Empowering Sustainability Research through Hybrid Cross-Institutional Interdisciplinary Student Mobility
Authors: Bobeva, M., Cownie, F. and Vijayakumaran, R.
Conference: PRME
Dates: 18-19 June 2025
Abstract:Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain processes or outcomes over time (Basiago, 1998), often linked to the enhancement of economic, ecological, and social systems for human development (Milne & Gray, 2013; Tjarve & Zemīte, 2017) and focusing on with fulfilling human needs without depleting resources (Thomas, 2015). Aligning with the principles of sustainability and the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, our team of scholars from Bournemouth University (BU) and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) designed the SUNRISE project for developing innovative and sustainable student mobility initiatives, and were successful in securing funding from the British Council UK-Malaysia Going Global Partnerships Grant for Student Mobility 2023 programme. Our project aimed to leverage student online and hybrid mobility for building capacity for research on and effective actions for sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This international collaboration provided a platform for students and staff from both universities to showcase their research to a wider audience of researchers, while fostering valuable insights into effective digital mobility as a sustainable alternative to traditional travel leading to reducing the carbon footprint associated with physical mobility. Key outcomes included the creation of global research networks, increased student engagement in sustainability discussions, and enhanced cross-cultural academic exchange with an interdisciplinary approach. By adopting a hybrid participation model, SUNRISE ensured inclusivity and accessibility while allowing students and academics to gain insights into sustainability challenges across different regional contexts. Dissemination efforts have included academic presentations, reports, and digital platforms to maximize the project’s impact. These interdisciplinary events and research exchanges not only enhanced participants' skills but also fostered innovative sustainability solutions. Additionally, they provided a platform for researchers to collaborate, engage in constructive discussions, and exchange feedback and questions on each other’s work. Three major hybrid events streamed via Zoom were hosted addressing themes such as Food Nutrition and Eating Behaviour (SDGs 2, 3, 12), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and Sustainability and Employability (SDGs 4, 5, 8). All three events were addressed by a welcoming statement by the BU vice chancellor and a research dignitary at USM, endorsing the importance of the work on sustainability research and the innovative approach in sharing details of the studies via the SUNRISE multimedia digital exhibition Padlet, a planform designed to preserve and celebrate contributions to sustainability. The first event, "Celebrating Staff Excellence" (24 April 2024), showcased sustainability research by BU and USM faculty, engaging 42 participants in a hybrid format to allow physical, and digital attending, and to construct the event digitally via Zoom accommodating the time differences between both countries. The event brought together attendees and participants with diverse backgrounds and expertise, contributing to its Padlet success. All materials from BU and USM staff were submitted via form, then uploaded to the SUNRISE showcase Padlet to raise awareness of staff projects and inspire students and colleagues from the home and partner institution in exploring these and similar topics. The submissions were organised according to their alignment with specific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and included clear labels with authors’ details, enabling further networking between the attendees and beyond. Three presenters from each university were selected to present their work to the hybrid audience from BU and USM students and staff. They consider topic and gender diversity, and of the impact to either academia or practice. The second event, "Celebrating Student Innovation" (9 May 2024), featured sustainability projects by master’s students and engaged 88 participants, including BU project management students who helped in organising and running the event, gaining practical event planning experience while allowing them creative freedom to incorporate new ideas. This approach reflects a strong commitment to staff-student collaboration and co-creation, promoting reciprocal mentoring, innovation, and knowledge exchange. Some of the highlights of the presentation were “Factors that influence the purchasing decisions for sustainable by generation Z in Ghana” (BU student), “Active Doctors, Active Patients” (USM student) which addressed the importance of physical activities and quality of life and reduce the effects of chronic diseases. The diversity of the topics made the conference a more engaging and interactive event. Further factor for this event being more engaging was that the event management was conducted by students from each university, working alongside the respective project team. For BU, these were final year Events Management students, who as part of their degree capstone project, managed the promotion, catering and registration of the participants from BU. They had also initiated and designed sustainability-focused quiz run for both USM and BU on-campus and virtual participants, inviting them to demonstrate their knowledge while reinforcing key sustainability concepts. This engaging and interactive opportunity, offered a practical example of the PRME i5 impactful learning principles (Storey and Ibrahim, 2025), bringing students and staff together in one hybrid community that enjoyed learning and celebrating those who successfully responded to the questions. The event concluded with a lively informal session, where participants from both universities introduced themselves, sharing interesting facts about themselves and their work. These unveiled commonalities and shared interests, highlighting potential ways for future academic and professional collaboration and connections. The final event, "Inspiring International Collaboration" (23 October 2024), brought together students, alumni, professions across different levels, facilities, and education background, which emphasized the collaboration between BU and USM and diverse community involvement. The event featured presentations by PhD students from BU from USM. The presentations covered diverse topics with each connected to specific SDGs. The second part of the event focused on diversity and inclusivity, and how to make these knowledge sharing events open to a wider audience and more inclusive for people with neurodiversity and disabilities. The Malaysian partner shared their experiences in organising a session for the Malaysian Deaf Community across various programs, reflecting on the recognition that deafness is a cultural and linguistic identity. The discussion that followed recognised this as constraint for joint cross-cultural initiatives for people with sensory disabilities. It concluded on the importance to continue pursuing inclusivity and diversity of the audience for the SUNRISE events, focusing on these audiences within their respective institutions. The good practice and lessons learnt through these experiences are to be documented, shared, and synthesised to develop a blueprint for organising inclusive, accessible, sustainable and impactful events with minimum carbon footprint. An invited talk from the Head of the BU Assisted Learning Support (ALS) services offers a wealth of helpful points for supporting individuals with disabilities, and students facing challenges such as dyslexia in addressing some of the SDGs such as SDG 4 – Quality Education. The event concluded with other impactful learning presentation, led a team of three USM students. The students presented a video summary of their low-carbon travel from Malaysia to the UK by where i5 element of this last event focused on reflecting on exploring the experiences of digital mobility, slow travel and other approached for minimising carbon output for future hybrid conferences. low-carbon footprint f, with The SUNRISE project met all objectives outlined in the proposal; to build a digital platform as a legacy for the project which has been done as on the padlet, and research blog. The project further met the objective of conducting student and staff conferences along with extensive promotion for each across various channels through emails, announcements, and social media presence. A final blueprint for future digital mobility initiatives will offer insights for similar projects moving forward. References Basiago, A.D., 1998. Economic, social, and environmental sustainability in development theory and urban planning practice. Environmentalist, 19(2), pp.145-161. 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Source: Manual