Sustainability is one of the hottest areas of scholarly research, and SSRN’s newest research network. GSE Research sponsors our Sustainability Research Policy Network. I’ve known its founder John Peters for a few years and recently caught up with him to ask a few questions about the what, how, and why of sustainability and working with SSRN.

Q: Tell us about yourself & GSE Research

I am the founder and Chief Executive of GSE Research. My background is inconsultancy, publishing and higher education. Until the end of 2010 I was CEO of Emerald Group Publishing
and Emerald Inc but felt by then that I really wanted to embark on a new challenge, one with a focus on the issues I believe matter most to the world today. I started GSE Research early in 2011 as a scholarly publisher with a philosophy of inclusivity and integrity. The focus is clear: Governance, Sustainability and Environment – the key areas in which we need more and better research in order to overcome the crises currently facing the planet.

I try to keep connected with higher education, and have visiting roles with two UK universities.

Q: Why did you choose to focus on sustainability?

We need to learn to live and work sustainably if we are to survive as a species. With over 7 billion people alive on the planet, the challenges of feeding, housing, educating and employing them are intense. The pressure on resources – natural, economic and social – is unprecedented and it will take massive commitments of time, money and ingenuity to relieve some of that pressure. But I’m a natural optimist and I have real faith in the ability of intelligent people, with sufficient good will and determination, to solve the most difficult problems and to give humanity (and the planet we depend on) a viable long-term future.

Q: What is sustainability research?

A question with probably as many answers as there are researchers in the field! For me sustainability research is research which looks for solutions to some of the problems I’ve alluded to before: research into alternative energy sources; into recycling and waste management; into establishing social and organisational structures free from the corruption that keeps so much of the world in poverty.

There are many of the world’s smartest people working in the world’s universities, and I believe part of the role of a publisher today is to connect that research with policymakers and practitioners.

Q: How does it impact the world?

Profoundly! This stuff matters – probably more than anything else at this moment in history. We have to solve the world’s biggest and most intractable problems – not just for today or tomorrow but for the long term. If the smartest, best educated people we have aren’t focusing their minds on making that happen, then what are they doing?

Q: You are a successful publisher, why partner with SSRN?

GSE’s publishing philosophy is very close to that of SSRN and we believe that real synergy is possible between the two organisations. Like SSRN, we want to encourage the profusion and promulgation of ideas. We share a belief that publication shouldn’t be solely about the final output of a shiny academic paper, which has taken three years to see the light of day, but should include the opportunity to bring ideas into the public domain in order to engage in debate and discussion to strengthen those ideas and to allow others to use them, sooner rather than later, in order to find the next phase of solutions to our problems.

We are delighted to be publishing the SRPN in partnership with SSRN as part of our commitment to innovation in publishing and scholarship in this area.

Thanks John, we are excited to be working with you!

via

I was at MIT a few days ago and had the opportunity to participate in Erik Brynjolfsson‘s class at Sloan School of Management. It was a fun class.  We discussed the early days of SSRN, bundled services, and electronic resources in general. During the conversation, I asked the MBA students if they knew where the library was and received many blank stares.  Maybe it was because MIT has a a lot of them, but more likely it was the fact that students’ relationships with their library has changed.

While the gap between students and stacks continues to grow, several libraries are building bridges. Personal Librarian Programs are being rolled out by a small number of universities across the country, including Drexel University and Yale. Essentially, these programs assign incoming students a personal librarian to serve as a direct access point in the library.  I haven’t looked at it from a cost perspective but from a customer service perspective, I think it is great.

Today, many of us understand and appreciate the overwhelming abundance of information available at our fingertips.  There is too much content to consume and crucial educational resources can get lost in the pile.  Librarians have a wealth of knowledge and specifically know:

• How to research & evaluate content
• How to use different resources for different purposes
• How to determine validity and appropriation
• How to think critically

Several months ago I spoke with Susan Gibbons, a forward-thinking librarian from the University of Rochester. She understands the challenge and provided some insight into how she has been able to enrich and simplify students’ experience at the UR library.  One idea that stuck with me was noting the library’s front desk phone numbers at the end of each stack, allowing students to get help immediately.

In addition to valuing libraries by their resources, Susan explained that important learning functions like camaraderie and group work are also fostered by the library structure.  Building learning communities is one of a library’s most important core missions.

For Susan’s view of the future, watch the video below:

Earlier in the day at MIT I had a conversation with a librarian and asked if students knew where to find the library. She replied, “Of course they know where it is, that’s where they go to sleep in between classes.”

I hope the Personal Librarian Programs and other initiatives are a success.  Students need to learn how to manage the overabundance of information today and it would be a shame for them to spend more time with their eyes closed than open in the library …

As many of you know, we have worked closely with The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to create our Entrepreneurship Research & Policy Network (ERPN). Earlier this year, they held the first Economics Bloggers Forum and I was fortunate to be able to participate.  It was a wonderful event and a great opportunity to meet and learn from some very intelligent people, a few of which are included in the Renewal of Entrepreneurial Capitalism video below.  Other than my friends at the Kauffman Foundation inserting the wrong blog URL for me, I was very impressed with the quality of the videos and the professionalism of the staff.

Overview – Economic Bloggers and the Renewal of Entrepreneurial Capitalism

Gregg Gordon – Entrepreneurship Research and Policy Network

Gregg Gordon – Building the Field of Entrepreneurship Research

Please let me know what you think about the videos and what changes are occurring in your discipline.

Here is the latest announcement from SSRN:

Loyola University Chicago School of Law Joins LSN Research Paper Series

We are pleased to announce that Loyola University Chicago School of Law has started a Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series within the Legal Scholarship Network (LSN).

View Papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/Loyola-U-PUB.html
Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=Loyola-U-PUB
First Issue: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/sample_issues/1410172_CMBO.html

Founded in 1908, Loyola University Chicago School of Law is a community of engaged scholars and students inspired by the Jesuit tradition of academic excellence, intellectual openness, and a commitment to justice and the rule of law. The articles and papers in its Research Paper Series serve that tradition by contributing to a deeper understanding of law, legal institutions, and legal theory through faculty research and scholarship. (View full announcement)