Many technological innovations based on Artificial Intelligence contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goal dedicated to industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9). Among them, agent-based modeling and IoT-based crowdsourcing methods appear as promising approaches for two main reasons: (1) on the one hand, enable scientists and stakeholders to virtually explore the sustainability of different pathways in the management of complex socio-environmental systems and, (2) on the other hand, empower stakeholders so that they themselves can monitor the progress of the chosen pathways. The objective of PREMISS is to go further and demonstrate the extent to which a combination of these two technologies can effectively support transdisciplinary approaches, which are based on the integration of knowledge between disciplines and actors in society, which promote the creative and collaborative design of new problem-solving methods, and which are gradually becoming an essential part of the sustainability science paradigm to address complex socio-environmental problems. PREMISS, handled by an international consortium gathering South-African, French, Turkish, Vietnamese and Taiwanese academic and non-academic partners, will (1) deliver a systematic review of the literature that addresses these subjects, with the goal of producing operational and policy conclusions alongside at least two scientific review papers; (2) implement and manage three case studies that represent the three nexuses formed by SDG 9 and, respectively, SDG 6 (about the sustainable management of irrigation systems, through participatory modeling, in Vietnam), SDG 13 (about citizen science and participatory environmental mapping in Taiwan) and SDG 15 (about the adoption and impact of sensor networks on precision agriculture in Turkey); (3) deliver a scholarly book and a methodological guide providing new perspectives and sets of recommendations to support transdisciplinary approaches in sustainability science projects.

This project (SEA-ASIA) aims at enhancing integration of environmental considerations in planning and decision-making processes at national and international/regional levels through strengthening higher level education on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in the partner countries Bangladesh, Vietnam and Lao PDR. The project meets pressing needs to reduce pollution and natural resource depletion in these countries. It will be done to strengthen universities’ capacity to offer high quality master level courses and programs, and link up education with policy and practice. Students graduating from these programs will assume positions in government agencies and can thus address environmental issues by use of SEA in strategic planning and decision-making in policies, plans and programs. This project is novel since it is the first of its kind. It builds on existing contacts in the region and between the EU HEIs in Denmark, Portugal and Sweden. University of Gothenburg in Sweden is the lead university, but the project builds on a strong shared ownership among the 9 universities included in the consortium. Through 8 comprehensive work packages the project creates innovative activities and approaches (problem based learning, strengthening education-policy interaction and the role of institutions in SEA etc.) that are much needed in the Asia region. In the absence of this project (SEA-ASIA), this academic capacity would most probably not have been built. The project thus expects to create added values in terms of strong synergies between SEA practitioners in government agencies and SEA educators in HEIs, and sharing of experiences and lessons across the partner countries. Strong features of the project include transfer of EU knowledge and practice on SEA course structures, curricula, teaching methodologies, and exchange with policy and practice, as well as sharing of experiences within the Asia region.