Online conferencing in the midst of COVID-19: an “already existing experiment” in academic internationalization without air travel

IF 3.6 Q2 ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy Pub Date : 2021-01-01 DOI:10.1080/15487733.2021.1946297

Tullia Jack, Andrew Glover

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引用次数: 16

Abstract

Abstract Academia, as many other sectors, has faced wide-ranging disruptions due to COVID-19, with teaching and research activity conducted entirely online in many countries. Before the pandemic grounded travel, academics were often hypermobile, some traveling more than 150,000 kilometers per year for conferences, board meetings, collaborations, fieldwork,seminars, and lectures. It is no surprise then that academic flying is among the leading causes of universities’ greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. Despite growing awareness surrounding GHG emissions from flying and calls for reducing aeromobility, academics have continued to travel. The COVID-19 pandemic, in equitably stopping all flying, offers a unique opportunity to study emerging low-GHG modes of academic internationalization. In this article, we look at academic internationalization, inspired by digital ethnography, to explore how the academic landscape has adapted to meet internationalization goals within the context of a sudden grounding of travel. By investigating flight-free academic internationalization, we illuminate some of the implications and discuss potential opportunities and challenges of achieving less GHG intensive academic internationalization.

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2019冠状病毒病期间的在线会议:无需航空旅行的学术国际化“已有实验”

与许多其他部门一样，学术界也因COVID-19而面临着广泛的中断，许多国家的教学和研究活动完全在网上进行。在大流行导致旅行中断之前，学者们往往流动性很强，有些人每年出差超过15万公里，参加会议、董事会会议、合作、实地考察、研讨会和讲座。因此，学术飞行成为大学温室气体(GHG)排放的主要原因之一也就不足为奇了。尽管越来越多的人意识到飞行造成的温室气体排放，并呼吁减少航空出行，但学者们仍在继续旅行。COVID-19大流行公平地停止了所有飞行，为研究新兴的低温室气体学术国际化模式提供了一个独特的机会。在本文中，我们将在数字人种学的启发下审视学术国际化，探讨在旅行突然搁浅的背景下，学术景观如何适应国际化目标。通过研究无飞行学术国际化，我们阐明了一些影响，并讨论了实现低温室气体密集学术国际化的潜在机遇和挑战。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Sustainability: Science, Practice, and Policy Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development

CiteScore

12.00

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

27 weeks

期刊介绍： Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy is a refereed, open-access journal which recognizes that climate change and other socio-environmental challenges require significant transformation of existing systems of consumption and production. Complex and diverse arrays of societal factors and institutions will in coming decades need to reconfigure agro-food systems, implement renewable energy sources, and reinvent housing, modes of mobility, and lifestyles for the current century and beyond. These innovations will need to be formulated in ways that enhance global equity, reduce unequal access to resources, and enable all people on the planet to lead flourishing lives within biophysical constraints. The journal seeks to advance scientific and political perspectives and to cultivate transdisciplinary discussions involving researchers, policy makers, civic entrepreneurs, and others. The ultimate objective is to encourage the design and deployment of both local experiments and system innovations that contribute to a more sustainable future by empowering individuals and organizations and facilitating processes of social learning.