Advancing Sustainability in Higher Education 2022
Online Event 21 September 2022, 9:00am - 3:00pm
Day 1
9:00am
Online Registration
9:30am
Chair's Welcome Address
Quinn Runkle, Director of Education, SOS-UK
9:40am
Keynote Address: Developing A Draft Strategy For Sustainability And Climate Change For Education
- Using a whole-system approach to provide opportunities for sharing best practice, evidence and resources
- Setting out activity to respond to recommendations for education and supporting the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan and Net Zero Strategy
- Providing powerful learning opportunities through climate adaptation and decarbonisation activities in universities
- Setting out a vision for the United Kingdom to be the world-leading education sector in sustainability and climate change by 2030
- Achieving success through partnership and collaboration; evidence and insight and leadership and support
Fiona Goodwin, Deputy CEO, EAUC
10:00am
Keynote Address: Making A Commitment For UK Universities To Confront The Climate Emergency And Embed Sustainability Into The Curriculum
- Encouraging students and staff to understand their own behaviours and challenge others within the wider context of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
- Leading global research and innovation efforts to provide solutions through technological breakthroughs
- Using universities’ expertise to advise decision-makers and collective bodies at regional, national and international level to address the climate emergency
- Supporting green recovery and growth and achieving local ambitions by collaborating with stakeholders
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting biodiversity and developing campuses in a sustainable way
Professor Mark Fellowes, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Academic Planning and Resources, University of Reading
10:20am
Keynote Address: Assessing the Achievements Of COP26 And What It Means For The Higher Education Sector Going Into COP27 And Beyond
- Exploring the outcomes of COP26 that affected higher education
- Investigating the aims of the UK presidency leading up to COP27
- Examining the role of higher education in helping achieve these
Professor Dave Reay, Chair in Carbon Management & Education, University of Edinburgh, Executive Director of the Edinburgh Climate Change Institute (ECCI)
10:40am
Questions And Answers Session
11:00am
Break And Networking
11:30am
Case Study: Developing A University Climate Change Strategy And Action Plan To Reduce Carbon Emissions And Set Out A Route To Net-Zero Carbon Emissions
- Ensuring that the strategy is affordable and achievable and making sustainability an essential element in the university’s primary objectives
- Drawing on discussions at Senior Management Group, Senate and the Student Experience Committee as well as consultation seminars with staff and students
- Phasing in the use of offsetting to help reduce the net carbon footprint during the 2020s
- Working with Glasgow City Council and contributing to and benefitting from collaborative initiatives such as improved public transport and low-carbon district heating networks
- Organising the specific steps needed to achieve carbon neutrality and resilience and contribute more generally to the sustainability agenda
Professor Jaime Toney, Professor of Environmental & Climate Science, Director of the Centre for Sustainable Solutions, University of Glasgow
11:50am
Case Study: Embedding Climate, Social & Racial Justice in Art & Design Education
- Taking a systems approach
- Taking care to ensure decarbonisation and decolonisation are not decoupled
- Collaborating across colleges and disciplines to embed Climate, Social & Racial Justice in all courses
- Finding capacity for staff to develop their knowledge and skills to contextualise their discipline and transform their teaching
- Working with students to create flexible and collaborative conditions for change
Nina Stevenson, Head of Education (Sustainability), Centre for Sustainable Fashion, University of the Arts London
12:10pm
Case Study: Circumventing the Tyranny of Disciplines Through Interdisciplinary Collaborations
- Emphasising the significance of interdisciplinary practices to address global challenges
- Providing a case of staging mass ‘learn-in’ events involving staff and students from across Faculties underpinned by social learning theories.
- Emphasising the significance of collaborations with community organisations, NGOs and businesses to develop student agency and effect change.
- Outlining the challenges of entrenched discipline silos as barriers to relevant higher education provision.
Dr Diana Pritchard, Principal Curriculum Developer, University of Bedfordshire
12:30pm
Questions And Answers Session
12:50pm
Lunch And Networking
1:40pm
Case Study: Boosting Student Engagement In A Fun And Meaningful Way Through NTU’s Green Rewards Programme
- Rewarding students for taking steps that have a positive impact such as saving energy and recycling
- Focusing on the themes of the Sustainable Development Goals such as carbon footprint, travel, food and drink as well as community, health and wellbeing
- Encouraging and empowering users to go the extra mile in their sustainability commitments through a combination of gamification and personalisation
- Enabling students to track their progress, take part in monthly challenges and earn points to win prizes
Charmaine Morell, Head of Sustainability, Nottingham Trent University
2:00pm
Keynote Address: Do Business Schools walk their talk?
- Many Schools and Departments have focused on sustainability - indeed academic scientists have been on the first line to (try and) shape policy
- For Business School, inclusion of sustainability in the curriculum is important to form managers able to take responsibility for sustainable business
- Drivers shaping this evolution included UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education and Academy for Business in Society
- However, commentators increasingly question whether university Business Schools really “walk the talk”
- Effective inclusion of sustainability in the business school curriculum requires investment in people and knowledge and needs to be supported by appropriate collaborations
Dr Maurizio Catulli, Deputy Program Leader, School of Life and Medical Sciences, Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire
2:20pm
Case Study: Responding To The Social And Environmental Challenges Posed By Clothing Production And Consumption In A University Fashion School
- Developing curricular change, co-curricular opportunities and innovative research into new materials and community engagement
- Setting creative briefs that focus on sustainability and the principles of recycling and reuse
- Aiming to find an alternative to today’s throwaway culture through research into sustainable textile design and manufacturing processes
- Offering grants to help student researching projects that focus on sustainable fashion
- Producing graduates leading on responsible design and practice in fashion
Professor Carolyn Hardaker, Head of School of Fashion and Textiles, De Montfort University
2:40pm
Questions And Answers Session
3:00pm
Chair's Summary And Close