At SETRI, the Sustainability Education and Transdisciplinary Research Institute, we embrace sustainability as a positive vision for a world that is both safe and just. We investigate how these concepts need to be applied within our local contexts to become tangible. We believe that in order to achieve this vision, we require spaces where we can collectively unlearn unsustainability in processes and mechanisms of inner and outer transformations. 

SETRI provides such spaces. It is home to transdisciplinary research and learning that transcends boundaries — be they between different schools of thought, geographies, disciplines and cultures, as well asor between science and society. Our mission is to facilitate transformative and transgressive approaches that enable individuals and collectives to challenge and change norms and structures perpetuating unsustainability in their daily lives. 

Solution-orientated: We embrace exploration, experimentation, and action-oriented research inquiry to focus on integrated solutions rather than singular problems.

Emergent: Based on a critical perspective we integrate diverse forms of knowledge to establish enduring partnerships that extend beyond short-term funding cycles, ensuring long-term impact and community engagement.

Transformative: Through place-based approaches such as real-world labs, we drive and investigate real-world transformation by tackling concrete challenges in distinct settings to learn to scale transformations long term.

Radical: By stimulating novel and unconventional approaches, we seek to inspire innovative perspectives and try to push beyond established knowledge and non-normal sciences.

Inclusive: We empower a diversity of individuals and communities to engage in deliberative processes aimed at values clarification, goal-setting, dialogue, and meaning-making to foster a shared sense of purpose and direction.