Global Sustainability Institute (GSI)
The Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) was established by Anglia Ruskin University in 2011 as part of our commitment to sustainability in research and teaching. The GSI works closely with our estates team to ensure our approach to sustainability delivers world leading knowledge, future leaders in sustainability and practical action on the ground.
Delivering sustainability requires an integrated view of the world. The GSI is committed to playing a key role in the development of practical solutions to the challenges facing humanity. Key to this is the bringing together of information needed to make decisions with the people capable of implementing action.
Main Activities
The GSI's research focuses on personal motivations and systems change set against the challenges of sustainability. Our core research question is how does the system influence the individual, and how does the individual influence the system? The 'system' is the political, financial, industrial and social frameworks that contribute to challenges we face and lock us into future pathways. These may be environmental challenges such as climate change, natural capital challenges such as resource limits or social challenges such as local and global inequity.
Key areas of research include:
- Consumption & change
- Climate action & cultural systems
- Resource management & ecosystems services
- Education for sustainability
Results
The GSI has already built a global reputation for its research with major publications in communication of climate science, policy and climate finance during its first years. We have partnerships with business, not-for-profit organisations, UK Government, EU Commission and the United Nations as well as UK research council funded projects.
We now have a core staff of researchers, visiting and honorary fellows, project management and knowledge transfer partners. We are in the process of expanding our research student intake with new PhD and Professional Doctorates. We also run a Professional Doctorate programme allowing professionals to continue to work full-time whilst tackling sustainability challenges, and we are involved in a number of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs).
Useful Links
https://www.aru.ac.uk/global-sustainability-institute-gsi