Climate disasters, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation continue to impact people and the planet in acute (e.g., extreme weather events), prolonged (e.g., sustained drought) and anticipated (e.g., future sea level rise) exposures. Increasingly, researchers from across disciplines are drawing attention to the emotional distress and mental health impacts of these increasingly frequent and prominent features of living in the Anthropocene. Concepts like ecological grief and eco-anxiety, solastalgia (the distress of lived experience of direct local environmental change) are well documented among people of all ages. Students within higher education and researchers working with sustainability, too, are grappling with these distressing emotions. Yet to date, educational frameworks for sustainability – designed to support inner and societal transformation – do not account for the competences needed to recognize, hold, and process these distressing emotions.

In this presentation, we briefly highlight key sustainability competence frameworks from the past decade and identify the need for a new competence set related to emotional recognition, holding, processing, and integration. We first present a synthesis of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes characterizing key competences for sustainability education. Key sustainability competence frameworks converge around the need for people to be able to work together to address complex, value-laden challenges in socio-ecological systems with vision, self-awareness, collaboration, and strategic intent. We then present a synthesis of this review based on the transformative sustainability learning model of head, heart, hands. The presentation will focus on our proposed fourth aspect: gut competence. Gut competences focus on absorption and digestion of distressing emotions to support constructive responses in service of enhanced metal health and motivation for sustained action for societal transformation.

Engaging with this expanded set of sustainability competences requires growing offerings related to the inner transformative work associated with recognizing, holding, processing, and integrating emotions. Although work to address eco-anxiety and related emotional issues linked to global environmental crises is expanding and there have been some recent exploratory efforts broaching how to approach such issues within higher education, there remains a pressing need to further engage emotional dimensions when teaching on sustainability for societal transformation. We close with an elaboration of ways in which gut competences can be better integrated in higher education by drawing on transformative learning theory, pedagogies from contemplative practice, and experiences from social movements. Leaning into the pains of societal transformation by recognizing the importance of emotional competences and developing appropriate ways to cultivate them will better position educational programs to spark the inner and outer transformations they aspire to support.

Societal Problem:

Like most other countries in the global south, there is a significant shortage of quality teachers in primary and secondary schools in Bangladesh. This issue persists because top students often opt against teaching careers due to low pay and societal status associated with the profession. Protissruti Residential School has been established in Bangladesh as a Living Lab School by two Professors of Dhaka University to address the gap of quality education which is crucial yet often inaccessible to disadvantaged children and orphans. This Living Lab School is committed to exploring new methods for inclusive education, particularly emphasizing gender-transformative practices for sexual and reproductive health, climate adaptation, and sustainability. The focus extends to developing effective strategies for addressing the challenge of quality teachers to engaging high-achieving university students in volunteer teaching roles. The proposed workshop aims to garner support and collaboration from experts in sustainable education to further develop and enhance this pioneering project drawing university students as volunteers for teaching in the schools.

Goal and Objectives:

To introduce the concept and initiatives of the Living Lab School in Bangladesh.

To present and discuss three innovative approaches developed through action research: bravemen campaign , campus hero café and captain climate campaign.

To facilitate knowledge exchange and co-creation of effective approaches for sustainability education through evidence-based learning and contextual insights on how to mobilize volunteer teachers from the university level students in and out of the country.

To foster collaboration among participants for ongoing support and development of the Living Lab School and similar initiatives in the global south.

Workshop Structure:

Introduction to the Living Lab School:

Overview of the school's mission, vision, and objectives. Highlight the importance of sustainable education and the unique challenges faced by disadvantaged children and orphans in Bangladesh.

Presentation of Innovative Approaches:

a. Bravemen Campaign: Discuss the objectives and outcomes of this campaign aimed at promoting gender-transformative approaches to sexual and reproductive health education.

b. Campus Hero Café: Explore the concept and impact of creating a supportive environment for inclusive education through the Campus Hero Café initiative.

c. Captain Climate Campaign: Present the strategies and results of this campaign focused on climate adaptation and sustainability education.

Interactive Session: Co-creation and Knowledge Exchange:

Engage participants in group discussions to share their own experiences, evidence-based practices, and contextual insights related to sustainability education.

Facilitate co-creation sessions to identify additional effective approaches that can be adopted and tested in the Living Lab School.

Panel Discussion: Lessons Learned and Future Directions:

Invite a panel of experts to share their reflections on the presented approaches and offer recommendations for scaling up and sustaining the impact of the Living Lab School. Encourage dialogue among participants and panelists to explore potential collaborations and support mechanisms.

Conclusion and Next Steps:

Summarize key insights and outcomes from the workshop. Discuss potential avenues for ongoing collaboration and support for the Living Lab School and similar initiatives in Bangladesh and beyond.

Expected Outcomes:

a. Increased awareness and understanding of innovative approaches to sustainability education.

b. Enhanced collaboration and knowledge exchange among experts and practitioners.

c. Identification of new strategies and opportunities for advancing inclusive education and sustainability initiatives in Bangladesh maximizing university level students involvement in school level teaching.

d. Concrete plans for ongoing support and development of the Living Lab School and its programs.

Conclusion:

The Living Lab School in Bangladesh represents a groundbreaking effort to address the complex challenges of sustainable education for disadvantaged children and orphans. Through this workshop, we aim to harness the collective intelligence and expertise of participants to further enhance and expand the impact of this innovative initiative. Together, we can work towards building a more inclusive and sustainable future for all.

The purpose of this presentation is to showcase the learnings of two years of a new lifelong learning educational programme on Climate Innovation offered at ETH Zurich. The focus is on transformative learning for societal transformation, the roles of peers, as well as career perspectives. Mitigation of and adaptation to climate change requires deeply transformative changes of all systems and overall society towards net zero emissions. With these wicked challenges in mind, we designed a new programme, with the intend to equip climate leaders with the adequate skills and knowledge to lead the transition in their own institutions/sectors, and beyond. We believe that the CAS participants are not only learners but experts and that they can provide important insights to other participants by sharing their own experience on the path to net zero. The Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Climate Innovation is offered by the Department of Environmental Systems Science (D-USYS) at ETH Zurich. It is a “Science into Practice” programme, which is based on: System knowledge, Transformational learning experience, Network activation, with an emphasis on Dialogue and Exchange. Methodologically, the CAS combines the theory of change (Belcher et al. 2020) and design thinking methods (Taimur et al. 2023) with the application to the systemic issues (Rich Picture, Checkland and Poulter 2020) associated with the path towards net zero emissions, thereby using inputs from relevant stakeholders and practitioners in the field of Climate Innovation. The CAS builds on knowledge, concepts and lessons learned from many educational offerings at ETH Zurich. It also benefits from the problem-solving methodology developed by the TdLab at D-USYS, which has been honed for many years in the BSc course “Umweltproblemlösen” (Pohl et al. 2020). This methodology not only catalysed the transformative process and experience of the participants, but it also enables the participants to analyse the causes of and factors relevant to complex problems, as well as to develop relevant and impactful solutions related to them. We are also employing a 10-step approach to stimulate explicit reflections around ways to render research more societally relevant (Pohl et al. 2017). Based on the collected feedback, as well as testimonials, the first edition of the CAS was a success in terms of knowledge transfer. The participants felt equipped with the necessary tools to lead the transition in their own context. In 2024, peer-coaching sessions will be introduced so to strengthen the leadership component of the programme, as well as pre-/post-assessments based on the Inner Development Goals for the learning diaries. Secondly, we will continue to investigate the springboard effect of attending the CAS. Many alumni have already transitioned to new roles, such as taking on a leading position in a political party in Switzerland. We will continue to learn from the pathways taken by the alumni, grow a community of like-minded individuals with an affinity for societal transformation with the goal in mind to find new formats to catalyse the transition towards net zero emissions.

Climate change in the Arctic and Subarctic regions is a complex issue, and addressing its multifaceted impacts and formulating mitigation and adaptation strategies requires that the next generation of researchers develop proficiencies that transcend disciplinary boundaries. Université Laval in Quebec City, Canada, launched in 2017 the Sentinel North program to help generate the knowledge needed to improve our understanding of the changing northern environment and its impact on humans and their health. As part of this research strategy, a major training program was designed to train a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers who will be leaders in their field, with the skills and collaborative mindset to actively contribute to solving complex scientific problems in a changing North.

Over the years, the Sentinel North program has recruited and trained over 680 graduate students and post-docs, affiliated with eight faculties and 40 different departments. The strategy builds on the diversity of its community, international opportunities, and experiential activities to foster the development of five key competencies in interdisciplinary collaboration: critical thinking, adaptability, communication, creative problem-solving and teamwork and collaboration.

In this presentation, we outline the objectives and main elements of the program's interdisciplinary training strategy, as well as some of the results of our evaluation framework. We will present the aggregated results of a survey of Sentinel North graduates after their participation in the program to assess their satisfaction, measure the impact of the program on their professional development and skills level and gather outcome data concerning their status and employability. The results include information gathered from 154 respondents out of 293 alumni who completed their research projects during the 2017-2023 period.

Preliminary results reveal a positive contribution of the program on the development of interdisciplinary competencies, the development of professional networks within and outside their discipline and show that the programs enable people to specialize while gaining a broader understanding of an issue. The results also highlight the importance of particular activities for the training of graduate students and post-docs and identify the main challenges they encountered when conducting a project in an interdisciplinary context.

Based on our experience, the design and implementation of an effective interdisciplinary training program in academia should take into consideration the following elements: 1) Nurture a collaborative research learning community; 2) Tailor activities on a competency-based approach; 3) Regularly assess the program and adapt the framework to the community; and 4) Beyond individual, train collaborative teams. We will conclude by discussing the future direction of this initiative.