NSF2026: Convergence Around a Sustainable World Without Waste

每年有1000万吨塑料垃圾进入海洋，13亿吨食物被浪费。该项目将通过努力建设一个没有废物的世界，为应对这些挑战做出贡献。它将确定基本的研究需求和机会，以实现这样一个在经济上可行、社会上可行和环境上可行的未来。为实现这些目标，将举办一系列讲习班，汇聚学术界、工业界、政府和非政府组织等多个学科的不同利益攸关方。将为一个硕士项目开发教育课程，该项目将培训学生努力实现一个没有浪费的世界。为了在本项目期间继续推动研究朝着一个无浪费的可持续世界发展，一个研究学会的一个新部门将组织关于这一主题的定期会议。本项目将组织研讨会，总体目标是通过趋同的视角审查支撑全球废物和资源消耗螺旋式上升的紧迫挑战的根本驱动因素。当前努力的一个重要认识是，虽然工程学需要通过开发相关技术发挥重要作用，但其他学科，如经济学、社会科学和环境科学，对于理解和发展适当的市场和社会激励也是必不可少的。各学科需要建立联系，超越传统界限，走向深度趋同的研究方法。在这个项目中，多学科研究团队将探索创建和评估潜在解决方案所需的知识、方法、模型和数据的整合。与利益攸关方共同创造知识将为新的商业模式、参与方法、政策选择以及创新的技术和基于科学的进步提供信息，以实现一个没有浪费的可持续世界。拟议中的研讨会将制定一个框架，以促进关于NSF大想法“无浪费的世界”的汇聚研究和学术研究。作为国际工业生态学会的一部分，将设立一个新的部门，以促进应对这些挑战的增长。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Every year, 10 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans and 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted. This project will contribute to meeting such challenges by working toward a world without waste. It will identify the fundamental research needs and opportunities for achieving such a future that is also economically feasible, socially desirable, and environmentally viable. To achieve these goals, a series of workshops will held to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders across many disciplines from academia, industry, government and non-governmental organizations. Education curricula will be developed for a Masters program that will train students to work toward achieving a world without waste. For continuing research growth toward a sustainable world without waste beyond the duration of this project, a new section of a research society will organize regular conferences on this topic.This project will organize workshops with the overarching goal of examining the fundamental drivers underpinning the pressing challenge of spiraling global waste and resource consumption through the lens of convergence. An important realization from current efforts is that while engineering needs to play an important role by developing relevant technologies, other disciplines such as economics, social sciences, and environmental science are also essential for understanding and developing appropriate markets and societal incentives. Various disciplines need to forge links and transcend their traditional boundaries to move toward deeply convergent research approaches. In this project, multidisciplinary research teams will explore integration of knowledge, methods, models, and data necessary for creating and evaluating potential solutions. Co-creation of knowledge with stakeholder input will inform novel business models, engagement approaches, policy options, and innovative technical and science-based advances toward a sustainable world without waste. The proposed workshops will develop a framework for advancing convergent research and scholarship on the NSF big idea "World Without Waste." A new section will be established as a part of the International Society for Industrial Ecology to foster growth toward meeting these challenges.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.