Global WEF Nexus Community Podcast
The Global WEF Nexus Community's Podcast, is your go-to resource to navigate the intricate dynamics of water, energy, and food systems across the globe. Join us on a journey to unravel the complexities of these interconnected pillars that sustain life and society as we know it.
Through insightful discussions with experts, policymakers, and thought leaders, we aim to uncover actionable insights and foster meaningful dialogue around the challenges and opportunities at the intersection of water, energy, and food.
Whether you're a seasoned professional, an avid enthusiast, or simply curious about the nexus between these critical domains, this podcast is for you.
Global WEF Nexus Community Podcast
EP 4: Introducing the Sustainability Nexus Forum Journal with Edeltraud Guenther and Saroj Kumar Chapagain
Discover the future of sustainability research with us as we introduce the Sustainability Nexus Forum Journal! What makes this journal a game-changer? Edeltraud Guenther, the Editor-in-Chief, and Saroj Kumar Chapagain, the Managing Editor, join us to share the journal's evolution from the Sustainability Management Forum. They explain the unique interdisciplinary approach that addresses complex sustainability issues, engaging academia, policymakers, and practitioners alike. Learn how the journal aims to bridge gaps and foster meaningful dialogue among diverse stakeholders.
More information about the journal
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Web Nexus podcast. My name is Anne Chisa and I'm joined by my lovely co-host, rewa Asi.
Speaker 2:Hello Anne and hello everyone joining us today, and I'd like to also have a very warm welcome for our speakers today Edel Huttner, the director of the UN University, and also Sadoj Kumar, who's the managing editor of the journal. Welcome Eden and Seroj, and we're happy to be discussing together today our episode.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much. So today we'll be discussing the Sustainability Nexus Forum Journal. We'll chat about the aims and the scope. We'll also talk about how it stands out amongst the other journals in this field, and we'll also explore how this journal hopes to fit into the Nexus discourse and how you, as our listeners, can also get involved and participate in this journal.
Speaker 2:So let's get into action and just dive right there. Edel and Sadoch, thank you so much for being here. We're excited to hear more about this incredible journal and vision behind its relaunch.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having us here, Great, thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Lovely. So we're going to start right from the beginning, and this question is to you. So we're going to start right from the beginning, and this question is to you. Ido, this journal succeeds a sustainability management forum. So, for all of us who might not be aware, can you let us know? You know the vision behind this, the relaunch of this Sustainability Nexus Forum Journal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you very much. So, um, it was very clear that sustainability has become an increasingly important issue for the global community. And then, back in before the pandemic, our rector, the rector of unu, united nations, united Nations University, who is based in Tokyo, met the director of Springer Nature and then they said we need a journal that really also represents the diversity of the topics and therefore, as I had been editing the sustainability management forum before, had been editing the sustainability management forum before, being a business researcher by background, we then said well, this is a good starting point. Business decisions are really important for sustainability, but we need more. We need to focus on the complexity represented by the nexus, complex challenges we face and, of course, companies play a crucial role, but this topic goes beyond planning and management practices. So therefore, it was clear sustainability, it was clear nexus.
Speaker 3:And why the forum? The forum is a metaphor based on the Forum Romanum, where people came together in Rome in the the old times and talked and also had debates, and they also disagreed. Sometimes, of course, they also agreed, but they also disagreed. And that was the idea also not to just have another journal where one person writes an article or one team, another writes an article and then there's just a list of articles, but then there's also the option of debates, where you can also contradict. So that's also something we invite for.
Speaker 3:If you read an article, if you have a different opinion or a topic that was missing. When you read the article you say well, this is a study done in Southern Africa, I have something similar, but a different context, in Latin America. So then you can also reach out to us and say look, this is a different perspective, a different context. Or if you are a policymaker, you can also bring your perspective. So it's really the idea of this forum, where different perspectives come together, different groups of people come together academia, policymakers, practitioners and also within academia, that it's really truly interdisciplinary.
Speaker 3:So sustainability nexus forum, that Sustainability Nexus.
Speaker 2:Forum. That's great to hear, and if you need to also look from a broader perspective, why is there the need for a journal like the Sustainability Nexus Forum in today's academic and policy landscape?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's actually a good question, as there is so much information out there. But we discussed this, but then we thought we also need to connect to the scientific community and they are familiar with journal articles. That's their way of summarizing research and therefore we also thought we really also need the science perspective. But then we said that and that's really new that there is also this option to have the policy perspective, the practitioner perspective, and yeah, that was then the idea that we said it's not another scientific journal, but it's really a new format and it's a platform for dialogue. That is the two ideas. Are the two ideas so more diverse in terms of authors and also different format in terms of what I mentioned already debates, also different perspectives, not only scientific articles but also practitioner perspectives and therefore I'm very convinced that there is a place and there's a need also for such a journal in the policy landscape.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, you know. Against this backdrop, Zoroj, I'd like to bring you in. Let's get into the specifics. So what are the key themes that this journal aims to cover?
Speaker 4:Thank you, anne. The major theme, like Professor Edel had already mentioned about it's the background, how the journal has been evolved. So you have already noticed like Sustainability Nexus Forum. So the Nexus is always our central theme, like what we do is or what is. Our aim is just to cultivate the Nexus thinking because it's already there, but we would like to more cultivate in a way that these things really brings into the practice.
Speaker 4:Implementation is the major theme or the central focus of the journal. And if you really talk about the topic, so as you see, like most of our sustainability transformation, what we think about, it's not possible without this Nexus perspective. So we see Nexus should be I mean the Nexus thinking should be placed in every kind of like problem solving or planning process to deal with the sustainability transformation. So it could cover the broad spectrum of the topics. But I would say at the starting point we are more focusing on, uh like the integrated resource management, which is about more sector like the resources which are limited, and we have a lot of other uh like synergies and trade-offs. Similarly, we are also looking uh more about the climate change and adaptation, how the nexusive can be useful to tackle or to deal with the emerging issues and also we're talking about the data-driven Nexus Prospective how these things can be implemented in a way to this sustainability transformation. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 2:That's interesting to see, this interconnectedness and I'll get here back to Idole and how do you think you can ensure the inclusion of well-established academic perspectives with emerging topics?
Speaker 3:Yes, so what and this is now already experienced the experience, what we realized is that in the scientific community there is a search for interdisciplinary journals. So that's the feedback we also get, that especially also more senior researchers have the experience that they have worked in specific disciplines for years. Then they say but, say, but now we need to connect also to other, to other disciplines. And then they work in teams with junior researchers. So they also then then have this experience that if you connect topics then it's really not so easy to find a journal. So, interdisciplinary approach there are already journals, but still, I'm convinced there is room.
Speaker 3:We have a diverse editorial board. That also means that we represent different topics, but we also represent different backgrounds, meaning more policy background, more academic background. And then what we did is that we reached out to specific nexus communities. So, for example, sustainability transformation is one community we identified Transition in mining one community. Climate change transformation one community. Data one community. So we then also said that there are different communities working on Nexus topics. And if we say Nexus, it's not only the web Nexus, it's not only the resourcexus or more the environmental perspective, but really sustainability nexus. That also means we bring in social sciences, we bring in the perspective of different stakeholders of the informal community of indigenous knowledge and therefore we then realized that there is not so much out there where people who bring this diversity in one paper together can really also submit their papers.
Speaker 3:What we also do is that we establish partnerships partnerships with conferences, for example and that's also something where everyone who is listening to this podcast can reach out to us to our managing editor, sir Rose, who is with me here in this podcast, and come with an idea and just say this is a conference we have and can be partner for a specific journal. So that would then be more the passive approach for us. So you approach us, and what we also do is the active approach that we scout projects, conferences, specific people where we think they have really something interesting to say. And yeah, that's how we build up our sustainability nexus community.
Speaker 1:Thank you, ido Suraj. We've been enticed by the broad range of topics that are being welcomed for this journal and again I'm going to get back down to the specifications. So I'm sure our listeners are like, okay, how can I get in there? So who can publish? Can you give us some types of, you know, research articles and examples that you're actually looking for to be featured in this journal?
Speaker 4:yeah, so yeah, I think the first of all who can publish. So we are really open to everyone. So everyone, in the sense, like our all nexus is stakeholder. So it it's starting from maybe the academics I mean the researchers and also not only academics but also like practitioners or policymakers who really deal in a different way the Nexus approach or the Nexus who really understand in their own way. So we welcome all these stakeholders to contribute to our journal.
Speaker 4:And maybe, related to the specific type of the article or the publication, then I would like to say like definitely we'll go with the research article, including the peer review research paper, but also we are focusing on, like the policy briefs, science policy perspective.
Speaker 4:But definitely it's supposed to be, it must be supported by the science or the facts. So science derived policy, I mean the policy briefs or policy perspectives, are very much welcome. Similarly, as Idel had already mentioned about the uniqueness of the journal, we are also promoting or inviting contribution who can really talk about some of the earlier findings or who can really debate, or the comments, if there is, because the things are changing over the time, and the concept and maybe the principle or the comments, if there is, because the things are changing over the time and the concept and maybe the principle or the understanding should be revised with the time right. So there is always a room to like, rectify or to comments and to improve on the previous understanding. So we also welcome, like the, the comments and the debates and all those kind of opinion pieces that really brings this Nexus perspectives into a bit more applicable form. So, yeah, we are really open for every kind of contribution that really brings Nexus knowledge into our diverse ways of the stakeholder.
Speaker 2:That's great, and Seroj also you've mentioned it as well as Idel the importance of this interdisciplinary collaboration in this approach. So, from this perspective, what role do you see the journal playing in disseminating the science policy, advice and the transfer of knowledge?
Speaker 4:So I think, as a role, I think sometimes we are bringing the similar kind of our responses because, as the journal is really the platform, because, as you see, the journal has been introduced as a forum concept, so it's really being like a unique platform where we are inviting or we are requesting our all the potential contribute contributors to contribute this sex up in the nexus related information. So the first, our role is to act as a breeze to bring all the informations from and the different levels into the needy groups where things could be implemented. And the second thing is because I think, like we are as also we have also discussed about the like our role is also like stimulating the Nexus community or bringing together. So what we do is we bring, we identify all the potential stakeholders who really I mean the Nexus community, we can say, and then we feature, we share, we feed and we also develop some content related to our readers or who are the Nexus stakeholders. So we are really working on that phase.
Speaker 4:So it's really our role to bring all the information to them. So we are trying to develop like a well Nexus informed society who really know about what is Nexus and why Nexus has some role to this global sustainability transformation and definitely what we do is as our role. We are aware of what the dynamics like, the things have been changing and we are really looking for the emerging topics where our journal can like to focus and maybe can come up with some new topical collection or some sort of like special thematic issue where the contributor can contribute and all the I mean the interdisciplinary researcher can bring their opinion. So it's really bringing, blending all the information and bringing into our community really the role that we are playing here.
Speaker 1:Thank you, soroj Ido over to you. So in what way does the journal foster intellectual openness and creative pioneering in the field of sustainability?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mentioned already that for us it's really important, and if I say us, that's for the two editors-in-chief, dirk Messner, the president of the German Environment Agency, and myself and the whole editorial board. We are convinced that we have to move away from this publishing battle. You could even say you publish an article, you tick a box and then you look at the citations. We have to move away from this to really this dialogue. This forum and therefore the community that I mentioned already is really key, the sustainability nexus community. How do we foster this?
Speaker 3:First of all, what I mentioned, um colleagues who and if I say colleagues, it's really colleagues in the nexus community can be academics, can be policymakers, can be, uh, business leaders, can be an ngo colleague, they can approach us and come with a recommendation for a really new topic and that could then be, for example, an editorial.
Speaker 3:They can then ask whether they could guest edit even a whole topical collection on a topic. So that means we are really open also to be approached, are really open also to be approached. The second is that we have this dialogue idea where we really bring the different perspectives together, focusing around one topic from different disciplines, from different backgrounds, and then also the time after having published is important, and I would also say that this is something new. Of course, in some cases in other journals, then people meet because one reads the article of the other and then they might organize a workshop or conference together later. But in our case this is really not only serendipity but this is really a planned process that we have this nexus community and that's also the task of the managing editor to identify the people and then we organize. We as United Nations University, we convene workshops, we convene conferences around those specific topics. So the difference is it's a process. The publication is embedded in a communication process.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you. So, once we look at it from this perspective and we look at the creative ways of bringing together the range of contributors and perspectives, what sets the sustainability nexus apart from any other sustainability-focused journals?
Speaker 4:Thank you, reva. So I could say there is two, like how to maintain the diverse range of our contributors. So I think this is the one where we are paying attention from the beginning. That's the reason we have set this trans and interdisciplinary journal that we have been focusing here to like our different type. I mean the state, I mean target groups, so not only the academician, and then all the practitioner and the policymaker and other like other nexus community. So I think here what we, our focuses are like, we identify these some emerging topics, like who it's not really only one academia, but also from the policy perspective. So we I mean keep an eye on what are the different topics, what could be the needs for the presence and who really gives some prospect for the future. So that's the things I think I personally believe has to be in place so that the contributor keep on I mean contributing or keep on engaging with our journal. And another approach, what I personally think we have to have, and we are also giving some priority to involve the early researcher, early research carrier, I mean, who really do the research in the field, in the more in advancing the knowledge in the field. So there should be the special feature or a special column, special place where they can really bring their findings, their information, their work in a way. So the encouraging or involving the early carrier resources in the I mean the journal, giving a special uh role and the place in the journal is really good to, I mean to keep on their interest and maybe to motivate and attack for the long run. And what I think is the partnerships and the collaboration, because we can go maybe a little bit faster at the early but maybe to keep our momentum a bit longer and I think the partnerships and the collaboration is very vital longer. And I think the partnerships and the collaboration is very vital. And we are also paying attention how I mean to collaborate with the different UN agencies and other think tank and different national institutes where they do the research but sometimes they are not really bringing their information into more readable or more like our target audience. They may be developing some sort of very big report. So we are really paying attention to how those findings can be brought into the more practical and more actionable form. So this is something we are doing at the moment and that really bring our diverse audience and maybe keep them engaging.
Speaker 4:And related to your second question, I understand, like how I mean, why are what is the space of? That makes sustainability differs from other journals? So I think we have to again go back to the very early our statement like we, we came up with this journal because sustainability transformation, like 2030 is, and we we know like this are these are not, I mean, possible or it's not accessible without this nexus perspective. So we keep the nexus in the central, so but it's we are giving more priority to the Nexus perspective.
Speaker 4:So this is the one uniqueness that really makes our journal a little bit different from other journals and, as I also mentioned, our publication type and our target audience, which is really the broad range, and maybe we are not particularly advancing the scientific or maybe in the methodological or understanding part, but also we are bringing the other corner, like the soft side, like the policies, practices, so these things are also bringing into the publication form. So that's also really the unique and maybe something a little bit different from the other journals. And definitely our forum concept, what is really good, like where people really bring new information but also talks about the earlier and I mean the publication or whatever defining. So this is a new feature that really makes something different from the other journals.
Speaker 2:I can see the uniqueness here in your approach. So what measures are you taking, or is it in place, to ensure that the journal remains at the forefront of sustainability research and its discourse? The?
Speaker 4:forefront of sustainability, research and its discourse. Okay, so I think again because we know, like, how this journal is different from others and what should be placed so that we can keep our diverse audience to be engaged with this journal. So I think the things I mean, the very important for me and for all is the quality of the work and you know, whatever we publish should not be the way, or a little bit should be some. Maybe quality work should be prioritized and to do so, maybe we should encourage, of course, the quality work and also we have been focusing on the editorial task, so it should be properly going through the editorial process and the work should be qualitative and should have some meaningful and maybe some useful information to our readers. So that is the most important for us and the editorial because currently, at the initial state, I would say we are still at the early stage and we have very intact, very small dynamic, I mean very active editorial board.
Speaker 4:So to keep our presence or to keep the things, I think we are going to expand our editorial board. So we invite the editors from other disciplines because we are talking about the interdisciplinary. So bringing all the editorial or expanding the ongoing I mean the existing editorial board, bringing their knowledge into the field also very important for here. And, of course, we are again looking on the different topics where the different contributors and our leader can be engaged, and the another one is also again the community. Community has very vital role because who are really the who can really uptake all the finding, what we are doing? So the community should be involved in all this nexus as well as the sustainability discourses. So building the community, making the nexus community, is very important and that's something we have been doing.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Suraj. As we are wrapping up this conversation, we've learned so much about this journal, its aims, its objectives and the uniqueness that this journal has, so I'd like to bring you in here. I want to ask you what are the hopes that this journal, the type of impact that this journal will have, and maybe let us into other secrets and exciting things that are developing from this.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I would like to summarize my hopes with five I's. The first one is that it becomes the it journal of the nexus community, of the sustainability nexus community, and of course this includes the web water, energy, food nexus community. There is one elephant in the room, to be honest, and this is the impact factor of journals. Especially young researchers are very often, when conducting their doctoral research, obliged to only publish in specific journals and that is like a hand-act problem. So if a journal is new, it does not yet have an impact factor. Impact factor just reflects the citations, but if it's something new, there cannot the citations.
Speaker 3:but if it's something new, that cannot be citations so that's therefore it's really a hope that in the beginning and we already have evidence that it's uh, we are on a good way um, that, um, especially also senior researchers who are not so much depending on citations and impact factors, publish and then people read it and then they cite it. So that is my hope to become the it journal of the sustainability nexus community number one. Number two and this is now related to content that we really focus on issues, not only a topic that could be interesting, but really pressing issues, and pressing issues are also core of United Nations University. This is part of our mission that we identify those pressing issues and then we create awareness for those issues and we present solutions.
Speaker 3:The third one we already addressed multiple times it's interdisciplinarity. It reads like interdisciplinarity would be something usual and it is. It has been around for quite a while but it's not yet there in many cases. The fourth one and this was already part of your question is impact. What does this mean? It really means that we in our work here, also at United Nations University and also in the Nexus community, the theory of change logic is very important. So we have an input, these are researchers, and some budget. We do something, we go in the field, conduct research, then we have an output. That's the article, that's the perspective paper in the Sustainability Nexus Forum.
Speaker 3:But, what's then important is really that it makes a difference in the country, in the region where the research was conducted, and finally has impact in terms of changing legislation, for example, of changing mindsets. And impact from the outset is the fourth I and the fifth one is integration integration of stakeholders, integration of the different communities, integration of stakeholders, integration of the different communities, really to have this vibrant dialogue that we reflect in the term forum. So the IT Journal focuses on issues interdisciplinarity, impact from the outset and integration of stakeholders.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. We can just hear the excitement that you have for this journal and, you know, I hope that it really does exactly what you, and I'm sure the whole team, is envisioning. So thank you both. I learned so much and I know our listeners also learned so much for taking out the time and we look forward to seeing, like I said, the impact that this journal will have in the sustainability discourse thank you for having us here and thank you for the inspiring questions thank you so much thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 2:as we saw your excitement, we're also so excited about the future contributions of the journal to the field and we're really looking forward. Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for all the audience tuning in with us today. Bye, bye-bye.