Juan Serpa, Professor of Operations Management and Data Analytics at McGill University, recently launched SUSANHub.com, an online platform that aims to unite researchers in the fight against climate change. How? By tearing down the silos between academic disciplines.
“Universities are structured into academic silos such as engineering, business, and the social sciences. As academics, we typically engage solely within our own silo,” said Serpa.
But climate change solutions require us to think beyond these academic divisions, he said. Developing a solar energy solution, for example, requires an integrated approach that incorporates engineering, economics, business, and policy considerations.
That’s why he helped launch the Sustainability Academics Network – or SUSAN, for short. This is a website where climate researchers can create an account, exchange resources, and easily connect with academics from other disciplines. The website offers a slew of other useful resources.
“I wanted to create something that I would find useful,” said Serpa, who himself performs climate-related research at the Desautels Faculty of Management. “My hope is for SUSAN to become a go-to resource for people around the world.”
Within its first six weeks, the platform welcomed over 10,000 active users. Serpa thinks SUSAN can hit 100,000 users now that it’s rolling out in the United States. This kind of uptake would make the platform a major player in the sustainability space, he said.
What is SUSAN?
SUSAN is an acronym for the Sustainability Academic Network, hosted at SUSANHub.com. The website currently offers users a library of 4,000 sustainability datasets, a grants directory, a job postings board, a database of sustainability scholarships and grants, a calendar of conferences and events, and a directory featuring 2,500 sustainability institutes and over 50,000 researchers.
These resources are categorized into 60 sustainability themes, ranging from solar energy and biodiversity to sustainable supply chains. This structure enables researchers and students interested in a specific topic—such as solar energy—to easily access relevant datasets, events, or potential collaborators.
Most of SUSAN’s features are free to use without an account. But the real value comes from creating a profile, which gives users a searchable public-facing page that displays their research areas, academic disciplines, academic institutions, and other useful information, making it easier for others to connect with them. SUSAN profile holders can also post events and soon will be able to participate in online forums.
Tearing down the walls
SUSAN is part of a growing movement towards interdisciplinary research. Universities around the world typically organize their activities into specific faculties and research areas, which can sometimes limit the scope of their work.
But scientists are wising up to the need for more collaboration. In healthcare, for example, there’s a growing recognition that some issues are systemic – hard science alone won’t cure cancer if the pills never make it to the masses. Experts from the humanities can help solve that other part of the equation.
Climate change requires a similar approach, said Serpa. It touches every facet of life, so every academic discipline has something to contribute. But while sustainability efforts are ramping up across academic institutions, researchers are often unaware of climate projects happening within their own universities, let alone elsewhere in the world.
To properly understand the impacts of climate change, researchers must combine their expertise to understand its impacts and quickly create solutions. SUSAN was conceived to help make this happen, said Serpa.
For Serpa and the SUSAN team, the next goal is to secure funding to enhance the platform’s offerings. For instance, it will soon launch an online forum to foster collaboration among researchers. They also hope to allow NGOs and private organizations to join the platform and facilitate a marketplace for collaboration between researchers and the private sector to address climate change.
“My hope is to transform SUSAN into the ResearchGate of sustainability, a central hub for scientific discussions on climate change,” said Serpa.
Juan Serpa
This article was written by Eric Dicaire
