Process Science for Sustainability: Research Gaps and Research Strategy

This novel direction proposal explores how process science can transform sustainability management in industrial settings. We identify research gaps in process science related to sustainability, including the need for foundational definitions of process sustainability, methods for capturing and integrating sustainability-relevant data, approaches for analyzing process sustainability, and frameworks for managing process sustainability effectively. To address these gaps, we propose a five-phase research strategy that progressively builds from conceptual foundations to advanced implementations. This approach can be applied across various domains, as demonstrated by our ongoing work in the event management industry, where traditional sustainability reporting methods struggle with the industry’s dynamic nature. Our work aims to bridge the gap between regulatory requirements and operational reality while fostering collaboration between Process Science and Sustainability research communities.