Special issue call for papers from International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education – Biodiversity Management in Higher Education Institutions

Background and Research Focus

Higher education plays a crucial role in ensuring that the next generation of decision makers is capably responsive to global societal and environmental needs (Sassen & Azizi, 2018a, 2018b). These graduates will encounter a work environment that is challenging, constantly changing, and highly competitive, while at the same time being susceptible to sustainability dilemmas and various crises (Storey et. al., 2017). In addition, higher education institutions actively work to reduce the negative impacts of their own actions and operations, which might be mitigated by sustainability related measures (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2015).

Prior research has shown that university campuses can provide living laboratory initiatives for species conservation, climate adaptation, and biodiversity restoration, preventing the environmental damages wrought by rapid urbanization (Liu et al., 2017; Susilowati et al., 2021; Kirpluk & Podstolski, 2015; Witte et al., 2018). For this reason, higher education institutions can position themselves through teaching, research and third mission activities as one of the solutions able to halt the further degradation of biodiversity.

However, although many universities worldwide have carried out much research and released reports regarding sustainability, there is still a lack of literature focusing on biodiversity. To broaden the concept of biodiversity, higher education institutions play a vital role in providing knowledge and research to individuals, communities, and society. Classroom offerings in the field promote a wider scale of knowledge to strengthen the linkage between biodiversity and human well-being. These positive contributions from campuses also support urban ecosystems on a local scale and, on larger scales, for cities, society, and the globe.

Thereby this special issue aims at explicitly addressing the current state of the art, delivering good practice examples, identifying drivers, describing challenges, delivering guidance, and developing new approaches to biodiversity management in higher education and meeting the SDGs in the higher education sector (e.g., SDGs 14 and 15).

Guest Editors

• Leyla Azizi, Technische Universität Dresden, International Institute Zittau, Chair of Business Management, esp. Environmental Management (Germany),
• Associate Professor Anirudh Agrawal, PhD (Copenhagen Business School), Jindal Global University (India),
• Prof. Dr. Remmer Sassen, Technische Universität Dresden, International Institute Zittau, Chair of Business Management, esp. Environmental Management (Germany),

Dates & Submissions for the Special Issue

Please send expressions of interest with an extended abstract of 500 words and full contact details of the authors to the guest editor: Leyla Azizi (leyla.azizi@tu-dresden.de) by January 31st, 2023. Full papers are due by December 15th, 2023.

***More information about this special issue can be found here.***