Stephen Sterling

Biographical Information
"Stephen Sterling is Professor of Sustainability Education, Centre for Sustainable Futures (CSF) at Plymouth University, and an advisor to the UK Higher Education Academy on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), and has worked as a consultant in environmental and sustainability education in the academic and NGO fields nationally and internationally for many years. He has been widely recognized for many years as one of the leading voices in sustainability education, and is in demand as an international keynote speaker. His first book (co-edited with John Huckle) was Education for Sustainability (Earthscan, 1996), and this was followed by the influential Schumacher Briefing Sustainable Education – Re-visioning learning and change (Green Books 2001), which remains a best seller. He also co-founded the first masters course in the UK on sustainability education (at London South Bank University), and led the WWF project on systems thinking Linking Thinking – new perspectives on thinking and learning for sustainability.

"His research interests lie in the interrelationships between ecological thinking, systemic change, and learning at individual and institutional scales to help meet the challenge of accelerating the educational response to the sustainability agenda. His work at CSF involves leading the research team on sustainability education, and developing strategies to support curriculum change across the institution. His last book (with David Selby and Paula Jones, 2010) Sustainability Education: Perspectives and Practice Across Higher Education  was acclaimed by the University of Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) as one of the 'Top 40 books of 2010'. He is currently working on a new book on the ‘sustainable university’ to be published by Taylor and Francis."