University of Oregon
ER-15: Sustainability Research Identification

Our "definition" of sustainability research is very similar to our definition criteria for sustainability curriculum. Rather than applying a strict definition of sustainability, we developed a checklist of criteria, where one of the criteri for research to be sustainability focused or related. The sustainability "criteria" referenced above is listed below: 1) Sustainability as a concept: the history, politics, culture and science of ideas of sustainability and sustainable development 2) Natural limits: the role of human actions in relation to finite capacity of natural ecosystems (including the global ecosystem) to absorb throughput of matter and energy from the human economy 3) Maintaining ecosystems: Natural resource conservation science and practices to maintain the integrity of ecosystems in the face of rising human demands 4) Business and economics: Re-shaping market conditions to address “market failures” with respect to the environment and to provide incentives for businesses and economic systems to better maintain the integrity of ecosystems 5) Social capacity: The social factors that support behavioral shifts (including but not limited to economic choices) necessary to enable and encourage societies to live in ways compatible with maintaining the long-term integrity of ecosystems 6) Social equity: The mutual interactions between social inequality and environmental degradation, including theories of social reforms required to ensure an environmentally healthy and socially just society 7) Sustainability discourse: The framing and discussion of sustainability in the media, politics, and everyday life. 8) Culture, religion, and ethics: How culture, religion, and ethics—from consumerism to environmental stewardship—shape human behavior toward the natural world 9) Governance: How legal frameworks and policies shape human behavior toward the natural world. 10) Science and Technology: The role of basic science and technology (broadly and individual technologies) specifically in influencing human impacts on the natural world 11) Planning and design: Concepts and techniques from urban, regional, and rural planning and/or building design and/or product design that can influence human impacts on the environment and environmental impacts on humans. 12)Sustainability science: The new field of sustainability science that specifically attempts to build interdisciplinary perspectives from the themes (and related academic disciplines) listed above to promote human-environmental balance

The Office of Sustainability developed an online survey for faculty, asking about their sustainability research. The survey asked for faculty names, departments, whether they had published in a peer-reviewed journal in the last three years, which of the above criteria their research was focused on or related to, and a list of their publications and presentations related to the sustainability criteria above. This survey is found here: https://oregon.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5omVI5QiAgDVTlW