Introduction to the special issue: negotiating boundaries: effective leadership of interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability programs

Becoming green, becoming leaders: Identity narratives in sustainability leadership development

“…To conclude, this article has examined the important role leadership development plays in the idealisation and co-creation of sustainability leadership identities. Ecological phenomena such as climate change are increasingly seen as ‘wicked’ problems of unequalled social importance that require complex human responses (Gallagher, 2016; Gosselin et al, 2016). However, little attention has been paid to the interplay between the discursive activities of sustainability actors and the broader power/knowledge relations to which these contribute (Wright et al, 2012).…”

“…Sustainability leadership – also promoted under related labels such as environmental, ecocentric and green leadership – broadly refers to the attributes and behaviours required to promote change towards environmentally sustainable practices in their organisations and communities (Metcalf and Benn, 2013). Leadership developers drawing on (and regulated by) this discourse frequently position themselves as promoting the development of new (and implicitly ‘better’) managerial selves that are equipped to tackle ‘wicked’ (Gallagher, 2016; Gosselin et al, 2016) environmental problems. However, critiques of corporate environmentalism (e.g.…”

Leading by listening, learning by doing: modeling democratic approaches to conservation leadership in graduate education

“…Our case contributes to the emerging novel pedagogical approaches in the environmental and sustainability fields that incorporate more critical teaching methods (Gosselin et al 2016, Scholz et al 2018. The direct and active involvement of students in the construction and analysis of pedagogic platforms, however, constitutes a relatively unique experience (Lips-Wiersma and Allan, 2018), especially for students of diverse origins, backgrounds, and experiences such as ours.…”

“…Pérez (2005) identified essential Bprofessional skills^such as problem solving, analysis of regulations and policy, conflict resolution, and stakeholder relations. Related, but distinct, is the call for greater integration of the social sciences into graduate conservation curricula (Fisher et al 2009) with cross-departmental, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary training (Gosselin et al 2016). The relevance of social research to conservation is now widely accepted (Sandbrook et al 2013;Moon and Blackman 2014), though integration of social insights and social scientists themselves into the actual management of ecosystems continues to challenge conservation organizations (Mascia et al 2003;Sievanen et al 2012) still dominated by professionals trained in the natural and environmental sciences (Bonine et al 2003).…”

“…Our case may also be distinguished by its collaborative design and implementation by universities in the Global North and South, targeting students in a Mexican university. In general, the literature shows a steady incremental interest from universities and individual teachers to innovate and challenge existing educational norms to consider contemporary contexts and local needs (Gosselin et al 2016). These innovations imply not only curricula modification, competencies, and infrastructure (Vincent et al 2016) but also new ways of teaching through individual and collective reflection, respect, and listening-all crucial conditions toward democratization, the basis of our educational platform.…”