh. "Creating an ecological-self : how the natural change project uses ecopsychology in an attempt to elicit social action for an ecologically sustainable future." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/16394.
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Various forms of resistance are emerging in Human Geography in response to human caused environmental degradation and climate change. One such example is the Natural Change (NC) project, a World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) initiative about social change through a facilitated wilderness experience. Wilderness is seen as an affective quality, acting as a catalyst for an empirical embodied experience of the integral human connectivity to Nature. This connectivity is seen to inform the subject's framing of distanciated environmental issues and intends to re-territorialise their positionality as an ecological Self. The NC seeks to create an embodied connectivity with Nature, which desires immunising others as a form of self-protection. The WWF NC project began by selecting influential individuals from large organisations in Scotland. After two groups completed the NC, the project was deemed highly successful by the WWF and was then terminated by a change of leadership at the WWF. The creators of the NC went on to create the Natural Change Foundation (NCF) and offer the program to eco-facilitators so that they might integrate the NC experience into their work. This research explicates the changing positionality of individuals, before, during and after the NC course. The research showed that two spaces emerged after the NC course. In one space the subjects attempt to structure a diffluence of feelings and ideas and struggle to act, while in another space the subjects combine influence and agency with a grounding element of experiential connectivity, to move to a confluence of feelings that result in action. The research identified that a specific type of efficacy and agency is needed to empower individuals after the NC course, to enact social change through action. The research highlights the importance of access to, or the creation of situations, which are supportive of efficacy and agency. These findings have profound implications for Human Geographers interested in enacting policy in relation to climate change and environmental degradation, that results in social action for an ecologically sustainable future.
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Cano, Ariana Margarita. "The Impact of Engagement With Community Supported Agriculture on Human Attitude Towards the Sustainable Food Movement." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2015. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/429.
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With a total of 164 community supported agriculture programs (CSA), Vermont is leading the "locavore" movement in the United States, ranked number one in the country with the most CSAs and Food Hubs per capita. ("Locavore Index," 2013)
CSAs have a large positive impact on reducing carbon emissions, advancing local economic growth, and promoting healthy lifestyles of consumers. The purpose of this study is to explore the overall experience of individuals in comparison to their current social norm, individual attitudes, identity, and intentions of change, and understand any change overtime in their individual attitude and behavior.
Attitude change was measured by conducting pre and post surveys of the Intervale Food Hub UVM student members, as well as regression analysis to understand any possible indicators of chance. The data analysis provided understanding of the impact of the Intervale Food Hub's CSA membership on individuals' attitudes, norms, and identity. Survey questions, based on the theory of planned behavior, inquired about individuals' preferences, skills, and behavioral intentions. Because of the complexity of food and human relations, this data was be supplemented by collecting qualitative data to more richly understand the relationship between individuals and their Intervale Food Hub food shares.
The conclusion of this study will advance understanding of one form of community supported-agriculture and its impact on human attitudes. Study findings will also aid the staff of the Intervale Food Hub in understanding their customers and implementing more efficient practices.
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Strömgren, Marcus. "Social capital in healthcare : A resource for sustainable engagement in organizational improvement work." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Ergonomi, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-212301.
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Social capital, work engagement, working conditions, and leadership are concepts that have been studied previously, but there is lack of knowledge about what processes promote sustainable organizational improvement work in hospitals, and specifically, what leads healthcare professionals to engage in clinical developments. The overall aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge of how social capital and engagement contribute to sustainable organizational improvement work in hospitals and how social capital and engagement are created during organizational improvement work. Data were collected by a questionnaire at three times over a period of two years at five hospitals and all studies are quantitative. The results show that improved working conditions and employees’ attitudes to engagement in improvement work are associated with and have importance for healthcare professionals’ work engagement and clinical engagement in improving care processes (Study I). Job demands, social capital, and other job resources are associated with healthcare professionals’ intention to leave their jobs, whereas high levels of social capital are associated with low levels of intention to leave (Study II). Increased social capital predicted healthcare professionals’ job satisfaction, work engagement, and engagement in patient safety (Study III). Leadership is shown to be important for healthcare professionals’ social capital, and levels of leadership quality correlate with levels of social capital over time (Study IV). In conclusion, social capital, increased job resources, and decreased job demands are important conditions for healthcare professionals’ engagement in organizational improvement work. To develop social capital, leadership quality is an important precondition. Social capital can be regarded as a resource for sustainable organizational improvement work in healthcare, because of its importance for healthcare professionals’ engagement, job satisfaction, and intention to leave.Socialt kapital, arbetsengagemang, arbetsförhållanden och ledarskap är begrepp som har studerats tidigare men det saknas kunskap om vilka processer som främjar hållbar verksamhetsutveckling i sjukhus, specifikt vad får hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal att engagera sig i kliniskt utvecklingsarbete. Det övergripande syftet med den här avhandlingen är att öka kunskapen om hur socialt kapital och engagemang bidrar till verksamhetsutveckling och hur socialt kapital och engagemang skapas under pågående verksamhetsutveckling. I Studie I var syftet att identifiera dimensioner av engagemang bland hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal och att undersöka hur dessa är relaterade till arbetsförhållanden under pågående utveckling av vårdprocesser. I Studie II var syftet att analysera samband mellan arbetsförhållanden och socialt kapital i relation till vårdpersonalens intention att sluta sitt arbete och att undersöka om socialt kapital modererar förhållandet mellan arbetskrav och intention att sluta sitt arbete. Den tredje studien (III) syftade till att undersöka vikten av socialt kapital för arbetstillfredsställelse, arbetsengagemang och engagemang i kliniskt utvecklingsarbete bland hälso- och sjukvårdspersonal. Studie IV syftade till att utforska om och vilka ledarskapskvalitéter som har inverkan på socialt kapital över tid bland anställda i hälso- och sjukvården. Det empiriska materialet bygger på data från ett forskningsprogram som inkluderar tre forskningsprojekt. Data samlades in via enkät vid tre tillfällen över en period av två år och samtliga studier är kvantitativa. Studierna är baserade på en sjukhuskohort från fem sjukhus. I Studie II analyserades tvärsnittsdata. I studierna I, III och IV analyserades longitudinella data. Resultaten visade att förbättrade arbetsförhållanden och anställdas attityd till engagemang var associerade till och var viktiga för hälso- och sjukvårdspersonals arbetsengagemang och kliniska engagemang i utveckling av vårdprocesser (Studie I). Arbetskrav, socialt kapital och andra arbetsresurser är associerade till hälso- och sjukvårdspersonals intention att sluta sitt arbete samt att hög nivå av socialt kapital är associerat till låg nivå av intention att sluta sitt arbete (Studie II). Ökat socialt kapital visade sig predicera hälso- och sjukvårdspersonals arbetstillfredsställelse, arbetsengagemang och engagemang i patientsäkerhet (Studie III). Ledarskap var viktigt för hälso- och sjukvårdspersonals sociala kapital och nivåer av ledarskapskvalitét korrelerade med nivåer av socialt kapital över tid (Studie IV). Slutsatsen är att socialt kapital, ökade arbetsresurser och minskade arbetskrav är viktiga förutsättningar för hälso- och sjukvårdspersonals engagemang i verksamhetsutveckling. För att utveckla socialt kapital är ledarskapskvalitét en viktig förutsättning. Genom det sociala kapitalets betydelse för hälso- och sjukvårdspersonals engagemang, arbetstillfredsställelse och intention att sluta sitt arbete kan det sociala kapitalet betraktas som en resurs för hållbar verksamhetsutveckling i sjukvården.
QC 20170830
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Sapinski, Aleksander, and Agnieszka Knap-Stefaniuk. "Sustainable development and contemporary challenges in human resources management – selected aspects." Thesis, Sumy State University, 2015. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/43787.
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Enterprises that follow the path of sustainable development are called sustainable
enterprises. Their activities are determined by sustainable management, an essential part of which
is human resources management. Human resources have a vital role in the process of
transforming enterprises into sustainable organizations. The most valuable part of that is
sustainable personnel, that is highly qualified employees who understand and implement the rules
of sustainable growth in the development of their work.
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Albrecht, Tomás. "Designing the Publikvitto, a system to make government expenditure tangible." Thesis, KTH, Medieteknik och interaktionsdesign, MID, 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-231516.
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Air transportation is essential to our society. It enables global trading, brings people together, and lets travelers explore distant parts of the world. However, flying is a highly unsustainable behavior and accounts for roughly 2% of all carbon emissions; with industry and research forecasting constant growth in the coming years. The economic benefits rhetoric often prevails over the environmental costs, though; motivating governments to give incentives to airports and airlines. The Swedish Government, despite its green goals and pro-sustainability actions, is no exception, and both municipal and federal funds support the air route network. This thesis reports on the development of the Publikvitto, a system designed to help citizen make sense of the government's incentives to the flying industry. The process is based on research through design and inspired by reflective practices. The primary outcome are insights into the relationship between designer, social issues, and government's actions; and how these elements can be approached in order to design artifacts that motivate people to engage in political discussions.Att transportera sig med hjälp av flygplan är idag en självklarhet. Genom att flyga kan vi upptäcka andra delar av världen, träffa nya människor och få till internationella uppgörelser. Att flyga är dock ett mycket ohållbart sätt att transportera sig och svarar för ca 2% av all världens koldioxidutsläpp, där forskning och utveckling av industrin endast visar att dessa siffror kommer växa. Eftersom flygindustrin är en viktig del av samhället är dock de miljömässiga konsekvenserna förbisedda, där staterna snarare upprätthåller industrin genom bidrag och skattelättnader. Trots sina hållbara mål är Sveriges stat inget undantag. Denna studie handlar om utvecklingen av Publikvittot, ett system som är designat för att hjälpa oss som medborgare att förstå regeringens stöd och skattelättnader gentemot flygindustrin. Processen av utvecklandet är baserad på “forskning genom design” och inspirerad av reflekterande förhållningssätt. Slutsatser av denna studie handlar framför allt om insikter om relationen mellan designer, sociala problem och statens handlingar och hur dessa element kan bli bemötta för att designa produkter som motiverar människor att delta i politiska diskussioner.
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Денисенко, Павло Анатолійович, Павел Анатольевич Денисенко, and Pavlo Anatoliiovych Denysenko. "Економіко-організаційні засади врахування інтелектуальної складової екологічно сталого розвитку." Thesis, Сумський державний університет, 2021. https://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/83346.
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Дисертацію присвячено обгрунтуванню науково-методичних положень щодо розроблення економіко-організаційних засад урахування інтелектуальної складової екологічно сталого розвитку. У дисертації висунуто й теоретично обгрунтовано наукові положення довгострокового екологічно сталого розвитку соціо-економічних систем з урахуванням інтелектуальної складової, в яких доведено існування експоненційної форми впливу індикаторів досягнень економіки знань на питомі показники ресурсопродуктивності в процесах виробництва валової доданої вартості, що дозволяє більш виважено реалізовувати цільові програми національного розвитку забезпечення ресурсної / енергетичної безпеки та екологічної стійкості. Визначено тип інтелектуалізації господарської діяльності, який з урахуванням антропогенного навантаження, структурних економічних ефектів та енергозалежності найбільшою мірою сприяє екологічно сталому зростанню, розвинено теоретичні положення й емпіричні оцінки щодо поглиблення сутності сталого розвитку на основі узгодження досягнень рівнів інтелектуалізації процесів господарювання на стадіях виробництва, розподілу та споживання продукції з метою недопущення дивергенції інтелектуальних показників і зростання розривів щодо рівнів ресурсопродуктивності господарських систем.The dissertation is devoted to the substantiation of scientific and methodical positions concerning development of economic and organizational systems considering the intellectual component of environmentally sustainable development. It is substantiated the scientific provisions of long-term environmentally sustainable development of socio-economic systems with account of the intellectual component, which proved the existence of an exponential influence of knowledge economy indicators on specific indicators of resource productivity in gross value-added production. It is found that with the growth of the Knowledge economy index (KEI) per one unit, the indicator of resource productivity (RP) in the group of selected European countries increases by of 0.7 Euro per 1 kg. The increasing return to scale and knowledge-intensive economy provide a base for sustainable development. As it may be expected, the increase in the level of intellectual activity within the economy improves the labour productivity (LP) as more skilled workers widely use more complicated and advanced technologies gaining more outcome per person. At the same time, the linear model is the one to most adequately describe the positive correlation between KEI and LP. So the gradual improvement in productivity of skilled workers as economy goes deeper into being knowledge based is shown empirically but without explosion-like dynamics. The proven existence of an exponential relationship between indicators of the knowledge economy and resource productivity allowed to form effective arguments for economic policy in order to invest in the intellectualization of production processes. Scientific and methodological provisions for expanding the essence of components of ecologically balanced development of socio-economic systems are proposed, in which, in contrast to the existing ones, a criterion of coordination of achievements of levels of intellectualization of economic processes at stages of production, distribution and consumption is proposed. It is established that intellectual convergence is a factor that helps to balance both the economic component of regional development and environmental. Intellectual convergence and increasing the level of intellectualization of production and consumption is the basis for further sustainable development of the national economy as a whole. It is established that the knowledge economy is associated with an increase in the "ecological footprint", and innovative development has a negative impact on the environment. At the same time, the direction of this connection is paradoxically positive (a larger value of the KEI corresponds to a larger value of the "environmental footprint"), along with economic development, consumer needs and the corresponding load on integrated resources increase. The ecological and economic criterion for assessing the orientation of the intellectual and innovative component of economic activity to ensure sustainable development proves that the extensive indicator of economic development (quantitatively expressed in absolute terms) should be less than the rate of resource use in conventional terms. It is developed the methodological approaches to empirical assessment of the relationship between sustainable development goals and the intellectual component of the socio-economic system in the direction of determining the rating and ranking of regional development, which allows to recommend practical tools to promote environmentally sustainable development of relevant administrative-territorial systems. Scientific and methodological approaches to the classification of types of economic growth have been improved, which, in contrast to the existing ones, are based on the essence of driving forces and impact on the ecosystem, taking into account the intellectual component, as well as to formalize for each of them the basis, target, impact on the ecosystem and the consequences for the ecosystem, which makes it possible to identify trends in ecosystem resources from the standpoint of sustainable development. Scientific and methodological approaches to assessing the intellectual component of the innovative potential of ecologically sustainable development of the region are studied, which in contrast to the existing ones take into account personal, structural, interface and modified potentials of ecological orientation. Assessment of the intellectual potential of ecologically sustainable development of the region should take into account the educational, research and innovation, interface and environmental components to justify regional development strategies on the basis of environmental and economic sustainability. On the example of Sumy region, it is determined that the greatest lag of intellectual potential from the national level is observed in the educational component. In determining the intellectual potential of Sumy region in 2010-2018, three of the four components were improved, including the environmental component. Scientific and methodological provisions have been developed to determine the essence of the components of ecologically balanced development of socio-economic systems, which, in contrast to the existing ones, propose a criterion for harmonizing the achievements of levels of intellectualization of economic processes at the stages of production. It is determined the type of intellectualization of economic activity, which takes into account the anthropogenic load, structural economic effects, energy dependence, and the most contributes to environmentally sustainable growth. It is developed the theoretical positions and empirical estimates for determination of the most statistically adequate forms of dependencies between the achievements of intellectualization indicators and specific indicators of LP / RP in the processes of gross value added production.
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Daly, Marwa El. "Challenges and potentials of channeling local philanthropy towards development and aocial justice and the role of waqf (Islamic and Arab-civic endowments) in building community foundations." Doctoral thesis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philosophische Fakultät III, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.18452/16511.
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Diese Arbeit bietet eine solide theoretische Grundlage zu Philanthropie und religiös motivierten Spendenaktivitäten und deren Einfluss auf Wohltätigkeitstrends, Entwicklungszusammenarbeit und einer auf dem Gedanken der sozialen Gerechtigkeit beruhenden Philanthropie. Untersucht werden dafür die Strukturen religiös motivierte Spenden, für die in der islamischen Tradition die Begriffe „zakat“, „Waqf“ oder im Plural auch „awqaf-“ oder „Sadaqa“ verwendet werden, der christliche Begriff dafür lautet „tithes“ oder „ushour“. Aufbauend auf diesem theoretischen Rahmenwerk analysiert die qualitative und quantitative Feldstudie auf nationaler Ebene, wie die ägyptische Öffentlichkeit Philanthropie, soziale Gerechtigkeit, Menschenrechte, Spenden, Freiwilligenarbeit und andere Konzepte des zivilgesellschaftlichen Engagements wahrnimmt. Um eine umfassende und repräsentative Datengrundlage zu erhalten, wurden 2000 Haushalte, 200 zivilgesellschaftliche Organisationen erfasst, sowie Spender, Empfänger, religiöse Wohltäter und andere Akteure interviewt. Die so gewonnen Erkenntnisse lassen aussagekräftige Aufschlüsse über philanthropische Trends zu. Erstmals wird so auch eine finanzielle Einschätzung und Bewertung der Aktivitäten im lokalen Wohltätigkeitsbereich möglich, die sich auf mehr als eine Billion US-Dollar beziffern lassen. Die Erhebung weist nach, dass gemessen an den Pro-Kopf-Aufwendungen die privaten Spendenaktivitäten weitaus wichtiger sind als auswärtige wirtschaftliche Hilfe für Ägypten. Das wiederum lässt Rückschlüsse zu, welche Bedeutung lokale Wohltätigkeit erlangen kann, wenn sie richtig gesteuert wird und nicht wie bislang oft im Teufelskreis von ad-hoc-Spenden oder Hilfen von Privatperson an Privatperson gefangen ist. Die Studie stellt außerdem eine Verbindung her zwischen lokalen Wohltätigkeits-Mechanismen, die meist auf religiösen und kulturellen Werten beruhen, und modernen Strukturen, wie etwa Gemeinde-Stiftungen oder Gemeinde-„waqf“, innerhalb derer die Spenden eine nachhaltige Veränderung bewirken können. Daher bietet diese Arbeit also eine umfassende wissenschaftliche Grundlage, die nicht nur ein besseres Verständnis, sondern auch den nachhaltiger Aus- und Aufbau lokaler Wohltätigkeitsstrukturen in Ägypten ermöglicht. Zentral ist dabei vor allem die Rolle lokaler, individueller Spenden, die beispielsweise für Stiftungen auf der Gemeindeebene eingesetzt, wesentlich zu einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung beitragen könnten – und das nicht nur in Ägypten, sondern in der gesamten arabischen Region. Als konkretes Ergebnis dieser Arbeit, wurde ein innovatives Modell entwickelt, dass neben den wissenschaftlichen Daten das Konzept der „waqf“ berücksichtigt. Der Wissenschaftlerin und einem engagierten Vorstand ist es auf dieser Grundlage gelungen, die Waqfeyat al Maadi Community Foundation (WMCF) zu gründen, die nicht nur ein Modell für eine Bürgerstiftung ist, sondern auch das tradierte Konzept der „waqf“ als praktikable und verbürgte Wohlstätigkeitsstruktur sinnvoll weiterentwickelt.This work provides a solid theoretical base on philanthropy, religious giving (Islamic zakat, ‘ushour, Waqf -plural: awqaf-, Sadaqa and Christian tithes or ‘ushour), and their implications on giving trends, development work, social justice philanthropy. The field study (quantitative and qualitative) that supports the theoretical framework reflects at a national level the Egyptian public’s perceptions on philanthropy, social justice, human rights, giving and volunteering and other concepts that determine the peoples’ civic engagement. The statistics cover 2000 households, 200 Civil Society Organizations distributed all over Egypt and interviews donors, recipients, religious people and other stakeholders. The numbers reflect philanthropic trends and for the first time provide a monetary estimate of local philanthropy of over USD 1 Billion annually. The survey proves that the per capita share of philanthropy outweighs the per capita share of foreign economic assistance to Egypt, which implies the significance of local giving if properly channeled, and not as it is actually consumed in the vicious circle of ad-hoc, person to person charity. In addition, the study relates local giving mechanisms derived from religion and culture to modern actual structures, like community foundations or community waqf that could bring about sustainable change in the communities. In sum, the work provides a comprehensive scientific base to help understand- and build on local philanthropy in Egypt. It explores the role that local individual giving could play in achieving sustainable development and building a new wave of community foundations not only in Egypt but in the Arab region at large. As a tangible result of this thesis, an innovative model that revives the concept of waqf and builds on the study’s results was created by the researcher and a dedicated board of trustees who succeeded in establishing Waqfeyat al Maadi Community Foundation (WMCF) that not only introduces the community foundation model to Egypt, but revives and modernizes the waqf as a practical authentic philanthropic structure.
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Allen, Patrick T., A. Schiek, and David J. Robison. "Urban Encounters Reloaded: towards a descriptive account of augmented space." 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/12051.
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NoIn this chapter, augmented space is described as the layering of media technologies onto the physical space of the city. The approach assesses salient aspects of the experience of space in everyday life, the city and urban space more generally. The chapter discusses these in relation to the deployment of augmenting technologies and modes of display associated with augmented reality, new and digital media: visual or otherwise. Selected work, carried out in relation to culture, leisure and tourism is assessed. These case studies indicate the potential of augmented reality in areas of a) urban design, b) tourism and heritage, and c) the promotion of cycling for health and the creation of alternative transport infrastructure. The main characteristics of AR and augmented space are presented. This is followed by a discussion and development of hybrid research tools and applied in two case studies with a view to providing a potential roadmap for future work in this area.
Books on the topic "Ecologically sustainable human engagement"
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Mark, Diesendorf, and Hamilton Clive, eds. Human ecology, human economy: Ideas for an ecologically sustainable future. St. Leonards, NSW, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1997.
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Rees, William E. Sustainability, growth and employment: Toward an ecologically stable, economically secure, and socially satisfying future. Vancouver: Centre for Human Settlements, School of Community and Regional Planning, University of British Columbia, 1994.
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Eyles, Robert James. Voices of hope in a suffering world: Reflections on ecologically sustainable lifestyles with questions for personal and group consideration and discussion. Wellington, N.Z: Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, 1991.
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(Editor), Mark Diesendorf, and Clive Hamilton (Editor), eds. Human Ecology, Human Economy: Ideas for an Ecologically Sustainable Future. Allen & Unwin Academic, 1997.
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Banet, Catherine, Hanri Mostert, LeRoy Paddock, Milton Fernando Montoya, and Iñigo del Guayo, eds. Resilience in Energy, Infrastructure, and Natural Resources Law. Oxford University PressOxford, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192864574.001.0001.
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Abstract The number of severe, sometimes catastrophic disruptive events has been rapidly increasing. Extreme weather events including floods, wildfires and hurricanes, and other natural disasters have become both more frequent and more severe. At the same time the COVID-19 pandemic has created a global threat to public health with huge economic effects that recovery packages tried to address. These disruptive events, alone and in combination, have dramatic consequences on nature, human life, and the economy, calling for urgent action to mitigate their causes and adapt to their impacts. In response to discourses of collapsology and end-of-growth theories, this book offers an analytical approach to developing legal responses that can help assure that needs of present and future generations can be met through energy systems, infrastructure development, and natural resources management in times of more frequent and intense disruption. ‘Resilience’ is therefore seen as a common framework for the interpretation and development of energy, infrastructure, and natural resources law. With a mix of thematic chapters and case studies from multiple jurisdictions, the book maps and assesses legal responses to disruptive nature-based events, and examines possible legal pathways for more sustainable outcomes, based on its engagement with the concept of ‘resilience’ and a social-ecological thinking.
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Parkes, Graham. Kūkai and Dōgen as Exemplars of Ecological Engagement. Oxford University Press, 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190456320.003.0005.
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The current environmental crisis is largely due to a particular conception of the human relationship to nature. Common in anthropocentric traditions of Western thought, this view depicts human beings as separate from, and superior to, all other beings in the natural world. Traditional East Asian understandings of this relationship are quite different and remarkably unanthropocentric, especially as exemplified in the ideas of Chinese Daoism and Japanese Buddhism. The human-nature relationship in the philosophies of Kūkai (aka Kōbō Daishi, 774–835) and Dōgen (1200–1253) offers a notion of somatic practice designed to bring about a transformation of experience. Both thinkers advocate philosophy as a way of life that can help us to engage the world in an ecologically responsible manner.
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Cannavò, Peter. Environmental Political Theory and Republicanism. Edited by Teena Gabrielson, Cheryl Hall, John M. Meyer, and David Schlosberg. Oxford University Press, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199685271.013.20.
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This chapter attempts to broaden our understanding of the relatively under-investigated connection between civic republican and green perspectives. The chapter outlines key similarities between civic republicanism and more radical forms of environmentalism and highlights how both republicanism and environmentalism face an internal tension between communitarian values and a strong commitment to meaningful participatory politics. The author argues that greater engagement with republicanism by environmental political theory can promote a better grasp of environmentalism’s political implications and internal tensions. Moreover, engagement with republicanism can also yield insight into how we might address ecological threats, including climate change. Republican conceptions of dispersed sovereignty, civic virtue, and even the proper use of nature can help guide a more ecologically sustainable society.
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Bueno de Mesquita, Judith R., Connor Fuchs, and Dabney P. Evans. The Future of Human Rights Accountability for Global Health through the Universal Periodic Review. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190672676.003.0025.
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This chapter examines the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a new peer-review procedure that provides scrutiny of each UN member state’s human rights record every five years. The review process culminates in a set of recommendations issued to each “State-under-Review” (SuR). The UPR provides an unprecedented opportunity to routinely hold all states to account for their obligations under international human rights law, including health-related human rights. Health recommendations have featured prominently in the recommendations issued to SuRs and have a comparatively high implementation rate. Empirical data indicate that the UPR could have a potentially, or already, important role in holding states to account for health-related human rights as well as political global health commitments, such as those found in the Sustainable Development Goals. However, certain shortcomings should be addressed, including an uneven spread of recommendations across different health issues and limited engagement of the public health community.
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Tully, James, Keith Cherry, Fonna Forman, Jeanne Morefield, Joshua Nichols, Pablo Ouziel, David Owen, and Oliver Schmidtke, eds. Democratic Multiplicity. Cambridge University Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781009178372.
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This edited volume argues that democracy is broader and more diverse than the dominant state-centered, modern representative democracies, to which other modes of democracy are either presumed subordinate or ignored. The contributors seek to overcome the standard opposition of democracy from below (participatory) and democracy from above (representative). Rather, they argue that through differently situated participatory and representative practices, citizens and governments can develop democratic ways of cooperating without hegemony and subordination, and that these relationships can be transformative. This work proposes a slow but sure, nonviolent, eco-social and sustainable process of democratic generation and growth with the capacity to critique and transform unjust and ecologically destructive social systems. This volume integrates human-centric democracies into a more mutual, interdependent and sustainable system on earth whereby everyone gains.
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Gunn, Sarah. Stone House Construction. CSIRO Publishing, 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/9780643106857.
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Stone House Construction is a comprehensive study of Australian stone building techniques in a residential context, for people with an interest in building or renovating, including property owners, architects and builders. It has a strong theme of historic stone buildings, as traditional forms of building respond to the need for structural integrity and stability over time against weathering.
The book covers aspects of building in locally sourced stone, from quarrying on-site to building arches over openings for upper storey walls, and is a source book of examples and methods to help the reader to carry on a tradition of building in local stone.
Stone buildings inspire people because they transfer a natural beauty to a human achievement. The book shows many examples of Australian stonework that have not been given exposure in previous architectural references. It promotes Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) through the continuation of a stonework tradition in Australia.
Book chapters on the topic "Ecologically sustainable human engagement"
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Mega, Voula. "Accountable Strategic Planning and Citizen Engagement." In Human Sustainable Cities, 225–50. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-04840-1_8.
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Aiswarya, B., and G. Ramasundaram. "Employee Engagement—A Driving Force for Sustaining Employees." In Sustainable Human Resource Management, 247–57. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5656-2_15.
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Saetang, Penchom. "The Role of Citizen Science in Policy Advocacy and Building Just and Ecologically Sustainable Communities in Thailand." In Civic Engagement in Asia, 47–60. Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9384-7_5.
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Nandan, Shefali, and Jyoti. "Organizational Culture Dimensions as Drivers of Employee Engagement for Business Sustainability: Towards a Conceptual Framework." In Sustainable Human Resource Management, 109–32. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5656-2_7.
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Ahmed, Salahuddin, and Sapna Singh. "Examining the Role of HR Practice and Employee Engagement on Employee’s Loyalty—The Sustainability Dimensions of Textile Industry in Bangladesh." In Sustainable Human Resource Management, 259–72. Singapore: Springer Singapore, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5656-2_16.
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Liszewski, Melissa. "It takes a village: community engagement for sustainable animal welfare." In Changing human behaviour to enhance animal welfare, 48–64. Wallingford: CABI, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/9781789247237.0004.
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Sundaresan, Shobha, and Sushama Bavle. "Student Participation and Engagement in Sustainable Human Development: A Value Education Approach." In Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education, 171–86. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47868-5_11.
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Kintu, Ingrid M., and Henry N. N. Bulley. "Youth Engagement and Participation in Mitigating Perennial Flooding in Kampala, Uganda Using Open Geospatial Data." In Sustainable Development Goals Series, 209–19. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05182-1_18.
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AbstractIngraining spatial thinking for problem-solving is critical for future decision makers and leaders. We argue that the use of open geospatial data and technology makes it easier to understand the interconnections between places and many socioecological issues facing communities. This facilitates openness to adopt the methods and strategies needed to make our communities and the world at large a better place as envisaged by UN-SDG 11. This case of two informal human settlements Uganda features low-lying areas with mostly slum conditions and urban poor migrants who settled there from rural communities in search of better livelihoods. YouthMappers documented conditions of drainage systems that impact flood vulnerability. We highlight important lessons in collaborating with local humanitarian organizations to spatially conceptualize development-related activities for underprivileged communities in a context that resonates with local people.
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Pallonetto, Fabiano. "Towards a More Sustainable Mobility." In Handbook of Computational Social Science for Policy, 465–86. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16624-2_24.
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AbstractThe transport sector is the second most important source of emissions in the EU. It is paramount to act now towards the decarbonisation of our transport system to mitigate climate change effects. Waiting for future technological advancements to minimise the existing anthropogenic emissions and dramatically boost its sustainability is risky for human survival. The current chapter highlights how the path towards a sustainable transport system is a whole stakeholders’ effort involving the mass deployment of available technology, changing user behaviours, data-driven legislation, and researching and developing future disruptive technologies. The author analyses and classifies the available data on various transport modals and assesses the impact of the technologies and policy measures in terms of potential reduction of carbon emissions, challenges, and opportunities. It also exemplifies outstanding test settings across the world on how already available technologies have contributed to the development of a lower-carbon transport setting. The chapter considers developing countries’ economic and infrastructural challenges in upgrading to a low-carbon transport system and the lack of data-driven decisions and stakeholders’ engagement measures in addressing the sector sustainability challenges. It also emphasised how a sustainable transport system should lay the foundation on data harmonisation and interoperability to accelerate innovation and promote a fast route for deploying new and more effective policies.
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Bates, Vincent C., Daniel J. Shevock, and Anita Prest. "Cultural Diversity, Ecodiversity, and Music Education." In The Politics of Diversity in Music Education, 163–74. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65617-1_12.
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AbstractDiversity discourses in music education tend toward anthropocentrism, focusing on human cultures, identities, and institutions. In this chapter, we broaden conceptualizations of diversity in music education to include relationships between music, education, and ecology: understood as interactions among organisms and the physical environment. Diversity in music education can be realized by attending to the ongoing interrelationships of local geography, ecology, and culture, all of which contribute dynamically to local music practices. We situate our analysis within specific Indigenous North American cultures (e.g., Western Apache, Nuu-chah-nulth, Stó:lō, and Syilx) and associated perspectives and philosophies to shed light on the multiple forms of reciprocity that undergird diversity. Indigenous knowledge, in combination with new materialism and political ecology discourses, can help us come back down to earth in ways of being and becoming that are ecologically sustainable, preserving the ecodiversity that exists and grows in place, forging egalitarian relationships and a sense of communal responsibility, fostering reverence for ancestors along with nonhuman lives and topographies, and cultivating musical practices that are one with our respective ecosystems.
Conference papers on the topic "Ecologically sustainable human engagement"
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Meiren, Thomas, and Christian Schiller. "Development of new sustainable services." In 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022). AHFE International, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002570.
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Sustainability is one of the most frequently discussed topics of our time. Although the idea of a sustainable economy was already addressed in the context of forestry in the 15th century and may therefore appear to be have a long tradition, the need for action - for example due to political or public demands - is stronger today than ever in many sectors of the economy. Although a growing number of companies are endeavoring to make their products and services more environmentally compatible, concepts for sustainability have hardly been implemented comprehensively in business practice to date.However, the guiding principle of sustainable design is already known in the product world and appears to be established to a certain extent, but it opens up more or less "new territory" in the sense of systematic research and development for new services. On the one hand, interesting economic and ecological opportunities for companies can be found in this area; on the other hand, there are also uncertainties associated with it, mainly due to the lack of knowledge about sustainable services.In particular, ecological sustainability has so far been discussed strongly against the background of energy production (shutdown of coal-fired power plants, use of renewable energies, etc.), energy-intensive industries (chemicals, steel production, etc.) and energy-consuming private areas of life (heating, mobility, etc.). However, the importance for the service economy is often underestimated. Particularly with regard to the design of processes (e.g. "online instead of on-site"), the consumption of resources (e.g. use of sustainable mobility solutions) and the development of new ecologically sustainable service offerings, considerable opportunities lies hidden here.Companies that want to put their ideas for ecologically sustainable services into practice often face two fundamental challenges. First, their corporate structures and processes are not designed for the efficient development and market positioning of new services. In many cases, the difficulties start with the fact that the development processes are not clearly defined, i.e. there is a lack of clear descriptions of the tasks, the methods to be used and the personnel requirements needed. Secondly, competencies with regard to the ecological sustainability of services are missing. In particular, there is a lack of knowledge on how to systematically develop sustainability into services.In the conference presentation, a reference model for the development of new ecologically sustainable services will be presented. In addition to a configurable development process, the model includes integrated methods and tools for various sustainability aspects. The reference model is complemented by recommendations for its organizational and personnel implementation.
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Ronczka, John, and Leah McKenzie. "Industry Engagement with Synthetic Intelligence: To Drive Sustainable Human-Technology ‘Ecosystem Quality’ (EQ)." In 2018 5th Asia-Pacific World Congress on Computer Science and Engineering (APWC on CSE). IEEE, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/apwconcse.2018.00034.
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Tsittser, O., and O. Speranskaya. "AGROECOSYSTEM - THE BASIS OF AGRICULTURE OF THE FUTURE OR COEVOLUTION OF HUMAN ECONOMIC AND SOIL ECOSYSTEM IN THE COORDINATES OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENTNAME OF THE ARTICLE." In Man and Nature: Priorities of Modern Research in the Area of Interaction of Nature and Society. LCC MAKS Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.29003/m2596.s-n_history_2021_44/134-141.
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Sustainable development as applied to agriculture is, first of all, ecologically balanced land use, historical examples of which in many countries testify: the preservation and enhancement of soil fertility combined with the maintenance of biodiversity in the environment, a reasonable balance in production that does not lead to depletion of the soil cover and its pollution with chemicals, prevention in the fight against pests and diseases of cultivated plants - always give positive and prolonged results. The time has come to move away from industrial directions in agriculture and widely introduce environmentally friendly alternatives in agriculture and agricultural production in general.
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Schillaci, Domenico, Salvatore Di Dio, Mauro Filippi, and Francesco Massa. "Gamification or Game Design? A case study in the field of sustainable commuting." In 8th International Conference on Human Interaction and Emerging Technologies. AHFE International, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002741.
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In the last few years, the debate among designers and sustainability experts has brought attention to many different behavioural change approaches and techniques and particularly on “gamification” processes able to better motivate and engage students or even nudge people (consumers) to more environmentally and socially responsible habits (Mousumi, 2021).But since 2011, most of the contradictions about “gamifying” boring or unpleasant experiences have been loudly shared by game designers and thinkers worldwide (Bogost, 2014). It seems that the goal of changing people’s unsustainable behaviours can be achieved by designing brand new sustainable experiences instead of gamifying the unsustainable ones (Yusoff and Kamsin, 2015).This change of perspective represents the foundation of applied games, and it has been deeply studied during the applied research MUV2020 (723521 – muv2020.eu), led by the PUSH design laboratory within the Horizon2020 framework in the field of sustainable urban mobility (Di Dio et al., 2020).From June 2017 to August 2018, the research consortium has run extensive user research across Europe and developed a mobile app game based on the main gain mechanic of recording personal urban travels and a game narrative of sport.From September 2018 to February 2020, the consortium had run several tests in more than 20 cities to study the value of different interactions in terms of engagement and sustainability impact.After the COVID-19 outbreak, further experiments have been carried out by the research project spin-off’s MUV Benefit Corporation (muvgame.com). Thanks to more than 16.000 downloads, 500.000 kilometres recorded, and the CO2 reduction algorithm (validated in April 2020 according to ISO 14064-2), this contribution shows how various game dynamics nudged, with a different rate of efficacy, MUV’s players commuting behaviours.This contribution will extensively deepen applied and persuasive games, MUV App user research and game design, actual field data analysis on engagement rate and sustainable impacts.
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Filomena Curralo, Ana, Pedro Miguel Faria, Antonio Curado, Paula Azeredo, and Sergio I. Lopes. "Designing a UX Mobile App for Hydration and Sustainability Tracking in Academia." In 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022). AHFE International, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1001692.
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Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are favored atmospheres in the civic training of their audiences, undertaking a major role in Global Sustainable Development. The management of waste packaging represents a huge environmental footprint, particularly the plastic water bottles which constitute a major example of everyday waste that directly impacts our lives, not only ecologically, but also economically. Hence, the project RefillH20 proposes to reduce the sales of plastic water bottles in the 6 schools of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC), respective bars, canteens, and halls of residence. For this purpose, a smartbottle, equipped with a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip, has been designed and integrated within an institutional ecosystem, that includes several smart refill stations, enabling an automatic filling process with no physical contact with the equipment. This approach enables not only the computation of water consumption metrics typically used for hydration assessment but also the computation of relevant sustainability metrics and indicators through a mobile application, such as the number of refills per period of time, amount of consumed water, the estimated amount of averted plastic waste considering different approaches (temporal, cumulative, individual or referring to colleges, classes, etc.), the energy-saving from overall waste reduction and reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and information on users’ environmental footprint. This work presents the development of a high fidelity UX Mobile App prototype, which aims to allow users of RefillH20 ecosystem to monitor their water intake habits, as well as their contribution to improving the overall environmental sustainability in academia, and thus promoting the creation of awareness regarding their effective ecological footprint. By using a UX Design approach, the users have been involved interactively with these new digital products and services idealization, through their appearance and how they feel, use and remember such interactions.
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Markopoulos, Evangelos, Jens Refflinghaus, Marven Roell, and Hannu Vanharanta. "Understanding Situationality using the Kepner-Tregoe Method in the Company Democracy Model to increase Employee Engagement and Knowledge Contribution." In 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022). AHFE International, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1001522.
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Driving sustainable and successful change towards achieving democratic organizational culture a company has to evolve through the 6 levels of the Company Democracy Model which needs to be supported by two foundational and prerequisite enablers. The first one is the critical thinking skills to build an alignment on a meta-level / logic-level / thinking level for effective and efficient communication and actions. Effective actions and communication require clear thinking which requires thinking processes. The second one is the Change Management tools and skills to drive the change. However the integration and activation of these two enablers seem to be the challenge on the first level in the company democracy model who seeks critical thinking to become change agents. This paper integrates the concepts of critical thinking and change making with the introduction of the problem solving Kepner-Tregoe (KT) Method in the Company Democracy Model. Critical Thinking is approached as the applied thinking processes to gather, organize, analyse, confirm, and communicate information in order to solve concerns and issues in an effective, unbiased and self-reflected mode that first seeks to understand and then to act. Therefore, it is the prerequisite for effective and efficient actions. This necessary exchange of information can more targeted and effortless if achieved through a democratic organizational culture which equips each member in an organization with the same logic/thinking, to reveal their intellectual capital by focusing on how to think, not what to think. Effectively thinking requires understanding the concern and the situation that creates a need to act. The concept of situationality, as introduced in the Company Democracy Model (CDM) is further supported in this paper with the KT problem solving methods to identify the core nature of a specific situational concern that enables or disables people’s thinking. The paper defines and analyses the situational concerns which can be categorized in five areas such as understanding a situation, deviation cause, alternatives selection, risk reduction and change enhancement.The identification of the situationality helps finding a thinking approach which leads to an idea that is transformed into an innovative process, product or services. This can be considered a fundamental approach for effective and efficient actions within democratic organizational cultures. Furthermore change management lies in the capability to assess a situation in which people interact, understand the mechanics of the system that forms individual or groups behaviour, and develop activities to manage these mechanics that change human behaviour. Therefore, the challenge of the first level of the company democracy model which is understanding human behaviour is based on the effectiveness of critical thinking capabilities in a systematic human performance model. The elements of the performance environment influence the performance of any person. These elements operate as a system, influencing performance as it happens. The paper presents the five performance system core elements which deal with the environment infrastructures (processes, workflows, expectation and priority setting) the capabilities and willingness of the performer, the demonstrated or desired response/ behaviour, the consequences which follow the behaviour and the performance feedback given to the performer. The paper uses the Aristotelian golden mean to effectively balance this employee performance, and identity imbalances that feed the development of corrective actions and impact behavioural change.
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Nastasia, Iuliana, and Romain Rives. "Occupational health and safety and sustainable return to work management in small and medium-sized enterprises." In 13th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2022). AHFE International, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.54941/ahfe1002653.
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BackgroundThe sustainable retention of workers after a work-related injury poses particular challenges for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Although studies on SMEs have multiplied over the past 30 years and some of them have led to the emergence of new concepts and theories in occupational health and safety (OHS), little is known about what can be done in SMEs to improve the OHS management of absences caused by work-related injuries. The objective of this presentation will be to overview strategical elements (resources, structures, activities) that could also benefit to the sustainable return-to work (SRTW).MethodA scoping review (Levac et al. 2010) on OHS management in SMEs was conducted in a reflective, iterative and collaborative manner. The methodological approach includes searching for relevant publications from the 2000 year in scientific (e.g., SCOPUS, ProQuest) and non-scientific (e.g., NHSE, NIOSH) databases, combining several key concepts related to OHS management and SRTW. Criteria for the selection of the studies were: 1) focus on OHS management, generally (review), or empirically (workplace intervention study); 2) focus on SMEs globally or in a specific context (size of enterprise, sectors of activities). Two reviewers using an iterative consensus-based approach performed article selection, extraction of data, and analyses.ResultsThree groups of strategic elements are beneficial for OHS management in SME: diffusion of information, support to implement integrative adapted systems of management and training programs, and especially designed for SME or intermediaries.Diffusion of information about legislation for SMEs, and guidelines for compliance with regulations, provide SME motivation and resources to intervene on the proper factors on SRTW. External support to OSH interventions, provided by control authorities, associations and networks of companies, and external consultants allow sharing knowledge and OSH-related resources, promoting best practices in SME. The availability of knowledge of effective OSH interventions could also help to replication or adaptation in particular contexts of SME, helping the achievement of proper conditions for SRTW. This kind of collaborative support to SME, combined with the continual engagement of employers and communication between management and employees and among employees, play an essential role in all phases of preventive or corrective interventions. Finally, training programs specially designed for SMEs foster interventions by increasing the awareness and the knowledge of the personnel, who are more motivated to intervene or correctly behave. DiscussionOverall, the strategies, resources, structures and activities in the SME, seem to be specific to the legislation in place and the different levels of actions. Even if generally they do not explicitly have an aim to promote sustainable retention of workers after a work-related injury, they present some opportunities to do so, modalities being different depending on the size of enterprise, and the level of risk of work activities in the sector. The results of this scoping review provide input for methodological and conceptual thinking for future policies or programs, as well as some information about integration of SRTW to OHS approaches and intervention modalities.
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Andre, Martin, Zsolt Lavicza, and Theodosia Prodromou. "Integrating ‘education for sustainable development’ in statistics classes: visual analysis of social and economic data with gapminder." In New Skills in the Changing World of Statistics Education. International Association for Statistical Education, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.52041/iase.20103.
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Sustainable development goals (SDGs) address various aspects of future human development such as poverty, pollution, or climate change. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) seeks to encourage students to actively participate and consider these issues in sustainable development. Following design-based research approaches, our study aims to identify opportunities for integrating ESD into statistics education. We describe the main features of an ESD-integrated learning trajectory for middle school students exploring sets of ESD related data visually with the software Gapminder. The outcomes of our study suggest that (1) Students’ engagement in forming statistical models of various countries’ sustainable development developed their abilities to generate statistical questions (2) Their intuitive knowledge of statistical concepts was further formalized during their subsequent analyses.
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Andre, Martin, Zsolt Lavicza, and Theodosia Prodromou. "Integrating ‘education for sustainable development’ in statistics classes: visual analysis of social and economic data with gapminder." In New Skills in the change World of Statistics Education. International association for Statistical Education, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.52041/srap.20103.
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Sustainable development goals (SDGs) address various aspects of future human development such as poverty, pollution, or climate change. Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) seeks to encourage students to actively participate and consider these issues in sustainable development. Following design-based research approaches, our study aims to identify opportunities for integrating ESD into statistics education. We describe the main features of an ESD-integrated learning trajectory for middle school students exploring sets of ESD related data visually with the software Gapminder. The outcomes of our study suggest that (1) Students’ engagement in forming statistical models of various countries’ sustainable development developed their abilities to generate statistical questions (2) Their intuitive knowledge of statistical concepts was further formalized during their subsequent analyses.
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Lopez, Juan Carlos, Monica Alexandra Lopez, Walter Friedl, Maria Elena Arango, Monica Cristina Duran, Hamed Al Shibani, David Allison, and Pierre Bordage. "Using Behavior Science to Maximize Human Performance." In Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference. SPE, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/207918-ms.
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Abstract Authors use behavior science to help organizations maximize human performance through a cost-effective and sustainable approach. Such approach is based on transformational leaders and employees’ engagement, so they embrace a humanized management system by conviction, not by imposition. This paper shows how to use organizational psychology principles in real case applications, resulting in holistic business improvements, including financial, safety and service quality performance. The authors developed the Engineering Human Performance (EHP) methodology, by improving the Behavior Engineering Methodology (Lopez, et. al., 2020) to help organizations achieve outstanding and sustainable levels of human performance. Over the last ten years, this methodology was successfully applied to more than 50 business processes in an oilfield services company. The EHP four-stages process uses frontline employees’ wisdom to identify sources of behavioral variance, measure adherence to expected behaviors and formulate changes to the operational context to pursue high levels of procedural adherence, sustainably. EHP incorporated statistic models to demonstrate its significant impact to business results, using a fit-for-purpose digital platform. A combination of a coaching program for managers to embrace a leading with purpose approach (Sinek, 2020), and workshops with the front-line associates, generate a healthy flow of communication across the organization. The leading with purpose program improves managers’ leadership by voluntarily selecting and engineering transformational behaviors they adapt and adopt to improve the effectiveness of their leadership style. The impact of the program is measured for statistical significance by applying the Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire (Boss, Avolio, 1996) before the coaching program starts, and 90 days after the last session. Workshops with front-line associates use scientific principles to understand the sources of behavioral variance and formulate intervention plans that drive procedural adherence by conviction, not by imposition. An innovative element of EHP is the ‘behavior empowerment center (BEC)’. The BEC coordinates the systematic measurement of adherence to critical behaviors in the front-line, captures and verifies statistical significance of the data, analyzes trends, and prepares reports depicting the levels of behavioral adherence, so crews receive soon, certain, and positive feedback on a regular basis. This feedback loop elicits levels of adherence above 90%, sustainably, and eliminates losses associated to behavioral variance. The BEC uses a unique digital platform designed to bring consistency to the feedback loop to front-line employees and managers. A case study is used to exemplify how EHP is being applied by a major rig company, to improve human performance in workover operations. The paper illustrates the remarkable results of the leading with purpose program and describes the Stages 1 (select processes that are causing loss), 2 (behavior analysis), 3 (baseline and intervention) and Stage 4 (scale-up) of the EHP methodology. Authors consider that EHP offers an innovative, and cost-effective approach to helping organizations maximize human performance, in a systematic and sustainable manner. The application of the methodology shall not be limited to the oil and gas industry, as the focus on incorporating the human factor to inconsistently applied processes is affecting many industries, if not all. The main challenge faced by authors in the implementation of the methodology is management commitment. Some managers expect improvement programs to bring immediate results, which could undermine the sustainability of the benefits. EHP grants sustainable improvements, provided the organization is committed to scale-up the program until results are significant. Achieving these milestones require time (from 6 months to 2 years), resources, and persistency. The leading with purpose program has proven effective in getting the proper levels of management commitment, to support EHP and deliver outstanding results. The paper shows a statistically significant improvement in the leadership style of the management team and how it is helping the business of the case-study company. As for the way forward, authors are exploring options to incorporate artificial intelligence into the behavioral measurement, not to replace the face-to-face interactions, but to increase the accuracy of the behavioral measurement and speed up the feedback loop.
Reports on the topic "Ecologically sustainable human engagement"
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Greenhill, Lucy, Christopher Leakey, and Daniela Diz. Second Workshop report: Mobilising the science community in progessing towards a sustainable and inclusive ocean economy. Scottish Universities Insight Institute, July 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.15664/10023.23693.
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Across the Blue Economy, science must play a fundamental role in moving us away from business as usual to a more sustainable pathway. It provides evidence to inform policy by understanding baselines, trends and tipping points, as well as the multiple and interacting effects of human activities and policy interventions. Measuring progress depends on strong evidence and requires the design of a monitoring framework based on well-defined objectives and indicators, informed by the diverse disciplines required to inform progress on cross-cutting policy objectives such as the Just Transition. The differences between the scientific and policy processes are stark and affect interaction between them, including, among other factors, the time pressures of governmental decision-making, and the lack of support and reward in academia for policy engagement. To enable improved integration, the diverse nature of the science / policy interface is important to recognise – improved communication between scientists and policy professionals within government is important, as well as interaction with the wider academic community through secondments and other mechanisms. Skills in working across boundaries are valuable, requiring training and professional recognition. We also discussed the science needs across the themes of the Just Transition, Sustainable Seafood, Nature-based Solutions and the Circular Economy, where we considered: • What research and knowledge can help us manage synergies and trade-offs? • Where is innovation needed to promote synergies? • What type of indicators, data and evidence are needed to measure progress? The insights developed through dialogue among participants on these themes are outlined in Section 4 of this report.
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Mitchell, Brian G., Amir Neori, Charles Yarish, D. Allen Davis, Tzachi Samocha, and Lior Guttman. The use of aquaculture effluents in spray culture for the production of high protein macroalgae for shrimp aqua-feeds. United States Department of Agriculture, January 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.32747/2013.7597934.bard.
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The FAO has projected a doubling in world demand for seafood during the 21 ed from aquaculture of marine fish and shrimps fed primarily on fishmeal-based aquafeeds. However, current practices of high intensity monoculture of shrimp in coastal ponds and fish in offshore pens have been strongly criticized as being ecologically and socially unsustainable. This view derives from un- checked eutrophication of coastal marine ecosystems from fish farm effluents, and the destruction of coastal estuarine ecosystems by shrimp farm constructions, plus aquaculture’s reliance on wild-caught small fish - which are excellent food for humans, but instead are rendered into fishmeal and fish oil for formulating aquafeeds. Fishmeal-sparing and waste- reduction aquafeeds can only delay the time when fed aquaculture product are priced out of affordability for most consumers. Additionally, replacement of fishmeal protein and fish oil by terrestrial plant sources such as soybean meal and oil directly raises food costs for human communities in developing nations. New formulations incorporating sustainably-produced marine algal proteins and oils are growing in acceptance as viable and practical alternatives. This BARD collaborative research project investigated a sustainable water-sparing spray/drip culture method for producing high-protein marine macrophyte meals for incorporation into marine shrimp and fish diets. The spray culture work was conducted at laboratory-scale in the USA (UCSD-SIO) using selected Gracilariaand Ulvastrains isolated and supplied by UCONN, and outdoors at pilot-scale in Israel (IOLR-NCM) using local strains of Ulvasp., and nitrogen/phosphorus-enriched fish farm effluent to fertilize the spray cultures and produce seaweed biomass and meals containing up to 27% raw protein (dry weight content). Auburn University (USA) in consultation with TAMUS (USA) used the IOLR meals to formulate diets and conduct marine shrimp feeding trials, which resulted in mixed outcomes, indicating further work was needed to chemically identify and remove anti-nutritional elements present in the IOLR-produced seaweed meals.
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Cahaner, Avigdor, Susan J. Lamont, E. Dan Heller, and Jossi Hillel. Molecular Genetic Dissection of Complex Immunocompetence Traits in Broilers. United States Department of Agriculture, August 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.32747/2003.7586461.bard.
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Objectives: (1) Evaluate Immunocompetence-OTL-containing Chromosomal Regions (ICRs), marked by microsatellites or candidate genes, for magnitude of direct effect and for contribution to relationships among multiple immunocompetence, disease-resistance, and growth traits, in order to estimate epistatic and pleiotropic effects and to predict the potential breeding applications of such markers. (2) Evaluate the interaction of the ICRs with genetic backgrounds from multiple sources and of multiple levels of genetic variation, in order to predict the general applicability of molecular genetic markers across widely varied populations. Background: Diseases cause substantial economic losses to animal producers. Emerging pathogens, vaccine failures and intense management systems increase the impact of diseases on animal production. Moreover, zoonotic pathogens are a threat to human food safety when microbiological contamination of animal products occurs. Consumers are increasingly concerned about drug residues and antibiotic- resistant pathogens derived from animal products. The project used contemporary scientific technologies to investigate the genetics of chicken resistance to infectious disease. Genetic enhancement of the innate resistance of chicken populations provides a sustainable and ecologically sound approach to reduce microbial loads in agricultural populations. In turn, animals will be produced more efficiently with less need for drug treatment and will pose less of a potential food-safety hazard. Major achievements, conclusions and implications:. The PI and co-PIs had developed a refined research plan, aiming at the original but more focused objectives, that could be well-accomplished with the reduced awarded support. The successful conduct of that research over the past four years has yielded substantial new information about the genes and genetic markers that are associated with response to two important poultry pathogens, Salmonella enteritidis (SE) and Escherichia coli (EC), about variation of immunocompetence genes in poultry, about relationships of traits of immune response and production, and about interaction of genes with environment and with other genes and genetic background. The current BARD work has generated a base of knowledge and expertise regarding the genetic variation underlying the traits of immunocompetence and disease resistance. In addition, unique genetic resource populations of chickens have been established in the course of the current project, and they are essential for continued projects. The US laboratory has made considerable progress in studies of the genetics of resistance to SE. Microsatellite-marked chromosomal regions and several specific genes were linked to SE vaccine response or bacterial burden and the important phenomenon of gene interaction was identified in this system. In total, these studies demonstrate the role of genetics in SE response, the utility of the existing resource population, and the expertise of the research group in conducting such experiments. The Israeli laboratories had showed that the lines developed by selection for high or low level of antibody (Ab) response to EC differ similarly in Ab response to several other viral and bacterial pathogens, indicating the existence of a genetic control of general capacity of Ab response in young broilers. It was also found that the 10w-Ab line has developed, possibly via compensatory "natural" selection, higher cellular immune response. At the DNA levels, markers supposedly linked to immune response were identified, as well as SNP in the MHC, a candidate gene responsible for genetic differences in immunocompetence of chickens.
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African Open Science Platform Part 1: Landscape Study. Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf), 2019. http://dx.doi.org/10.17159/assaf.2019/0047.
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This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.