The latest in the PRISM series of seminars for postgraduate researchers was held at the University of Gloucestershire on Wednesday 30 June. Sixteen participants from Gloucestershire, Manchester, Bristol, Glamorgan and Exeter were guided through a morning session led by Dr Jo Anna Reed Johnson, who has recently completed a PhD exploring ESD processes in Eco-Schools in the UK and South Africa.
Jo Anna gave a brief overview of her research in order to provide a context to demonstrate how she used a critical realism lens to gain a deeper insight into how ESD was influencing pupil self-esteem. Through activities led by Jo Anna the group then explored the complexities and challenges presented by sustainability and identified potential research approaches that could be employed to address these.
During the afternoon session Dr Jenneth Parker introduced a framework that attempts to capture the complex nature of sustainability and allow for a critical realist perspective. Jenneth’s framework draws on her recent work on interdisciplinary research and will be published in a future paper. The framework is a three dimensional model that enables exploration of the dependent and emergent relationships between the following levels: bio-physical, social ecological, social institutions and cultural. These are then set against spatial dimensions from the ‘individual’ to the ‘global’.
The discussions that followed explored a variety of perspectives on sustainability and raised further questions for future PRISM seminars. The interest in PRISM is growing with 80 people now registered on the JISCmail list. Participants at the seminar from other institutions identified an interest in hosting PRISM events and the aim is to organise another seminar in November this year. For further information on PRISM please contact Glenn Strachan at gstrachan@glos.ac.uk
Glenn Strachan
July 2010
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