The Tensions of “Doing Good”: Experiential Education Beyond the Feel-Good Story
Kearrin Sims
This presentation explores how experiential education providers can embed best-practice social and environmental responsibility across every aspect of their operations while delivering powerful learning outcomes for students. Using Infuse Travel as a real-world case study, the session will present a whole-of-business approach to integrating high-impact Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) with transformative outdoor education and experiential learning.
The presentation will examine pedagogies and practices used to deliver Global Citizenship Education, Education for Sustainable Development, and Social and Emotional Learning through service-learning, cultural immersion, and responsible travel. It will showcase how digital learning can be bridged with immersive, place-based education that is guided by a clearly articulated Theory of Change and supported by a robust Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system.
Key focus areas will include fostering youth active citizenship, B Corp certification and SDG alignment, and ethical partnerships with host communities and service-learning providers. Throughout the session, real-world program examples will be shared alongside some enduring challenges and critical questions that remain unresolved.
Rather than presenting a finished model, this session applies a critical development studies lens to experiential education, openly sharing what is working well, where tensions persist, and how “win-win” outcomes for students, communities, and the environment can be pursued. The session aims to spark dialogue, share practical ideas, and invite educators to reflect on how we can collectively maximise student learning while strengthening positive social and environmental impact.
About Kearrin
Dr Kearrin Sims is Infuse Travel’s Director of Impact and an adjunct Senior Lecturer at James Cook University.
As Director of Impact, Kearrin leads the educational design and evaluation of Infuse Travel’s experiential learning programs. His primary responsibilities include social and environmental impact assessment, educational resource development, staff training, and stakeholder engagement.
Kearrin is a long-term believer in the transformational potential of travel. His adventures around the world have greatly enriched his life. Kearrin is also a firm advocate for experiential learning, global citizenship education, and education for sustainable development. His passion is supporting young people to become active citizens and lifelong learners.
Prior to coming to Infuse, Kearrin designed and led two Master’s degrees in Global Development at James Cook University. His academic background is in Development Studies and his primary research interests centre around Asian regionalism and the ways in which power and politics shape global development efforts. Kearrin has received multiple academic prizes for his research publications and has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, National Public Radio (NPR) United States, SBS Radio and ABC Radio Australia. He has served as an expert consultant for the United Nations Human Rights Office, as President of the Development Studies Association of Australia, and as a Review Editor for Asian Studies Review. Kearrin has led multiple end-user research projects totalling more than $300,000 in research funding and served as Lead Author for the Routledge Handbook of Global Development.
