AccelNet-Design: Connecting Sustainable Consumption and Production for Systems of Value-Retention (The Value Retention Exchange Network-of-Networks - VR(Ex)Change)

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities in global supply-chains and in the production of manufactured goods, with social and environmental impacts. Through collaborations that explore practices to increase connections among sustainable consumption, sustainable production, and sustainable development, the VR(Ex)Change Network increases efficiency and sustainability of global manufacturing and supply chains. This highly interactive network offers early-career fora, teaching incubators, webinar series, training and leadership opportunities, to engage diverse, underrepresented, and early-career individuals from around the world. Diverse perspectives, from across different regions, fields, and sectors inform opportunities for applied research and collaboration. The VR(Ex)Change enhances the competitiveness of U.S. researchers and professionals within the global sustainability and circular economy transformation. The VR(Ex)Change Network produces research and analysis to support viable and sustainable human communities, and tackles questions of resource scarcity, environmental degradation, and human well-being. Members utilize scenario analysis, case studies, landscape studies, and other methods to investigate key themes: (1) Universal Development, Livelihoods, and Resilient Communities; (2) Moving from Circular Economy to Circular Society; (3) Digital Technology to Enable Sufficiency; (4) Design and Cultural Change as Drivers of Secure Lifestyle; and (5) Future of Work and the Role of Consumption. The collaboration provides a solutions-focused, stakeholder-driven approach that produces research and applications from a unified approach to studying sustainable consumption and production. Using a systems-approach focused on mutuality and higher-order learning, the team produces outputs that include a strategic roadmap for transformative integration of production and consumption that facilitates future development of the network.The Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet) program is designed to accelerate the process of scientific discovery and prepare the next generation of U.S. researchers for multiteam international collaborations. The AccelNet program supports strategic linkages among U.S. research networks and complementary networks abroad that will leverage research and educational resources to tackle grand scientific challenges that require significant coordinated international efforts. This project is funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).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.