Northeastern University’s strong foundation in experiential learning makes it an ideal setting for bringing research into the public and for testing new ideas in ways that celebrate sustainability innovation while creating new learning opportunities for students.
The Sustainability Incubator research pathway is an experiential research program to support campus-based interventions that test innovative ideas and approaches to address sustainability challenges. This pathway is open to staff, faculty, PhD, and postdoc students. The goal is to use our campuses as “living labs” to implement proof-of-concept interventions.
Using the campus as a living lab means building a bridge between the innovation of faculty and the practical knowledge and experience skills of Northeastern’s professional operations staff. This pathway serves as the bridge; the Sustainability Incubator team provides support for research groups by making connections with relevant operations professionals, navigating through the relevant procedures, and helping to remove the barriers standing in the way of implementation.
Principles
The Northeastern University Sustainability Incubator model is based on several principles:
1. The campus is often an ideal place for testing new research concepts because of the multitude of resources available (buildings, transportation, F&B outlets) combined with genuine needs and challenges (reducing energy, water and waste; updating aging systems).
2. Getting research out of the lab and onto the campus allows for proof-of-concept interventions in real and live situations.
3. Campus-based research projects provide a visible “celebration” of knowledge and achievement that can inspire students, colleagues, and members of the extended community.
4. NUSII projects serve as a bridge between the innovation of faculty and the practical knowledge and experience skills of Northeastern’s professional staff.
Roles and Expectations
Expectations
- Serve as a resource for developing the scope and feasibility of campus interventions
- Serve as a liaison to operations and facilities staff to find the right partners and experts
- Assist in logistics and gaining approvals
- Support in developing educational resources to promote the interventions to a wider audience
Outcomes
- Identify new opportunities for proof-of-concept research that is aligned with sustainability innovation goals
- Track and report projects to keep a searchable database for historical records and use by future teams for new ideas and inspiration
- Improve Northeastern’s performance in ratings and rankings exercises
Expectations
- Meet with Sustainability Incubator team to develop project ideas, understand the constraints, and identify the overall research outcomes
- Ensure that the interventions are feasible within the project self-funded budgets
- Lead the implementation of the campus intervention
- Commit to developing (with the Sustainability Incubator team) education components to explain the value and relevance of the intervention
Outcomes
- Create new opportunities to support Northeastern’s mission of experiential research, learning and training
- Collaboration with peer institutions to share findings, results and new opportunities
- Insights for use in academic research and journal submissions
CONTACT US
Do you have questions for Sustainability Incubator? Please reach out to us.