PRISM 

PRISM is a network of postgraduate and early career researchers based in universities across the UK and overseas, who are engaged with the conceptualisation as well as the applied practice of sustainability-related research.

The network emerged through a group of researchers at the University of Gloucestershire and is supported by the European Commission through the Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship Programme. PRISM hosts regular interactive and topical research seminars at the University of Gloucestershire and communicates through a JISCmail group. 

It is widely acknowledged that the complexities of sustainability require forms of research activity that challenge boundaries at several interfaces, not least between academic disciplines, across professional roles and in relation to personal values. The new conceptual and practical spaces that are being uncovered by innovative sustainability research provide a landscape rich with potential for academic practice and to advance human understanding of the sustainability challenges we face.
In recent years sustainability has become an increasingly fashionable research topic, the focus of new inter-disciplinary research funding streams and a powerful attractor for the next generation of researchers. However, despite this acceleration of interest and the growth in numbers of doctoral and post-doctoral studies focusing their studies in the area, there are still very limited opportunities for postgraduate and early career researchers, as well as their mentors and peers, to share discussions and insights on critical agendas and research issues.

Forthcoming PRISM Events

PRISM Conference - “The Interdisciplinary Researcher:  Paradigms, Practices and Possibilities for Sustainability”

19 - 20 May 2011
University of Gloucestershire
Conference Programme and Call for Papers

The conference is founded on the impulse to support the professional and academic development of the next cadre of innovative inter-disciplinary sustainability researchers. Its core aims are:

• To gain an overview of international developments and trends in interdisciplinary research in sustainability.
• To explore conceptual debates on research paradigms for an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability.
• To share practice on and opportunities for interdisciplinary research in sustainability.

During the conference, invited keynote and expert sessions will address these themes and provide targeted discussion space, so that participants can discuss the conceptual, methodological and socio-political dimensions of the widest range of inter-disciplinary research inquiries on sustainability questions. Opportunities will also be provided for participants at all levels and from all backgrounds to contribute through interactive presentations and posters.