The Canadian UNESCO Commission and the Canadian Science Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities have released a new publication entitled „Imagining the Future Knowledge Mobilization. Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs“. It brings together selected contributions from various UNESCO Chairs on the topic of knowledge mobilization. Among the contributions is the paper by Benno Werlen (Fellow at the Max Weber Kolleg at the University of Erfurt), Joanne Kauffmann and Karsten Gäbler entitled „Future Knowledge Mobilization for Deep Societal Transformations“.
The article addresses key issues of knowledge generation and distribution for sustainable development in a global context and considers them against the background of profound societal changes. In a first part, the conditions under which knowledge mobilization takes place in the 21st century are analysed. One focus is on the question of why knowledge distribution is necessary and what hurdles it has to overcome. In the second part, strategies are presented to overcome constraints to knowledge mobilization. These strategies concern working with communities, institutional and organisational reforms, and education and teaching. The proposals are based on interviews with a total of 15 experts from transdisciplinary sustainability research and science policy.
The German UNESCO Commission will soon publish the article in German translation on its website.