The Development of a Model for Bridging Research and Teaching for Sustainability in Engineering

Engineering education for sustainable development plays a critical role in preparing future engineers to address complex sustainability challenges aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Higher education institutions contribute to this agenda through both teaching and research, yet the relationship between sustainability-oriented research and curriculum development remains insufficiently explored. This study addresses this gap by developing the Nakad model, a practical approach for examining the alignment between sustainability-oriented course Learning Outcomes (LOs) and faculty members’ research output using SDG mapping. The civil and environmental engineering department and the chemical engineering department were chosen as their research output increasingly contributes to sustainability-oriented knowledge. An exploratory document-based analysis was conducted, combining deductive qualitative content analysis of course syllabi with quantitative descriptive analysis of SDG frequencies of faculty members’ research output. Curriculum LOs were manually mapped to the SDGs and their targets, while faculty research output was mapped using the Scopus SDG classification. The results demonstrated differences in the correspondence between sustainability-oriented research and curriculum LOs across the two departments. In the chemical engineering department, the substantial engagement of faculty members in sustainability-related research was not reflected in the LOs. However, the civil and environmental engineering department demonstrated a more explicit and consistent alignment of sustainability in research and teaching, facilitated by the flexibility of elective courses to incorporate sustainability themes. The analysis also identified a shared gap in the representation of social sustainability across both departments. The Nakad model contributes to the research–teaching nexus by providing a diagnostic approach for identifying strengths, gaps and opportunities to strengthen sustainability integration in engineering education.