Beyond Disciplines: strengthening boundary crossing through geography to address urgent environmental challenges
Author(s)
Kass, Gary
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
It is now widely acknowledged by many academics, practitioners and policy-makers that working across the boundaries of disciplines, sectors, and institutions is vital if we are to effectively address the challenges of sustainability in practice. Geography has always prided itself in being a discipline that has this way of working in its blood. Indeed in 2014 and 2021, the geography and environmental studies sub-panel for the UK Research Excellence Framework described geography as a ‘post-disciplinary’ subject. This commentary outlines and seeks to continue the conversation regarding the ability of those working within and close to geography to cross the boundaries between disciplines and between research and practice. The paper describes two of author's experiences of working within policy-practice settings where he has brought geographical, environmental and sustainability thinking to bear, aiming to achieve impact. Drawing on previous work exploring the question of disciplinarity in geography and understandings related to models for and effectiveness of the interface between science and policy, this paper offers some suggestions on what might it take to be more effective in working across disciplinary and policy-practice boundaries.
Date Issued
2025-01-01
Date Acceptance
2025-05-20
Citation
Geo: Geography and Environment, 2025, 12 (1)
ISSN
2054-4049
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Geo: Geography and Environment
Volume
12
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Geo: Geography and Environment published by the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1002/geo2.70013
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN e70013
Date Publish Online
2025-06-13