5 Integrating Research and Teaching with/for Sustainability

In this presentation, Dr Kieran Higgins explores how Ulster University is connecting two of its key learning and teaching priorities—research-informed practice and sustainability—through the Research–Teaching Nexus (RTN). The RTN describes the ways students encounter research during their studies: engaging with academic literature, learning directly from staff research, and conducting their own projects. Dr Higgins highlights how embedding sustainability into this nexus equips students to become both critical consumers and active producers of knowledge in addressing urgent global challenges.

Sustainability research at Ulster spans a wide range of disciplines, and the RTN offers a structured way to ensure that students, regardless of subject area, engage meaningfully with this work. By positioning sustainability as a shared theme, students in disciplines where it may not traditionally be foregrounded are also able to see its relevance and potential impact.

This approach also supports the development of key competencies for ESD—such as critical thinking, systems thinking, and solution-oriented learning—while helping students cultivate research skills that will benefit them in their professional lives. Dr Higgins notes that sustainability issues demand the latest evidence and interdisciplinary approaches, making the RTN a natural platform for linking cutting-edge research with authentic student learning.

The presentation calls for universities to view research and sustainability not as parallel agendas but as mutually reinforcing, preparing graduates who are both research-informed and sustainability champions.