Linking Sustainability and Happiness : Theoretical and Applied Perspectives

Scott Cloutier is Assistant Professor and Senior Sustainability Scientist in the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University. His background includes serving six years in the U.S. Navy, Bachelor and Master degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, and a Doctorate in Biological and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University. His focus is charting a new course for sustainability that is synergistic with human well-being and happiness. Scott is Founder and Director of ASU’s Sustainability and Happiness Research Laboratory (the Happy Lab). He works collaboratively on the ground in neighbourhoods in the USA, Mexico, South America and the EU, promoting opportunities for happiness that also support the move towards a sustainable future. Scott develops new approaches by drawing on existing knowledge from sustainable urban and neighbourhood development, quantitative and qualitative research methods and theoretical models regarding quality of life, community well-being, subjective well-being (happiness) and biological underpinnings.

El-Sayed has a doctorate in food system sustainability, specifically on regenerative food practices in arid regions from ASU. She has a master's in Biomimicry from ASU, as well as being a biomimicry professional certified from Biomimicry 3.8. She is currently  a postdoctoral scholar in the School for Future Innovation and Society, at Arizona State University. Previously she worked as a researcher in Biomimicry and microbial geographies. She is the co-founder of several enterprises in Egypt. Nawaya is a social enterprise working as a catalyst to transition small-scale farmer communities into more sustainable ones through education and research. Dayma an LLC responsible for outdoor Environmental Education, teaching young adults about Biomimicry and local Egyptian communities. Clayola is an LLC producing low-tech irrigation systems. She is an avid traveler, nature lover, and enjoys tasting foods, cooking and interacting with people through food experiences. Sara is on the board of Slow Food, an international movement that started in Italy aiming to safeguard local food cultures and traditions and does so by promoting Good, Clean, and Fair food for all.

Allison Ross is an Assistant Professor in the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University where she studies community-based health promotion. She holds a B.S. in Kinesiology, M.Ed. in Exercise Science from Springfield College, and a Ph.D. in Community Resources & Development from Arizona State University. Her ten years of teaching health and physical education in public schools guides her work to expand on the power of community on health and happiness. Guided by a social-ecological framework, her research investigates how individual, environmental, and policy factors affect behavior, and how they collectively impact health and well-being.

Melanie Weaver has a doctorate in Justice Studies from the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. Prior to coming to ASU, she earned an MFA in sculpture from the University of North Texas and taught as an art professor for twelve years. When the current anti-trafficking movement began to emerge, she engaged in art activism, drawing from personal lived experience to raise awareness about Commercial Sexual Exploitation in the United States. While working on her doctorate, she pursued research with long-term survivors, identifying them as a distinct population with unique insights into the decades after exiting. Her research addresses the need for ongoing, sustainable support systems focused on the health and wellbeing of long-term survivors.