1b. Research Methods and Methodologies

Track chairs:

Shobhana Madhavan. Organisations, Economy and Society, University of Westminster, London, The United Kingdom. madhavs@westminster.ac.uk

Sjors Witjes. Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. s.witjes@fm.ru.nl

Goals and objectives of the track:

For over two decades the International Sustainable Development Research Society has been in the forefront of discourses on sustainable development through the medium of its research agenda and its annual conferences. The scholarly contributions have helped to establish a universe of knowledge combining both the theoretical foundations necessary to build the "science of sustainable development" and the resulting bases for the formulation of public and private policies at national and local levels which enable the achievement of sustainable development of human societies. The concept of sustainable development is multi-faceted. It is normative, in as much as it sets out criteria for the sustainable arrangement of human activities, and also practical: identifying the processes and conditions that help to achieve this. In order to understand both these aspects we need insights from a variety of academic disciplines, professions and practitioners. Track 1 b is dedicated to the application of the scientific methods underpinning disciplinary and other approaches. This track invites scholars from a wide range of academic and professional fields to help explore the challenges of identifying and developing research objectives, methods and methodologies for the scientific study of sustainable development.

Areas in which contributions are sought include (but are not limited to):

Evolution of the scientific method - historical and contemporaneous
Intra and inter-disciplinary perspectives - unifying themes
Transdisciplinary methods enabling contribution to the sustainable development of society
Test of robustness of theory developed from cross-disciplinary approaches
The role of case studies
Mapping of current methodologies in researching sustainability
The role of information technology in research methods
Critical reviews of publications on methodologies

&nbps;