Vertically Integrated Projects for Sustainable Development: Achieving Transformational Action by Embedding Research-3 based ESD in Curricula

: The University of Strathclyde’s Vertically Integrated Projects for Sustainable Development (VIP4SD) programme has grown to become a key vehicle of Research-based Education for Sustain-13 able Development at the institution. The programme enables students from different disciplines and levels of study to work with experienced researchers on diverse projects which address the real-15 world problems outlined by the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper discusses the chal-16 lenges encountered in transforming VIP4SD into a mainstream activity, and explores how this has inspired a whole institution approach to embedding ESD throughout Strathclyde’s curricula.


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The University of Strathclyde's flagship Vertically Integrated Projects for Sustaina-24 ble Development (VIP4SD) programme is embedded in the formal and informal curricu-25 lum and encourages students to work in partnership with experienced researchers and 26 academics, and with their peers from different disciplines and across all year groups to 27 create student-centred research projects focused on the Sustainable Development Goals 28 (SDGs). 29 The programme is designed to develop the core competencies of Education for Sus-30 tainable Development (ESD) through an immersive 'real-world' educational experience 31 that aims to provide a "transformative learning environment" that enables students to 32 engage in "transformative action" through ESD [1], and so not only "prepare our students 33 for the world of work, but to tackle the work of the world" [2]. It does this by embedding 34 ESD in curricula through the use of Research (or Inquiry)-based Education (RBE or IBE). 35 The paper will explore Strathclyde's experience and the challenges it has encoun-36 tered in taking the programme from pilot to mainstream and how this has inspired a 37 whole institution approach to embedding ESD more generally in Strathclyde curricula. 38 implemented at Purdue University in 1995 -The Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) programme [3], 43 through which students participated in long-term, practical engineering projects focusing on delivering specific out-44 comes aligned with local community needs. At Georgia Tech, this model was honed to introduce a more research-45 intensive dimension, where student teams were built to address unstructured problems associated with broader 'real-46 world' and applied research areas -though still with an engineering and technology focus [4,5]. The International VIP 47 Consortium, consisting of almost 50 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) adopting this model for integrating RBE in 48 undergraduate teaching, was formed in 2012, and primarily serves as a community of practice around VIP implemen-49 tation. 50 Other approaches, such as UCL's Connected Curriculum [6], have espoused the merits of embedding RBE in and 51 across (or connecting it with) all dimensions of the curriculum; and so too does the VIP model. From the students' 52 perspective, it is the unique vertically integrated dimension of the VIP model that affords the time and space and (to 53 some extent) academic freedom necessary for meaningful and impactful research, as well as the development of per-54 sonal and professional skills and competencies. From the project or research perspective, this vertically integrated di-55 mension enables projects to plan for, and focus on, long-term, ambitious, and wicked problem areas; safe in the 56 knowledge that a constant stream of student research resource will continually be available. The multi-year group struc-57 ture of the research teams means that there is always an overlapping period where junior and senior team members 58 work collaboratively to advance the research of those who have come before them and set the future research direction 59 of those who will follow.

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The University of Strathclyde implemented VIP as a pilot in 2012, where interested researchers and academics 62 were approached become 'VIP leads', with support given to build and supervise undergraduate research teams that 63 could enhance existing research projects or explore new research. The model worked well at Strathclyde as it had at 64 other institutions, but scaling and mainstreaming of the programme (beyond 8-10 teams) is a high inertia challenge 65 without the all-important institutional buy-in and support required to scaffold a whole institution approach to imple-66 mentation. 67 Key to achieving buy-in was a strategic decision taken by the programme proposers and directors, which was to 68 align two strategic educational objectives of the institution. The first was to cultivate opportunities that could exploit 69 the nexus around teaching and research to develop more collaborative research opportunities for students, which could 70 have co-benefits of providing an authentically experiential learning experience for students while bolstering research 71 groups with this additional resource. The next was to develop experiential learning opportunities for students around 72 sustainable development. By strategically aligning these objectives and using the VIP model as a vehicle for delivering 73 this, the programme was re-imagined as the Vertically Integrated Projects for Sustainable Development programme 74 (VIP4SD) in 2016 (the year the SDGs came into being) -effectively combining RBE with ESD to offer a proven means of 75 embedding Research-Based Education for Sustainable Development (RBESD) in curricula. Other institutions have im-76 plemented similar programmes to great effect, such as KTH Stockholm's Global Development Hub, which embeds 77 'Challenge-Based (or Driven) Education' in their curricula [7]. 78 The inherently multi-and inter-disciplinary nature of the sustainable development agenda necessitated that the 79 formation of the teams be objective-based (or challenge-driven), and therefore presented a prime opportunity to diver-80 sify the programme from being predominantly engineering-centric to being more interdisciplinary. This required tar-81 geting collaborations around new staff and student cohorts, from different disciplines, departments and faculties. Con-82 sequently, the programme at Strathclyde had the cause and challenge-driven justification to add this cross faculty (hor-83 izontal) dimension to the already vertically integrated model to meet the interdisciplinary needs of the SDGs. 84 Examples of VIP4SD projects are: 85 • Can Democracy Deliver (SDG 16) -employs a range of student disciplines to examine the linkages between the 86 quality of democracy, citizenship, infrastructure, service delivery, and quality of life in developing countries;

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• Building Pandemic Resilience (SDG 3, 9, 11) -aims to develop methods of using Indoor Environmental Quality 88 (IEQ) metrics to rapidly inform best practice for managing and designing buildings to enhance the health and 89 wellbeing of occupants, initially by informing short and long-term COVID-19 disaster responses; 90 • Community Engagement and Glasgow Children's University (SDG 4, 10) -aims to develop a web-based tool for the 91 collation, co-ordination and promotion of credit-bearing (and outreach) activities that can be drawn together 92 from learning activities across the University (and potentially beyond) to service the Glasgow Children's Uni-93 versity [8].
ESD has been criticized for its vagueness, but UNESCO's framework for the implementation of "ESD for 2030" 95 acknowledges that while this may be the case it can be addressed more concretely when ESD is linked with the SDGs. 96 It states that "the 17 SDGs, which encompass the issues related to development and sustainability in a single framework, 97 offer to the global community a renewed window of opportunity to reinforce this fundamental function of ESD" [9]. 98 And so, while the projects are structured along these vertical and horizontally integrated lines, the programme's re-99 search project portfolio uses the SDG framework to provide a clear identity and purpose for individual projects, while 100 retaining the sense of interconnectedness that exists in the relationships between the goals and VIP4SD projects. 101 The moral imperative attached to Agenda 2030 is the overarching global objective unifying all VIP4SD research 102 teams; giving a common sense of purpose across the entire programme; raising the stakes of teaching and learning and 103 working to motivate and inspire students to engage in a deeper level of inquiry and learning through RBE. 104 This alignment of key strategic objectives including interdisciplinary RBE and ESD (together forming RBESD), the 105 narrative of Strathclyde students contributing positively and collectively to Agenda 2030 as an integral part of their 106 studies, and its resonance with the institution's socially progressive traditions and ethos of being "the place of useful 107 learning," created a potent and compelling narrative which served the programme well when securing the institutional 108 buy-in required to mainstream VIP4SD and subsequently embed and mainstream ESD more generally.

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Continuing the progress made during the Decade for Education for Sustainable Development, the Global Action 112 Programme for ESD (GAP) sought to "integrate the principles of sustainability into educational strategies and action 113 plans" at national, local and institutional levels [10]. In 2020 a new UNESCO implementation framework for ESD is 114 available along with other guidance documents, offering practical 'how to' support, tools and guidance that will allow 115 institutions to more easily adapt and integrate ESD for their institutional setting and context. 116 A reflection on the approach to mainstreaming and embedding VIP4SD (and RBESD) in Strathclyde curricula 117 recognizes a close alignment with the UNESCO approach [11], with much of the QAA/AdvanceHE ESD guidance also 118 resonating [12]. The broad action plan followed to mainstream and embed VIP4SD in Strathclyde curricula involved:  Following the decision to realign the existing VIP programme with the SDG framework, it was necessary conduct 127 an SDG mapping exercise across existing projects. Given how comprehensive the developed SDG framework is in terms 128 of addressing the principal environmental and socio-economic problems facing humanity, it proved extremely easy to 129 map existing VIP projects onto one or more SDG targets. Reassuringly, though perhaps not surprisingly, there was no 130 requirement to 'shoehorn' SDGs into VIP projects (or vice-versa). However, it was key to ensure that the VIP leads had 131 already bought into this realignment to avoid undermining their position as project initiator and inventor; to respect 132 their continuing role as project lead and director; and to ensure that the SDG context added gravitas and was viewed 133 positively as a different lens through which students would meaningfully engage. 134 4.2. Raising awareness, gathering buy-in, building activism and capacity for VIP4SD 135 As mentioned previously, creating a powerful and engaging narrative for the programme was a key component 136 to securing buy-in. However, it was equally important to demonstrate its practical implementation and scalability. Per-137 haps what made the case most compelling was the staff, student and stakeholder testimonies evidencing (albeit anec-138 dotally) the impact and efficacy of the pilot programme. Some level of external peer review and recognition through 139 publications, blogs, and articles, as well as national and global awards [13,14], was also key in raising the profile and 140 awareness of the programme and securing the confidence and institutional buy-in required. 141 Ensuring capacity for staff was critical to building a culture of confidence amongst staff to deliver new pro-142 grammes involving unfamiliar and disruptive approaches such as VIP4SD. To achieve this we needed to provide sup-143 port that reinforced the practices and processes that underpin the successful supervision of VIP4SD projects, as well as 144 effective programme delivery. To aid this, a new VIP4SD coordinator role was created with a staff appointment made 145 to this position, and an appropriate staff induction was developed with a Strathclyde community of practice established 146 through regular VIP4SD lead meetings designed to share good practice and lessons learned across the programme. 147 Project capacity is also an ongoing challenge, but one that is expected to ease further once a critical mass is 148 achieved and more momentum gained. The catalyst to attracting leads and projects, which supports sustainable pro-149 gramme growth, is incentive provision. Specifically, the recognition of VIP4SD roles in career development pathways 150 and the provision of project funding -as discussed below. • Project resourcing and student engagement: Staff provided modest seed funding for projects and brokerage events 161 where project leads pitch to students. Students apply for team selection via a specially designed VIP4SD application 162 portal, which matches project requirements with year groups and degree disciples exhibiting vertically integrated 163 pathways. It is important to recognize here that the approach to mainstreaming has been challenge and project-164 driven, where pathways are developed in accordance with 'live' projects. In addition, staff participation in the 165 VIP4SD programme must be fully acknowledged in workload models, development reviews and promotion cases. 166 In terms of promotion amongst students, beyond 'word of mouth' building evidence to promote the positive impact 167 on the student learning experience requires monitoring and evaluation of the programme (discussed in Section 4.4). 168 Another resource requirement and incentive for staff uptake is the provision of project funding. Strathclyde has 169 worked with its Alumni and Development Department to attract successful donor funding. The obtained funds are 170 then dispersed through VIP4SD seed funding calls (e.g. often aligned with themes such as COVID-19 response, 171 COP26 legacy, etc.), internship funding and "VIPer Pit" prizes, where students pitch for project research funding to 172 a team of stakeholders from private, public, and third sectors;

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• Degree accreditation requirements: Important to advocate for extraneous change to degree accreditation criteria in-174 volving the explicit inclusion of elements of RBE and ESD in order to affect change inside; 175 • Assessment and supervision: While there is flexibility for different leads to develop different assessment methods 176 and criteria, there is a desire to move towards a consistent (though not completely rigid) approach involving meth-177 ods of group assessment such as project reports, conference poster and Pecha Kucha presentations. Monitoring and critically reflecting on progress is clearly important to ensure the programme is scaling univer-180 sally and consistently across the institution, and that is having the intended impact on students and target communities 181 and stakeholders. At Strathclyde we are in the process of capturing and analysing feedback primarily through staff and 182 student surveys and focus groups. One student survey we have developed is intended to allow evaluation of the pro-183 gramme's efficacy with respect to ESD competency development in particular. 184 The OECD and WEF are among many to have defined what they consider to be the employment and career skills 185 of the future [15][16][17]. The OECD defines skills as part of 'a holistic concept of competency, involving the mobilisation of 186 knowledge, skills, attitudes and values to meet complex demands' [15].The complex demands that business and indus-187 try will face in the future will therefore require employees and graduates competent in helping employers meet these, 188 which is being increasingly recognized in ESG strategies. Whilst variations exist in how these competencies are defined 189 and prioritized, there are overlaps [18]. Wiek et al presented an interlinking, ESD competency framework consisting of 190 five key competencies identified as Systems Thinking, Anticipatory, Strategic Thinking, Interpersonal and Normative, 191 and emphasized the need to enable students to not only develop these individual competencies, but to 'combine these 192 competencies in a meaningful and effective way' [19]. However, doing so in ways that competency development can 193 be evaluated and evidenced effectively remains challenging.
Building on the work of Weik et al, UNESCO ESD competencies represent a broad global consensus on the core 195 ESD competencies [20]. UNESCO define these as a set of related knowledge, skills and abilities that result in essential 196 behaviours. They focus on a set of eight competencies building on those identified by Wiek et al. The QAA and Advance 197 HE ESD Guidance mentioned previously is based on and framed around these UNESCO competencies, categorizing 198 them as ways of thinking, being and practicing. These categories align with Orr's initial approach to what was regarded 199 as ecoliteracy education and built upon by others to achieve transformative sustainability learning by engaging the 200 cognitive (head), heart (affective) and hands (psychomotor) domains [21]. 201 It is these robust and well-acknowledged ESD competency frameworks subscribed to by UNESCO that Strath-202 clyde has chosen to use as the basis of measuring student skills development and its programme efficacy, which is work 203 still in progress. The so-called "articulation of skills gap" addresses the fact that despite possessing key competencies 204 and skills, VIP4SD students may be unable to identify and articulate these effectively to themselves or others (for ex-205 ample, employers). To address this, work is ongoing with a third party enterprise to develop an experiential learning 206 support platform that will prompt and enable students to record, understand, track and articulate their own compe-207 tency development derived directly from their participation in VIP4SD -effectively the What, When, Where and How 208 they developed these competencies through their VIP4SD journey. This will culminate in the compilation of a portfolio 209 of tangible evidence demonstrating their competency development accompanied by corresponding STARS reflections 210 (Situation or Task, Action, Result and Self-reflection). This will also provide a clearer insight into the efficacy of the 211 programme across the VIP4SD cohort, moving beyond a reliance on anecdotal evidence and towards a more robust 212 framework for capturing and evidencing student competency development as part of their transformational VIP4SD 213 learning journey and the effectiveness of the broader programme. In addition to the internal community of practice mentioned previously (Section 4.2), external partnerships 216 through the International VIP Consortium has also proven to be a very useful knowledge-base, where institutions, 217 despite their geographical diversity, still experience many of the same challenges (some outlined above), and can there-218 fore share common solutions. The consortium is currently developing a VIP handbook for institutions that will formal-219 ize this support for start-up and established VIP programmes. 220 Strathclyde has also been keen to share its own VIP innovation -its alignment with ESD being its principal inno-221 vation -both with partners inside the consortium and with other, non-VIP institutions. Of these institutions, there are 222 some that are already operating similar programmes (for example, KTH Stockholm's Global Development Hub); some 223 which have expertise in other areas that could further enhance the VIP4SD model and its impact on the student experi-224 ence (for example, COIL and VEIL, discussed in Section 6); and some institutions that are just beginning their journey 225 to embed RBE and ESD into their curricula. In addition to institutional and staff partnerships, more can be done to 226 enhance opportunities for greater partnership between students, particularly cross-institutional, international student 227 research partnerships through the adoption and integration of COIL (see Section 6). 228

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The demonstrable practicality of embedding RBESD through the VIP4SD programme was a key factor in achiev-230 ing institutional buy-in to "[place] Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), aligned with the UN Sustainable 231 Development Goals, at the heart of its curricula" [22]. It is recognized at Strathclyde that if education is to be oriented 232 toward sustainability, then this will require a whole-institution approach involving changes to processes and practices 233 as required, and involving all faculties, departments, professional services, operations, relevant groups and our Student 234 Union. 235 New programmes and modules with a dedicated focus on sustainable development (like the VIP4SD programme) 236 should be created and promoted; but to ensure ESD is meaningfully "placed at the heart of our curricula" and sustain-237 able development made relevant to all of our students requires ESD not being treated as a thematic topic. ESD must be 238 woven into the fabric of the formal, informal and subliminal curricula. Only then can the principles and practices of 239 sustainable development be fully integrated into all aspects of education and learning -and ESD embedded within all 240 courses (existing and new) to ensure a comprehensive and sustainable institutional contribution to SDG 4.7.

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Strides are being made in this direction at Strathclyde with the launch of its new Centre for Sustainable Develop-242 ment (CfSD) which is coordinating a whole institution approach to Strathclyde's contribution to the progression of the 243 SDGs. This will bring a coherence to the University's own global, socially progressive vision, and focus its long-standing 244 research and education work on sustainable development into a single strategic approach. The "Education and Activ-245 ism" thread of the CfSD is now actively implementing its ESD@Strath action plan; following a very similar approach to 246 that followed and outlined above, but now with a more holistic, expansive and all-encompassing remit and approach 247 to embedding ESD more generally. 248 6. Future Opportunities for VIP4SD 249 As the VIP4SD programme continues to expand across (and potentially beyond) the University of Strathclyde, 250 there are plans to further enhance the programme by adding a new global and intercultural dimension to the existing 251 vertical (inter-year) and horizontal (interdisciplinary) dimensions already discussed. Our diversity in an increasingly 252 interconnected world is a key asset, and global collaboration in every sense will be key to harnessing this and achieving 253 climate change adaptation and mitigation in a way that is socially and economically progressive. Ensuring innovators, 254 technologists, business leaders and citizens of the future exhibit the global competency that is so critical to achieving 255 worldwide sustainable development. 256 Education for global competence builds on the ideas of different models of global education, such as intercultural 257 education, global citizenship education and education for democratic citizenship. Global competence is now (from 2018) 258 an integral part of the OECD's PISA framework. It defines global competence as "the capacity to examine local, global 259 and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, 260 appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being and sus-261 tainable development" [23]. This global competency must be embedded, enabled and nurtured within ESD; particularly 262 in experiential ESD offerings such as VIP4SD, as this can lead to a genuinely transformational learning experience and 263 will result in more globally and culturally rounded graduates. However, relying solely on international student mobility 264 (ISM) to develop this global competency at best prevents this from being widely accessible and at worst can be consid-265 ered non-inclusive and elitist (as clearly not all students have the financial or social capacity, and therefore equal op-266 portunity, to participate). Furthermore, given how selective this can be, relying solely on ISM as a vehicle for intercul-267 tural engagement is not only arguably unethical, but it is also both uneconomical and un-scalable if it is intended for 268 wider deployment as an integral component of ESD. 269 The global network that is the International VIP Consortium represents fertile ground for interdisciplinary, inter-270 national and intercultural research collaboration between undergraduate students working on wicked global research 271 challenges. Here, students' intercultural competency is being developed to improve engagement with their interna-272 tional research partners (from other VIP sites -the Building Pandemic Resilience project outlined above is a partnership 273 between Strathclyde and Purdue Universities), as well as the stakeholders and communities on which their research 274 centres. Strathclyde academics experienced in facilitating 'Global Classrooms' and Purdue's Center for Intercultural 275 Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research (CILMAR), which makes of use of tools such as Intercultural Devel-276 opment Inventory (IDI) to assess and evaluate IC and the Intercultural Development Hub (IDH) to share intercultural 277 learning activities, assessments, and publications, will bring their experience of VEIL (Virtual Experiential Intercultural 278 Learning) to provide scaffolding and training for both staff and students engaged with COIL [24, 25]. Meanwhile, the 279 VIP Consortium is discussing the possibilities around practical support it can offer by way of develop 'matchmaking' 280 sessions and tools to facilitate more coordinated and integrated COIL and VEIL activity across the VIP consortium. 281

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The 'idea of the University' has shifted over time, where the contemporary model of a research-intensive, state 283 and/or entrepreneurial University has evolved and morphed into a 'being' with traits remaining and inherited from 284 antecedent models [26]. There is some debate over whether the 'idea of the University' is to allow for the pursuit of 285 knowledge 'for its own sake', or to 'enable economic and societal progress through a developmental model involving 286 wider community and stakeholder engagement' [27]. Or, perhaps it is both of these things and more, in line with the 287 so-called 'multiversity', involving an interconnected multiverse of stakeholders involving HEIs, governments, busi-288 nesses, industries, NGOs, etc. [28]. Putting such debates aside, what is clear is that all of these key actors will be required 289 to work collectively to achieve global sustainability, and -critically -it is incumbent upon HEIs to generate the sustain-290 ability-competent graduates these actors need. 291 To achieve this 21st Century graduate for our times, this paper promotes the need to embrace and reimagine the 292 central Humboldtian principle of the 'union of teaching and research', but with a clear focus on wicked global challenges 293 -the classical view of universities is of 'a community of scholars and students engaged in a common challenge' [29]. 294 This paper presents the VIP4SD model as a practical and workable means of embedding interdisciplinary RBESD in 295 HE, where students can work partnership with each other across year groups, disciplines, departments, faculties, insti-296 tutions and borders -and with academics -to contribute meaningfully to the universal challenge of advancing sustain-297 able development.