Awa S. Ottiger

Thesis Title: Revolutionising Sustainability Leadership Education through Person-Centred Pedagogy

In recent years, sustainability leadership education has shifted focus to developing inner human capacities (Ives et al., 2020), as external strategies like technology and legal frameworks fall short of achieving the United Nations SDGs for 2030 (UN DESA, 2024). Neglecting inner capacities – such as self-awareness, authenticity, and empathy – undermines effective action at every level (Wamsler et al., 2021; 2022; Ayers et al., 2023). The pressing research question is: how can leaders learn and cultivate these critical inner capacities, seen as key for tackling today’s most complex challenges?

This study responds to this question by researching person-centred encounter groups (PCEG) as an innovative pedagogical approach in sustainability leadership education. Person-centred pedagogy and PCEG are based on the idea that ecological sensitivity is intrinsic to human nature, and by developing inner capacities, we naturally develop a deeper sense of care and connection to nature (Rogers, 1957a; 1970; 1980). This shift towards person-centred pedagogies, which promote inner human capacities and personal growth, aligns with the increasing recognition of human flourishing and lifelong learning as the goal of education today (Martela, 2024).

Biography:

Until starting my PhD, I worked as an Assistant Professor in Social Science at the School of Education, University of Nottingham, where I contribute to both the MA in Person-Centred Experiential Counselling & Psychotherapy and the PersonCentred Experiential Counselling for Depression Programme. As a member of the Centre for Research in Human Flourishing, my research interest spans a range of topics related to personal growth, 'inside out sustainability', humanistic leadership, and the human-nature relationship. I am particularly interested in transdisciplinary collaborations aimed at promoting sustainability leadership education to address the ongoing planetary crisis.

Publications:

Ottiger, A. S. & Joseph, S. (2020). From ego-centred to eco- centred: an investigation of the association between authenticity and ecological sensitivity, Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies, DOI: 10.1080/14779757.2020.1846600

Ottiger, A. S. (in press). Authenticity, Heroism, and Humanistic Person-Centered Psychology. In Allison T.S. (Ed.) Encyclopaedia of Heroism Studies, Springer.

University of Nottingham

2025 Cohort

Email:

Supervisory Team:

Prof David Murphy

Prof Chris Ives