Collaborative research for a sustainable future

Welcome | Mihi

Tēnei te ruru, e koukou mai nei. Kīhai mahitihiti, kīhai marakaraka, te upokonui o te ruru terekau: he pō, he pō. Tahuri ana au ki te tihi o te mauka e kīa nei ko Aoraki. Nahana ko Pukaki te roto, nahana ko Waitakitaki te awa. Tēnā koutou. Kai te mihi ki a koutou te manawhenua o tēnei motu, ko Te Waka o Aoraki. Ki kā kairakahau maha, tēnā hoki koutou. Nau mai, tahuti mai ki tēnei paetukutuku.

Our Research Centre

The Centre for Sustainability is an interdisciplinary research centre working on local and global sustainability challenges.

Hosted by the School of Geography in the Division of Humanities we work on local and global sustainability challenges through our research, teaching and partnerships. We draw from different knowledge systems including social and physical sciences, mātauranga and local knowledge.
School of Geography
Division of Humanities

Our research covers the interrelated streams of agriculture and food, energy transitions, environment and community and environment and ecological systems.

We work in:

Agricultural sustainability
Energy cultures
Indigenous environmental management
Societal responses to climate change
Food issues
Community resilience

Email centre-sustainability@otago.ac.nz

How we work

We collaborate closely with stakeholders, including communities, iwi, industry and government agencies. For many projects, we form teams with researchers from across New Zealand and internationally.

We generate high-quality research, both practical and theoretical. Our research informs choices, adaptations and transformations in policy and practice to enhance social, cultural, environmental and economic well-being.

We believe that complex social-environmental issues can best be addressed by valuing local and traditional knowledge, complementing knowledge generated by scientists and social scientists.

PhD Scholarship - applications open
Project Kainga: Climate change and kāinga resilience and agility (PDF)