AI-Driven Innovations for a Sustainable Future in Education
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2026 | Viewed by 20
Special Issue Editors
Interests: AI; machine learning; mathematics; education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: statistics; probability and random processes; business mathematics; statistical modeling and data science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping education, with the potential to enhance sustainability, equity, and lifelong learning. However, the integration of AI must move beyond technical efficiency to address systemic challenges in pedagogy, accessibility, and environmental impact (Schiff, 2022; Chen et al., 2023). This Special Issue seeks concrete, evidence-based contributions that align AI-driven solutions with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4) in education, focusing on the following areas:
- Scalable AI applications (e.g., adaptive learning systems, generative AI for content creation) that reduce resource disparities;
- Ethical frameworks for AI deployment in diverse educational contexts, including bias mitigation and data privacy;
- Policy and institutional strategies to ensure that AI adoption fosters inclusivity and environmental sustainability.
We invite theoretical, empirical, and case-study submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- AI for equity and accessibility:
- Intelligent tutoring systems for marginalized learners.
- NLP tools for language and disability support.
- Sustainable learning environments:
- AI-driven energy-efficient campus management.
- Predictive analytics for reducing educational waste (e.g., dropout prevention).
- Ethics and governance:
- Auditing AI algorithms for fairness in grading/assessment.
- Policy models for equitable AI adoption in Global South contexts.
This Special Issue will advance the discourse by linking AI innovations to measurable sustainability outcomes, building on recent foundational work that bridges AI and education sustainability (Schiff, 2022; Chen et al., 2023). We will prioritize studies with clear methodological rigor—quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods—and that offer the following qualities:
- Actionable insights for educators (e.g., lesson plans using AI tools);
- Policy briefs on regulating AI in classrooms;
- Critical reviews of AI's carbon footprint in ed-tech infrastructures.
By curating interdisciplinary research, this Special Issue will provide a conceptual and practical toolkit to steer AI's role in education toward sustainability and social justice.
References:
- Schiff, D. (2022). Out of the Laboratory and into the Classroom: The Future of AI in Education. Science, 377(6612), 156-159.
- Chen, X. et al. (2023). Bridging AI and SDG 4: A Framework for Equitable and Sustainable Learning Systems. Nature Machine Intelligence, 5(4), 332-345.
Dr. Firuz Kamalov
Prof. Dr. Hana Sulieman
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- artificial intelligence in education
- sustainable education
- AI-driven pedagogical innovation
- adaptive learning systems
- intelligent tutoring systems
- lifelong learning ecosystems
- equity-centered AI
- ethical AI in education
- accessibility technologies
- AI for sustainable development goals (SDGs)
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