The MSSI hosted聽two workshops聽to bring 91社区 researchers together with the goal of developing priority areas in sustainability research. These facilitated discussions demonstrated how 91社区鈥檚 top sustainability experts envision the work needed to create a sustainable future and shaped the first three MSSI research themes: Sustainable Landscapes for the Future, Creating Sustainable Materials for the Future and Adapting Cities for the Future.
Background
In December 2016, the 91社区 Sustainability Systems Initiative (MSSI) invited the 91社区 community to submit short proposals for major sustainability research areas.聽Research areas were to be unique and original, capable of being developed into programs, attracting significant long-term funding, and placing 91社区 at the forefront of sustainability research on the Canadian and international stage. To be successful, the research would require input from a variety of disciplines such as social sciences, law, management, and humanities, as well as the natural sciences and engineering.聽The response was overwhelming: the MSSI received 40 proposals which included more than 180聽named researchers.
With such a high level of interest from across 91社区, the plan to select a small number of proposals for development was revised. Lead authors - 聽along with presenters - were invited to participate a聽3-hour聽workshop to further explore potential areas of research.聽
The process
In聽May 2017, a group of 70 invited researchers representing聽30 departments from across 8 faculties gathered in two different sessions to further develop these proposals into cohesive themes. During each workshop, six small groups聽developed聽two ideas for research areas through a process of brainstorming and narrowing.聽The 12 ideas were then discussed, debated and amended by the group as a whole.聽
Participants engaged enthusiastically in the workshops, to the extent that despite the room鈥檚 tropical temperature, the afternoon coffee break was ignored by the many groups who were deep in animated discussion. The post-workshop feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with a frequent observation being that meeting and discussing with colleagues from other disciplines and faculties during MSSI events is intellectually stimulating and leads to unexpected and rewarding connections. The overwhelming consensus was that MSSI workshops should become an annual event.
The outcomes
Several key themes developed in both sessions. These included creation of new聽clean materials, rethinking urban environments, food production systems and their impacts, managing and minimizing waste, connecting research to policy and action, monitoring and metrics, risk and uncertainty, and connecting producers to consumers. More esoteric issues under discussion included the meaning of 鈥榮ustainability鈥�, the challenge of measuring and placing a value on ecosystem services, and whether the current economic model is consistent with concepts of sustainability.
Differences in expertise between the morning and afternoon sessions were reflected in their different emphases. Participants in the morning were more focused on science- and technology-based solutions such as production of new, green, carbon-neutral materials, and the importance of carbon neutrality in systems, whereas the afternoon session discussed risk and uncertainty, changing behaviours and increasing social equity as well as the challenges of sustainable food production, creating carbon neutral cities and societies, and urban and peri-urban areas as foci for change.
Several cross-cutting ideas stood out, including the power of food to connect and engage the public in discussions on sustainability (鈥減eople relate to food鈥�), and the huge challenge inherent in achieving global food security and addressing its associated social equity issues, from production to distribution to equity and access to health and culture for workers in food production. Other cross-cutting themes included education and connecting research and work to policy and action.
