DIIS
- Title
-
DIIS – Deep Institutional Innovation for Sustainability and Human Development, Phase 1
- Start Year
-
June 2020
- End Year
-
December 2020
- Funding Body
-
MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine
- Research Area
- Project Partners
-
Burgenland, Austria/Humanistic Management Network, and the OECD New Approaches to Economic Challenges Unit, Paris, Markus Glatz-Schmallegger, William Hynes
- Principal Investigtor
-
Dr Clodagh Harris, Department of Government and Politics, University College Cork, Ireland.
- Senior Research Fellow
-
Dr Ian Hughes, MaREI, University College Cork, Ireland
- Research Team
-
Prof Edmond Byrne, School of Engineering, University College Cork
Dr. Kieran Keohane, School of Society, Politics and Ethics, University College Cork
Prof Brian Ó Gallachóir, School of Engineering, University College Cork
Prof. John Barry, School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast
- Contact
-
Introduction
Phase 1 of the Deep Institutional Innovation for Sustainability and Human Development (DIIS) project aims to lay the foundations for a critique and reimagining of the major social institutions in society – economics, democracy, religion, technology, gender and higher education – and the development of principles, visions, and imaginaries for guiding the coming transformations.
We are at a moment of deep institutional breakdown. Climate change, environmental degradation and a biodiversity crisis, marked increases in inequality, economic crises, the rise of populism, and rising geo-political tensions have been providing clear evidence that current social institutions are not optimal, either for human flourishing or for addressing global challenges. The global coronavirus pandemic has brought this dangerous reality into even starker relief.
This historic moment of deep transformational crisis requires not only fundamental innovations in all the major social institutions that make up society, it requires new imaginaries to guide the direction of those transformations.
Phase 1 of the DIIS project will comprise a 6 months initiation phase covering 4 elements:
- The development of an academic paper which develops the theoretical foundations for the project
- Public engagement with diverse publics, including societal leaders, academics, policymakers, activists, the general public, through a series of blogs and online videos
- An online webinar in June 2020 to engage diverse participants covering three themes – Understanding Deep Transition; Reimagining Political Economy; and Sustainability After the Pandemic
- Longer-term planning and the development of a funding proposal for Phase 2 which will cover a 3-5 year timeline for DIIS.
Outputs
DIIS webinar 'Ideas that can change our lives' and post event Q&A booklet
Blogs
The Gift: rebuilding society after coronavirus, Kieran Keohane and Ian Hughes
Joining up the dots shows the true depths of Trump’s dangerous narcissistic pathology, Ian Hughes
John Hume and John Lewis: hewn from the same rock, Ian Huges
Policy Brief: Policy Evaluation in Ireland in the 21st Century – An Evolving Landscape
IST Conference
DIIS & New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) Paper
President Michael D. Higgins, highlighted research by the DIIS project in MaREI
President Michael D. Higgins applauds DIIS efforts in highlighting the current failings of the fundamental institutions that societies have relied upon for decades for stability and direction
DIIS presents at the Scenarios Forum in Vienna, June 2022
DIIS presents poster on Whole-of-Society Transformation at European Climate Change Adaptation Conference ECCA 2023
View in full here.
