In this series, NUS News explores how NUS is accelerating sustainability research and education in response to climate change challenges, and harnessing the knowledge and creativity of our people to pave the way to a greener future for all.
Going green: How NUS is protecting the future with sustainable solutions
July 08, 2022
With each passing day, the dire warnings of climate scientists informing the world about irreversible and intensifying climate change are ringing louder for Professor Liu Bin.
For the NUS Senior Vice Provost (Faculty & Institutional Development), words need to be translated into action. There is a need to exemplify the sustainability refrain of living today for tomorrow, in protecting the environment for future generations.
“Sustainability research is to provide solutions that impact lives,” said Prof Liu, who leads sustainability research at NUS, an area of growing importance that has been ramped up vigorously in recent years.
The University has strengthened its expertise in areas such as food technology by upgrading it from a programme to a department, in order to tackle food security issues. Through workshops, it has also made a concerted effort to bring together researchers from different fields and disciplines, from STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to non-STEM institutions, to offer integrated sustainability solutions.
These workshops facilitate interactions and discussion, especially between researchers who are hitherto unacquainted, giving them the opportunity to identify gaps that they would be able to fill with their joint expertise. “Sustainability is complex and diverse, which needs many agencies and talents to work together,” she explained.
To ensure that research conducted is applicable to the real world, NUS has also been working closely with industry players and testing sustainability solutions on campus.
NUS as a living lab allows researchers to test-drive their solutions, which assures industry partners of their feasibility and effectiveness. “If it works in NUS, then it can be expanded to the rest of the country and industry can scale it up more easily,” said Prof Liu, who is also a member of the University Sustainability and Climate Action Council.
Sustainability research across the university currently prioritises six key areas: urban heat resilience, green energy technologies, aqua-agriculture-food technology, coastal engineering and flood prevention, nature-based climate solutions, and water treatment and purification.
The University’s goal is clear: to create valuable solutions that can positively impact our everyday life – for now and for the future.
Adapted with permission from UCO
