Transformational and aspirational knowledge.
For a sustainable future.
To move forward towards a future we aspire is to create knowledge through dialogue to inspire actions.
Advocacy
Curriculum development
Policy advice
How can I help?
Sustainability requires that policies and decisions be primarily based on evidence and on reason.
Expert and scientific knowledge is the backbone of sustainable development. At the same time, this knowledge is an outcome of deliberations, critical debate, and moral judgment. My mission is to help link science with compassion, creativity and empathy. Expert and scientific knowledge is transformational, when its purpose is to help the weakest of us to be part of a sustainable future.
Project Highlight
THE NEW INSTITUTE gave me the opportunity to commence my project „Homo Curans“ from October 2023 to June 2024 in the context of a Fellowship that “develops concrete visions of future socio-economic and political realities (…) on the basis of humanistic and social-scientific reflection on human becoming.”
The project was also part of my collaboration with the Deep Institutional Innovation for Sustainability and Human Development (DIIS) network hosted by the University College Cork.
Our sustainable future is driven by critical minds.
As an academic scholar, I see myself in a unique and yet challenging position. My perspectives connect the aspirations of the Global North and the Global South. I employ research methods that follow the systems analytical approaches that highlight the details in terms of context without losing the bigger pictures as explained through global discourses.
Recent Publications:
Hughes, I., Hernandez, A.M., Glynn, J., Hynes, W., and Gallachóir, B. (2024) Conceptualising global cultural transformation—developing deep institutional scenarios for whole of society change, Environmental Research Letters, 19 (9), 094050, http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad6d7f
Axel Marx, Charline Depoorter, Santiago Fernandez de Cordoba, et al. (2024) Global Governance through Voluntary Sustainability Standards: Developments, Trends and Challenges. Global Policy Journal, https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13401
Paula von Haaren, Ariel Macaspac Hernandez & Axel Berger (2024) The EU’s support for the global Sustainable Development Agenda: how to accelerate progress until 2030, in The European Union’s Global Role in a Changing World. Challenges and Opportunities for the New Leadership, Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), 66-69, https://doi.org/10.23661/idp11.2024
Vera Thorstensen, Ariel Hernandez, Rogerio de Oliveira Corrêa, et al. (2024) Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) and the “greening” of highemitting industry sectors in Brazil Mapping the sustainability efforts of the private sector, IDOS Discussion Paper, No. 1/2024, ISBN 978-3-96021-225-6, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn, https://doi.org/10.23661/idp1.2024
Irina Rafliana & Ariel Macaspac Hernandez (2024) Who owns the outcomes of transnational science and technology cooperation? Reflections about German-Indonesian cooperation on the tsunami warning system, in: Sven Grimm / Stephan Klingebiel (eds.), Transnational cooperation – an explorative collection, Bonn: German Institute of Development and Sustainability, pp. 52-56, https://doi.org/10.23661/idp4.2024
SHIFT (2024) Harnessing the Power of Social Sciences and Humanities to Address Climate Change, Social Sciences and Humanities for Transformation and Climate Resilience, COST European Cooperation in Science & Technology
We understand. We explain.
Teaching is a vocation - my vocation. Sharing critical and innovative knowledge to future leaders must be a legacy of the present generation. I do my part by designing and implementing solution-oriented classes that employ interactive and innovative formats that allow students to “experience” knowledge. I have experience in teaching in universities in Germany, the Philippines, Mexico, Spain, Estonia and Jamaica. In addition, I give seminars and trainings on various issues related to sustainable development, conflict management, negotiations, international development and cooperation, climate protection, climate justice, environmental politics, and Global North-South relations.
Leon’s Den.
A compilation of photographs, short stories, poems and novels.
