The Crossovers and Connectivity between Systems Engineering and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Scoping Study

Lan Yang and Kathryn Cormican
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Lan Yang: School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland
Kathryn Cormican: School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway, H91 TK33 Galway, Ireland

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-16

Abstract: The United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are interconnected and indivisible and need to be addressed in a systematic and holistic way. However, a lack of stakeholder perspective, fragmented responses, and a dearth of integration across sectors have long been perceived as the SDGs’ main pitfalls. In recent years, scholars are calling to address these issues by adopting a systems engineering perspective, as this approach espouses a stakeholder-focused position, embraces a holistic and dynamic mindset, and provides a variety of technical and managerial toolkits, which can help to untangle the complexity and interactions inherent in global sustainability. Nevertheless, little has been done to map the existing literature, comprehensively review, and synthesize research evidence in this field. Therefore, this paper aims to conduct a scoping study that analyzes the extant evidence to uncover the contributions of systems engineering in advancing the SDGs. A three-phase methodology integrating natural language processing and systematic literature review is used to investigate this space. We conclude that systems engineering has been an active catalyst promoting the SDGs, and that systems engineering has the potential to support more transdisciplinary research to achieve long-term transformational and sustainable change across sectors and disciplines.

Keywords: sustainable development goals; systems engineering; systems thinking; complex adaptive systems; socio-technical systems; system of systems; cyber physical systems; natural language processing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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