The Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) Program at Vietnamese-German University is pleased to welcome Dr. Michael Waibel from the University of Hildesheim, Germany, for a public guest lecture entitled “From Transdisciplinary Research to Transformative Urban Sustainability Impact: Lessons Learned from the Build4People Project in Cambodia.” The lecture will take place on Thursday, 26 November 2026, at VGU Campus.
About the Lecture
Achieving sustainable urban transformation is not simply a matter of producing more scientific knowledge. A critical challenge is how research can move beyond academic outputs and contribute to meaningful changes in policy, professional practice, and society.
Drawing on experiences from the Build4People project in Cambodia, Dr. Waibel will discuss the role of transdisciplinary research in bridging scientific knowledge with the perspectives and expertise of policymakers, practitioners, businesses, and civil society. The lecture will introduce participatory approaches applied within Build4People, including Sustainable Building Arenas, Ecocity Transition Labs, living labs, social marketing, and other stakeholder-engagement formats designed to generate knowledge that can support real-world urban transformation.
The lecture will also critically reflect on how the impact of urban sustainability research should be understood and evaluated. Building on experiences from both Cambodia and Vietnam, it will examine the importance of long-term institutional ownership, communication, trust, and collaboration, and argue for a broader understanding of research impact that extends beyond academic publications and citations towards transformative knowledge and lasting societal change.
About the Speaker
Dr. Michael Waibel is a senior researcher and project leader at the Department of Geography, University of Hildesheim, Germany. He holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Göttingen, where his doctoral research focused on urban development in Hanoi. His research interests include urbanism, sustainable urban transformation, climate change mitigation policies, and pro-environmental lifestyles in Asia.
With more than 30 years of inter- and transdisciplinary experience in Southeast Asia, Dr. Waibel currently serves as Consortium Head of the Build4People project (2017–2027), a major German-funded collaborative research initiative promoting integrated, people-led, sustainable, and inclusive urban transformation in Cambodia. His extensive engagement with Vietnam has also included the CAMaRSEC project, research on sustainable housing in Ho Chi Minh City, and consultancy assignments for organizations including the European Union, GIZ, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, and Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction.
This public lecture will be particularly relevant to students, researchers, academics, urban practitioners, and professionals interested in sustainable urban development, transdisciplinary research, stakeholder engagement, and pathways from research to societal impact.