World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!

D-Index & Metrics

Social Sciences and Humanities

D-Index
59
Citations
17549
World Ranking
1540
National Ranking
58

Overview

What is he best known for?

The fields of study he is best known for:

  • Education
  • Law
  • Social science

His scientific interests lie mostly in Sustainability, Environmental education, Education for sustainable development, Higher education and Sustainable development. His study in Sustainability is interdisciplinary in nature, drawing from both Economic growth, Convergence and Knowledge management. The study incorporates disciplines such as Science education, Environmental resource management, Knowledge base, Social science and Politics in addition to Environmental education.

Arjen E. J. Wals combines subjects such as Ecopedagogy, Globalization, Democracy and Engineering management with his study of Education for sustainable development. His Higher education research incorporates elements of Pedagogy, Curriculum, Engineering ethics, Management and Sustainability science. His biological study spans a wide range of topics, including Criticism, Praxis and Sustainability organizations.

His most cited work include:

  • Globalization and environmental education: looking beyond sustainable development (388 citations)
  • “Sustainability” in higher education: From doublethink and newspeak to critical thinking and meaningful learning (293 citations)
  • Social learning towards a sustainable world (231 citations)

What are the main themes of his work throughout his whole career to date?

His primary scientific interests are in Sustainability, Environmental education, Pedagogy, Social learning and Engineering ethics. His Sustainability research focuses on Higher education and how it relates to Curriculum. His work carried out in the field of Environmental education brings together such families of science as Biodiversity, Public relations, Environmental resource management and Education for sustainable development.

His research integrates issues of Corporate governance and Knowledge management in his study of Public relations. His Social learning study combines topics from a wide range of disciplines, such as Climate change, Social learning theory, Learning sciences and Open learning. His Engineering ethics research is multidisciplinary, incorporating perspectives in Curriculum development and Competence.

He most often published in these fields:

  • Sustainability (41.77%)
  • Environmental education (33.33%)
  • Pedagogy (19.68%)

What were the highlights of his more recent work (between 2014-2021)?

  • Sustainability (41.77%)
  • Social learning (20.88%)
  • Transformative learning (9.64%)

In recent papers he was focusing on the following fields of study:

Arjen E. J. Wals mainly investigates Sustainability, Social learning, Transformative learning, Environmental planning and Environmental education. His studies in Sustainability integrate themes in fields like Reflexivity, Pedagogy and Sustainable development. The study of Pedagogy is intertwined with the study of Engineering ethics in a number of ways.

His studies deal with areas such as Climate change, Corporate governance and Vulnerability as well as Social learning. In his work, Action research is strongly intertwined with Higher education, which is a subfield of Transformative learning. Arjen E. J. Wals has included themes like Social change, Sense of place and Convergence in his Environmental education study.

Between 2014 and 2021, his most popular works were:

  • Transformative, transgressive social learning: rethinking higher education pedagogy in times of systemic global dysfunction (182 citations)
  • The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: business as usual in the end (123 citations)
  • Co-designing research on transgressive learning in times of climate change (29 citations)

In his most recent research, the most cited papers focused on:

  • Education
  • Law
  • Social science

His main research concerns Sustainability, Social learning, Engineering ethics, Transformative learning and Climate change. As a part of the same scientific study, Arjen E. J. Wals usually deals with the Sustainability, concentrating on Sustainable development and frequently concerns with Global education, Public administration, Global governance and Sustainability organizations. His Social learning study combines topics in areas such as Reflexivity, Corporate governance and Environmental planning.

His Engineering ethics research is multidisciplinary, relying on both Technocracy and Heuristic. His Transformative learning research is classified as research in Pedagogy. Arjen E. J. Wals has researched Pedagogy in several fields, including Environmental crisis and Higher education.

Best Publications

  • “Sustainability” in higher education: From doublethink and newspeak to critical thinking and meaningful learning

    Arjen E.J. Wals;Bob Jickling

  • Globalization and environmental education: looking beyond sustainable development

    Bob Jickling;Arjen E. J. Wals

  • Social learning towards a sustainable world

    A.E.J. Wals

  • Transformative, transgressive social learning: rethinking higher education pedagogy in times of systemic global dysfunction

    Heila Lotz-Sisitka;Arjen E. J. Wals;David Kronlid;Dylan McGarry

  • Sustainability in higher education in the context of the UN DESD: a review of learning and institutionalization processes

    Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Convergence Between Science and Environmental Education

    Arjen E. J. Wals;Michael Brody;Justin Dillon;Robert B. Stevenson

  • Case studies, make‐your‐case studies, and case stories: a critique of case‐study methodology in sustainability in higher education

    Peter Blaze Corcoran;Kim E. Walker;Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability

    Peter Blaze Corcoran;Arjen E. J. Wals

  • The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: business as usual in the end

    John Huckle;Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Learning Our Way to Sustainability

    Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Mirroring, Gestaltswitching and Transformative Social Learning: stepping stones for developing sustainability competence

    Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability. Problematics, Promise, and Practice

    Peter Blaze Corcoran;Arjen E. J. Wals

  • International Handbook of Research on Environmental Education

    Robert B. Stevenson;Michael Brody;Justin Dillon;Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Shaping the Education of Tomorrow: 2012 Full-length Report on the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development

    A.E.J. Wals

  • Social learning in regional innovation networks: trust, commitment and reframing as emergent properties of interaction

    Jifke Sol;Pieter J. Beers;Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Social learning towards a sustainable world : principles, perspectives, and praxis

    Arjen E. J. Wals

  • Can we meet the sustainability challenges? The role of education and lifelong learning

    Arjen E. J. Wals;Aaron Benavot

  • Making biodiversity meaningful through environmental education

    Daan van Weelie;Arjen E. J. Wals

  • Riverhood: political ecologies of socionature commoning and translocal struggles for water justice

    Unknown

  • Between Knowing What Is Right and Knowing that Is It Wrong to Tell Others What Is Right: On Relativism, Uncertainty and Democracy in Environmental and Sustainability Education.

    Arjen E.J. Wals

  • Inquiry-Based Science Education Competencies of Primary School Teachers: A literature study and critical review of the American National Science Education Standards

    Ester Alake-Tuenter;Harm J. A. Biemans;Hilde Tobi;Arjen E. J. Wals

Frequent Co-Authors

Justin Dillon
Justin Dillon University of Exeter
Martin Mulder
Martin Mulder Wageningen University & Research
Bas Arts
Bas Arts Wageningen University & Research
Marianne E. Krasny
Marianne E. Krasny Cornell University
Michael A. Peters
Michael A. Peters University of Waikato
Walter Leal Filho
Walter Leal Filho Hamburg University of Applied Sciences
Richard Tinning
Richard Tinning University of Queensland
Sibel Erduran
Sibel Erduran University of Oxford
Philippus Wester
Philippus Wester International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development
Steven Franzel
Steven Franzel World Agroforestry Centre

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