Da Vinci Project: Educating Sustainability Change-Makers with Transdisciplinary Challenge-Based Learning and Design Thinking

Sustainability transitions need professionals with specific skills and attitudes that students often do not develop in their regular chemistry education. To foster sustainability change-maker competencies, we suggest augmenting higher education curricula, e.g., chemical degree programs, with transdisciplinary challenge-based learning combined with design thinking. The Da Vinci Project at Utrecht University (UU) in The Netherlands explores this approach, aiming to cultivate the undergraduates’ sustainability change-maker competencies. After five years of experience, we reflected on the students’ learning outcomes in this UU honors program. We conclude that transdisciplinary challenge-based education combined with design thinking provides unique opportunities for students to develop valuable skills and attitudes for navigating sustainability transitions, including the transition toward sustainable chemistry. These involve collaboration, communication, creative thinking, integrative problem-solving, stakeholder engagement, openness, empathy, the ability to deal with uncertainty and complexity, self-awareness, critical reflection, courage, and perseverance.