The Melbourne Sustainability Society Institute (MSSI) operated from 2009 until 2021, facilitating interdisciplinary sustainability research across faculties and centres at the University of Melbourne. The Institute promoted research in a way that maximised engagement and impact and emphasised the contribution of the social sciences and humanities to understanding and addressing sustainability and resilience challenges.
About
From its inception, MSSI delivered substantial benefits to the University including building interdisciplinary research capacity and talent, activating new projects and collaboration through seed funding, and facilitating key partnerships across industry, government, and not-for-profit sectors.
MSSI’s many legacies endure in Melbourne Climate Futures, Melbourne Centre for Cities and the interdisciplinary sustainability research activities that have been seeded with its support.
MSSI emerged through the vision of the inaugural Director, Professor Ruth Fincher, and was initially led by Professor Craig Pearson. Under the further leadership of Brendan Gleeson and John Wiseman, and finally Sangeetha Chandrashekeran, the Institute’s efforts were concentrated on the themes of Future Cities and Climate Transformations with a focus on interdisciplinary coordination and impact both in and beyond the University.
Research
MSSI goals were to enable and support:
- University of Melbourne, Australian, and international research linkages and partnerships
- Development and implementation of interdisciplinary research projects
- Production and dissemination of high impact publications and research findings
- Post-graduate research and learning
- Public engagement and debate.
A key function of MSSI was ‘matchmaking’, facilitating strong collaborations across disciplines to address complex sustainability problems of national and global significance. MSSI’s collaborative and inclusive approach brought together wide-ranging and sometimes unlikely academic partners within the University, providing invaluable support for researchers to push beyond the constraints and demands of the traditional academy to find common language, shared theoretical standpoints, and appropriate fora to explore innovative approaches to wicked problems.
Research clusters encompassed:
Climate transformations – looking at the impact of climate change on planetary health and the wellbeing of existing and future generations
Future cities – focussed on the intersection of physical and social outcomes within population centres
Health equity – integrating health sector expertise with academic perspective to tackle complex, interconnected problems of health promotion, disease prevention, and provision of health services
People and values – exploring the impact of people and their values on sustainable living and covering changing populations, attitudes and communication, law/ justice/ethics, and resilience and transformation
Biodiversity and conservation – examining positive and negative impacts of biodiversity on society, fostering interdisciplinary synergies across the physical sciences, humanities, social sciences, and governance frameworks
Water, food and energy – exploring rural and urban water cycles, water policy, law, governance and culture, food policy, safety, trade and culture and food production, quality and environmental impacts
Sustainability in the Anthropocene – exploring the concept of the ‘Anthropocene’ as a present-day geological epoch characterised by the pervasive impact of human activity
Empowering First Nations in the fight for cultural water and policy change
At the 24th International River Symposium, MSSI and the LifeCourse Centre's Brendan Kennedy (Melbourne Enterprise Principal Fellow in Cultural Economies and Sustainability, ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course) and Melissa Kennedy (Research Fellow, Participatory Research and Engagement, ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course) delivered a keynote address on the topic of 'Cultural Flows: Empowering First Nations in the fight for cultural water and policy change'.
The keynote addressed the inequalities First Nations face in water access and ownership, and how Traditional Owner led programs such as Cultural Flows can change how we understand and value water management priorities in the Murray Darling Basin.
Outcomes
MSSI research resulted in numerous publications, reports and programs including:
- Submissions to the Bushfire National Royal Commission and Victorian Bushfire Inquiry, based on research into malicious ignition of bushfires, and a separate project looking at integrating urban planning for natural hazard mitigation with emergency planning in Australia.
- Development of a Gippsland Smart Specialisation Strategy with the Latrobe Valley Authority to maximise the knowledge, skills and opportunities of this important agricultural region, and connect other sectors such as health, the visitor economy, new energy, logistics and advanced manufacturing.
- As part of a larger, comparative project of eight city contexts on Collaborative Governance under Austerity funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, researchers developed a case study around the revitalisation process of Central Dandenong.
- A research program investigating the impacts of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) on Australia’s cities and urban regions.
- In collaboration with Aboriginal Traditional Owners and indigenous leaders, implementation of the Cape York Peninsula Tenure Resolution Program, ensuring the protection of iconic natural areas and cultural values.
Read more about the Melbourne Sustainable Societies Institute and its achievements in the Final Report 2022 (PDF Download)
First published on 1 May 2024.
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