Research on sustainability has never been more important, as the planet’s population continues to grow, so do environmental issues. This includes climate change, poverty, gender equality, and pollution. Because of this, it’s important to support sustainability researchers’ mission towards creating a more sustainable world.

The United Nations (UN) has created an agenda to support sustainability. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a shared blueprint for achieving peace and prosperity for people and the planet now and into the future. This includes 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action for all countries to form global partnerships. Each goal is tailored to global sustainability issues and recognises that the solutions to these problems often go hand in hand. Supporting this agenda is a big step in achieving a more sustainable world.

The MDPI Sustainability Foundation was established in 2012 as a non-profit organisation. It supports the SDGs by supporting the publication of research relevant to SDG initiatives contributing to regional and global efforts towards a sustainable world; as part of this effort, the foundation initiated the World Sustainability Forum (WSF). The WSF provides a platform for sustainability experts to present novel research and to collaborate and form partnerships that can provide solutions to current sustainability issues.

Celebrating Sustainability Researchers

The foundation recognises the important work of sustainability researchers by presenting two awards at the conference: the World Sustainability Award and the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award.

The World Sustainability Award

This award celebrates individuals who have made significant contributions to scholarly research on sustainability. The award includes a monetary prize of 100,000 USD, which is shared among the laureates.

Nominees must meet the following criteria:

• A unique, sustained, and outstanding achievement based on strong, pure, or applied research in any appropriate discipline.
• Achievement that addresses at least 2 pillars of sustainability and demonstrates measurable impact within those particular pillars, e.g., social (standard of living, education, community, equal opportunity), environmental (natural resource use, environmental management, pollution prevention), and economic (profit, cost savings, economic growth).
• Novelty and feasibility of real-life applications of the research.
• Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To nominate someone for this award, please download the nomination form here and complete, following the instructions on the website.

The nominees must be nominated by another individual; the award committee does not accept self-nominations. Moreover, the nominees may be senior individual researchers or groups of researchers from the international research community. The winners are selected by the selection committee and awarded in a ceremony during the World Sustainability Forum 11- Resilient Cities ( Barcelona 02-03 October 2025).

Don’t miss out on submitting your nomination for the World Sustainability Award 2025; the deadline for nominations is fast approaching, 31st March 2025!

Emerging Sustainability Leader Award

The Emerging Sustainability Leader Award is presented to early-career researchers who have made significant contributions to scholarly research on sustainability. The award is given to the winner and two runners-up. The winner of the award will be presented with 10,000 USD and the two runners-up will receive 5,000 USD each. This award accepts self-nomination as well as nominations from other individuals.

The nominees may be individual researchers from the international research community who completed their PhDs within 10 years before the submission deadline. In addition, the entrepreneurial and sustainable potential of the research will be considered in addition to the academic quality.

The selection committee will choose 5–8 nominees and select 3 competitors using the following criteria:

• A unique, sustained, and outstanding achievement based on strong, pure, or applied research in any appropriate discipline.
• Achievement that addresses at least 2 pillars of sustainability and demonstrates measurable impact within those particular pillars.
• Novelty and feasibility of real-life applications of the research.
• Alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The finalists will then present their final pitch at WSF to compete for first place.

If you have a nominee in mind or want to nominate yourself for this award, please download the nomination form here and complete it following the instructions on the website.

Awards inspiring sustainability researchers

We have a long list of award winners since the establishment of both awards in 2017. The awards do not just recognise the importance of the research but also help to promote further research in sustainability.

Research is time-consuming and requires a lot of resources to keep a project running smoothly. This includes materials, tools, machinery, repairs, publishing costs and resources for recruitment. This funding can be difficult to secure; previous winners explain that the awards can actually help to support the researchers.

“The award helped me to pursue activities on sustainability in food research, food science, and processing, and to set the foundation for future digitalisation collaboration with experts in the interdisciplinary field.” – Anet Rezek Jambrak, Emerging Sustainability Leader Winner, 2021.

Moreover, the awards can increase the visibility of research projects and allow for higher-profile projects and positive public engagements. The 2018 winner of the World Sustainability Award, Mathis Wackernagel, explains this further:

“It may not be possible to link the award to one specific thing, but the fact that we have been recognised by various influential bodies, including yours, has led to more invitations, higher-profile projects, and more public engagements. We are working on a topic many feel weary about, so having received positive recognition lowers the anxiety level of potential collaborators or partners. This is what we particularly appreciate about the award.”

Winners of Sustainability Awards 2023

The latest selection of winners for the 2023 World Sustainability Award was presented at the 10th World Sustainability Forum; each participated in an article on the blog celebrating their research. This included winner Professor Michael R. Templeton and runners-up Professor Tom Lyon and Dr. Krithi K. Karanth. These researchers have dedicated their careers to supporting sustainability, and each has unique projects and initiatives.

The Sustainability Awards can open many doors and opportunities for both established researchers and early-career researchers just beginning their research careers. Supporting sustainable research is extremely important and is an investment in a sustainable future for all.

Don’t forget the deadline for both awards is approaching, 31st March 2025. If you would like to nominate someone for the World Sustainability Award 2024 or if you would like to nominate yourself or someone for the Emerging Sustainability Leader Award 2025, please see here for more information.

Or if you are interested in participating in or attending the 11^th World Sustainability Forum, please see Sciforum for more information.