Contact person: Prof. Antonella Dosolina Pietta
Department: Department of Economics and Management
Year of establishment: 2022
The Centre for Interuniversity Research in socio-ecological and sustainability studies (CRISIS) was established at the University of Turin.
The Centre is a joint initiative involving the University of Turin, the University of Valle d’Aosta, and the University of Brescia (Department of Economics and Management).
The Centre aims to:
- establish a centre of excellence at the highest scientific level at a time marked by alarming and potentially irreversible changes to the Earth system, amid growing interest in and activity around sustainability and the ecological transition;
- affirm the fundamental role of science and its growing responsibilities in addressing complex and “wicked” problems, adopting a critical approach that places the co-construction and sharing of knowledge with all social actors at its core;
- foster a transdisciplinary research environment in which scholars from different backgrounds and disciplinary fields (natural sciences, environmental studies, socio-economics, education, the humanities, medicine and healthcare, the arts and creative disciplines, etc.) can collaborate and pursue their professional development;
- promote research, training and dissemination (public engagement with science) in the following areas: the Earth system as a critical zone; modes of production and consumption of Nature; bio-psychic systems and Nature; the political ecology of the social system; and ecological and transformative education. These various fields of research and training will be addressed from an inter- and transdisciplinary perspective, drawing on a range of epistemological approaches, from biophysical ones (physics, chemistry, engineering, ecology, geology, medicine, etc.) to socio-economic and humanistic ones (economics, sociology, anthropology, geography, psychology, literature, pedagogy), as well as various forms of artistic expression;
- promote and support collaboration among organisations engaged in sustainability research and in the practical implementation of the ecological transition, and forge new links between research, training, education and the various sectors of society (public institutions, the business and labour sectors, the third sector and civil society).