The University of Notre Dame recently announced the appointment of Arun Agrawal, a renowned scholar of environmental politics and sustainable development, as the inaugural director of the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative, a key priority in the University’s strategic framework. He will also be the Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs. His new roles begin on Jan. 1, 2025.

In this interview, Agrawal discusses what animates his research and what drew him to Notre Dame and the Keough School.

What excites you most about the opportunity to lead the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative at Notre Dame? Why is this the right position for you at this moment in your career?

When I thought about the opportunity to lead this initiative, I could not help asking myself what I am called upon to do at this time in my life. I could continue to do sustainability research with as much passion and intellectual energy as possible. I could continue to pursue engagement-focused initiatives such as the National Sustainability Society that we launched this year with an inaugural meeting in Seattle. And I could keep building on the curricular efforts around sustainability and development in which I am engaged. But the opportunity Notre Dame presents — to me and to higher education institutions in sustainability — is special. The Sustainability Initiative seemed to be the perfect integrative design for the triptych of research, curriculum and engagement that real-world impact by any university requires.

The Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative will coordinate and amplify sustainability research, education, and engagement efforts across Notre Dame's eight colleges and schools, as well as a wide array of centers, institutes and programs. Why is it important to approach sustainability as a University-wide strategic priority?

The challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, growing inequality, overconsumption, pollution and waste, among others, represent a polycrisis in which we are entangled. These intertwined challenges threaten to swallow the progress we have made in improving our material possessions, quality of life and greater life expectancy. The average levels of improvements of course hide great variations. They also obscure the enormous subsidy from nature that has made the advances possible.

Transformative change, both governments and scholars agree, is necessary for a just and sustainable world. It requires incisive discipline- and field-specific research innovations. At the same time, it also requires synthesis across these domains. As Pope Francis reminds us, change, to be truly transformative, must occur in "thought, structure, and action." Connecting these shifts, such that they engage the sustainability challenges of today and tomorrow, can only happen with the active involvement of all our schools and colleges.

What initially inspired you to focus on sustainability in your research and teaching, and what has compelled you to continue?

As with many things in life, my initial focus was not as precisely on the things that motivate me today. I came to sustainability through the idea of commons and commoning. The question of how we can work together to achieve shared purpose is the central puzzle that animates work on commons (with respect to social-ecological systems) and commoning (with respect to much of life). This is also a question that we must answer, both individually and collectively, if we are to find meaning in what we do, indeed, if we wish to realize our humanity in our lives. This question continues to provoke me in my research and in everyday life. It is not an exaggeration to say that to answer this question with care and thought is simultaneously to advance towards transformative change for a just and sustainable world.

I must credit my mentors who inspired me and supported me in so many ways. Mentioning names is often risky, but I would be remiss if I did not express my gratitude to Professor Anil Gupta at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, Professors Margaret McKean and Elinor Ostrom at Duke University and Indiana University, Professors Robert Bates and Peter Lange at Duke University, and Professor James Scott at Yale University. Their work, their accomplishments, and their faith in me has touched all of my work.

What are the current trends and challenges driving the need for sustainability research? And why is it important for a university like Notre Dame and a school like the Keough School to play a role in and prioritize this work?

I have already mentioned the challenges that make work on sustainability perhaps the most important need (and perhaps also the most important opportunity) of our time. It is particularly important for us to think about how to address inequality. We are often slow to appreciate the negative, corrosive effects of increasing inequalities, but they are like a slowly spreading epidemic that, if unaddressed, undermines peace, stability, well-being and community — all of which are necessary for growth in happiness and for well-functioning societies. Sustainability centers attention toward equity and justice, together with environment and well-being. It calls on us to pursue a balance among these aspirations and goals over time.

As for why Notre Dame and why the Keough School, I can do little better than to quote the legendary civil rights activist John Lewis who asked, "If not us, then who, if not now, then when?"

The Keough School and each of its core research programs are focused on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary scholarship. How does this approach align with your current work, and how does it contribute to advancing the field of sustainability?

I trained as a political scientist for my Ph.D. It is admittedly difficult to escape one's acculturation in the academy. But I am also trained in management and business, history, and the interdisciplinary fields of institutional theory, social criticism, commons and commoning, and sustainability science. In many ways, being concerned about what is happening around us is to have at least an orientation toward interdisciplinary work because societal problems have no disciplinary boundaries.

In this sense, I am convinced that interdisciplinary work that connects insights across the different sciences is absolutely essential for solving the problems that ail us. Sustainability not only requires interdisciplinarity, it is also centrally animated by the goal of making a difference in the world. Sustainability scientists ask and answer questions that are about synthesis across the ecological, social and economic sciences and that are geared toward figuring out the role of policy and implementation sciences for transformative change. Thus the Keough School, with its focus on interdisciplinary work and global affairs, is extraordinarily well-positioned to achieve scientific breakthrough, and to advance sustainability in the world.

Originally published by Renée LaReau at keough.nd.edu on October 29, 2024.