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Project title

Deep Societal Innovation for Sustainability and Human Flourishing

Primary Funding Agency

Environmental Protection Agency

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

n/a

Lead Organisation

University College Cork (UCC)

Lead Applicant

Edmond Byrne

Project Abstract

This project seeks to develop and consolidate a transdisciplinary model for understanding deep societal transformation, and to use that knowledge to inform future oriented policy making for national and global societal challenges, including Horizon Europe Missions, and in pursuit of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Ireland, like all nations, faces stark environmental, social and economic challenges. The complexity and scale of these have been further highlighted by the recent COVID-19 pandemic and current cost of living crisis. These crises have stirred a sense of urgency for appropriate policy responses and behavioural changes needed to effectively address systemic economic and social challenges and precipitate structural transformations. Global and national responses, however, have so far fallen short. Deep Societal Innovation for Sustainability and Human Flourishing (DSIS) is an ambitious transdisciplinary project which seeks to understand, re-imagine, and transform our world to better meet this moment of polycrisis. It asserts that many of the fundamental social institutions upon which societies rely, including politics, economics, technology, religion and spirituality, gender and care, and education are suboptimal for the realisation of human and planetary flourishing. The project aims to address the urgent need to reimagine these key social institutions and to inform policy levers so as support appropriate reconfiguration to better meet the challenges of our time. This application is based is an evolution which began with purely technological-economic models of system change. These include the OECD National Innovation System model (Godin, 2009), through to more recent socio-technological-economic-environmental models, such as the System Innovation model (Geels, 2019). Both these models prioritise the role of technology as the prime mover in economic growth and societal transformation. However, they place less emphasis on sociological, psychological, and historical framings, and the critical role of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) in understanding societal transformations. Neither do they consider the critical role of ethics and human flourishing. The proposed DSIS project seeks to overcome these deficits by moving beyond both socio-technical framings and a singular focus on climate change, and by adopting a deeply transdisciplinary approach that considers interconnected symptoms of global unsustainability, while explicitly recognizing social, equity, and ethical dimensions. The project will bring together researchers from AHSS and STEM (Science, Technology and Mathematics) to co-create urgently needed narratives of rapid integrative whole-of-society transformation, carried out in a partnership approach with policymakers and wider stakeholders. Building on a proven track record of engaged transdisciplinary work undertaken at UCC towards sustainability, the proposed research project offers a unique opportunity for an exceptional research team to advance transdisciplinary research in Ireland, while demonstrating the critical roles of AHSS and STEM in addressing environmental and societal challenges in partnership, and thus make a seminal contribution to international research and policy on deep societal transformation. Geels, F. W., 2019. Socio-technical transitions to sustainability: A review of criticisms and elaborations of the Multi-Level Perspective. Current opinion in environmental sustainability, 39, 187-201. Godin, B., 2009. National innovation system: The system approach in historical perspective. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 34(4), 476-501.

Grant Approved

�593,519.30

Research Hub

Climate Change

Research Theme

Addressing the Societal Dimension of Environmental Challenges

Start Date

31/03/2024

Initial Projected Completion Date

30/03/2028