Trans-Atlantic Research and Development Interchange on Sustainability (TARDIS)

History

The TARDIS workshop series was founded 2003 by Professor Michael Narodoslawsky then at the Technical University of Graz in Austria, and Dr. Heriberto Cabezas then at U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.  The purpose of the TARDIS workshops is to bring together for two and half days a selected group of the best scientists and engineers from across the Atlantic and the globe to conduct a broad discussion and exploration of a specific topic relevant to sustainability.  A TARDIS is to be held about every other year alternating between Europe and the United States of America.  TARDIS workshops have, therefore been held as follows:

1. The first TARDIS was at Schloss Seggau in Leibnitz, Austria on October 2004.  The subject was modeling and sustainability. 
2. The second TARDIS was held at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado, USA on September 2006 on the topic of underlying scientific principles of sustainability.
3. The third TARDIS was again held a Schloss Seggau in Leibnitz, Austria on October 2008 on the subject of energy and sustainability. 
4. The fourth TARDIS was held at Schloss Seggau in Leibnitz, Austria on April 2012 the topic of time and time-frames for sustainability. 
5. The fifth TARDIS was held at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado, USA on June 2014 on the subject of social, economic, policy, and regulatory incentives to promote sustainability in society. 
6. The sixth TARDIS was held at Schloss Seggau in Leibnitz, Austria on October 2016 to explore the compatibility of economic growth and sustainability.
7. The seventh TARDIS was held at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, Colorado, USA on September 2019 on the theme of the role of uncertainty in managing the Earth for global sustainability.
8. The eight TARDIS will be held at the University of Miskolc in Miskolc, Hungary on April 2022 focused on sustainability and resilience in the face of emergent threats.  This is guided by the realization that emergent global threats such as the COVID-19 pandemic may well be recurrent events in the 21^st century.

The TARDIS workshops, therefore, represent an almost two-decade effort to bring the best minds from across many disciplines to try to shed the light of reason on the global and timely problem of sustainability.  Each TARDIS has resulted in a policy brief and a scientific summary report or a published paper as appropriate.