(A
proposal for an R&D project at a university)
Asitha
Jayawardena
MSc (Sustainability), MSc (Education for
Sustainability), MPhil (Green buildings), BSc Eng (Hons) (Civil
Engineering)
CONTENTS
·
Context
| Stakeholders | Aim | Strategy | Deliverables | Implementation | Feasibility |
Benefits | Legacy | Proposer’s strengths | Contact | References
·
APPENDIX
| Outline of deliverables | Proposer’s past work similar to proposed
deliverables
_______________________________________________________________________________
Context
Like
others, Planetshire University (PU) is under pressure from its wider community
to play an active role in society’s endeavour for a sustainable world. In
response the university has put in place a programme for integrating sustainability
across the curriculum, focusing on its core function, i.e. education.
Currently, the programme is facing formidable challenges, ranging from cutting
across disciplinary boundaries to stakeholder engagement.
Note: PU is a
hypothetical UK university
Stakeholders
PU
community (students, academics, operations and other staff, the executive, communications/
marketing/ branding team, alumni), its stakeholder organisations (business,
state and not-for-profit) and its wider community, local to global.
Aim
To
support the maintenance and development of PU’s programme on integrating
sustainability across the curriculum while using it as an opportunity to
enhance the institution’s reputation and financial position
Note: This project
will support the PU’s ongoing sustainability-in-the-curriculum programme in the
areas of education, communication, research, networking, motivation and
branding. (If PU has no such programme, this project could act as the basis for
putting such a programme in place.)
Strategy
·
A sound conceptual
basis:
o
Ambiguity Advantage: Use ambiguity of
the concept of sustainability as an opportunity to enhance the reputation and
financial position of the university – informed by Wilkinson (2006)
o
Synthesis of core
concepts:
Considering campus as a living lab for sustainability learning (Beringer and
Adomssent, 2008), provide support for PU’s ongoing sustainability-in-the-curriculum
programme by utilising the opportunities in formal, informal and campus
curricula for advancing ESD internally and externally (Hopkinson, Hughes, and
Layer, 2008) while bringing together all internal and external stakeholders
under an adapted 4C Model (Jones, Selby and Sterling, 2010) into a mutually
beneficial relationship for all under the shade of PU branding
·
A practical approach:
o
Use learning from a
globally recognised experiment of three years: Adopt innovative integration for
synergy development, mutually beneficial stakeholder engagement,
cost-effectiveness and simple implementation as practised in the forerunner to
this proposal, namely the three-year-old live experiment The Sustainable
University One-stop Shop www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/ (recognised in
UNEP’s Greening Universities Toolkit http://www.unep.org/Training/docs/Greening_University_Toolkit.pdf, page 61)
o
Efficiency: Build on PU’s
existing strengths (e.g. experts, networks, resources)
·
Mutually beneficial,
inclusive and regular engagement:
o
Three gateways to the
world of sustainability: Engage students, academics and other stakeholders by
providing them with three choices of interesting and comfortable gateways to
the world of sustainability, i.e. subject areas, interests (e.g. energy, water,
etc) and continents (e.g. Africa)
o
Diverse means: Adopt a range of
diverse means for advancing ESD innovatively (e.g. from hard, e.g. scientific
research, to soft, e.g. poetry)
o
Engagement through RCE: Launch and lead an
RCE Planetshire (as part of UN University’s global RCE network) as a vehicle for
driving ESD locally in Planetshire while linking the region to global networks
Notes:
·
Adapted 4C Model
comprises Institution (Governance and Operations), Knowledge (Teaching and Research),
Community (Consultancy and Outreach) and Culture
·
This project will not
propose any changes to the formal curriculum or the ongoing sustainability-in-the-curriculum
programme. Instead it will enrich these two by advancing ESD through innovative
integration, internally and externally, through a PU-branded window
·
RCE is Regional
Centre of Expertise on ESD
·
London RCE on ESD www.londonrce.kk5.org is an example of a UK RCE – one of the 127 RCEs of the
UN University’s global RCE network on ESD. The proposer has volunteered for its
communications since March 2010
·
If PU is within an existing
RCE region, PU should actively support that RCE, enjoying the accompanying
benefits, ranging from use of UN branding for PU’s ESD-related events, projects
and programmes to linking with ESD actors, local to global
Deliverables
Deliverables
are of seven types, under three broad categories:
Online
one-stop shop suite:
·
Websites
o
Planetshire
University (PU) One-stop Shop for a sustainable world (central platform)
o
A
suite of six satellite websites (Curriculum, Campus, Research, Wider world,
Perspectives, Green Ideas bank)
·
PDFs (flier, newsletter,
knowledge sheets, annual review)
·
Social networking
tools
(eight in total, including blog, ESD reflections diary and online library)
Offline
deliverables:
·
ESD Helpdesk
·
Publications (academic papers,
press articles, book)
·
Exhibitions (Knowledge notice
boards based on subjects, interests & continents; and World days and annual
exhibitions)
Note: PU experts
(academics and operations staff) will act as resource persons for press
articles
RCE
Planetshire tools:
·
RCE Planetshire website,
news website & social networking
A
three-year Research and Development (R&D) project run by the proposer (founder
of the UNEP-recognised Sustainable University One-stop Shop www.sustainableuni.kk5.org/), working as a research
assistant under appropriate supervision.
Feasibility
A
high level of feasibility due to relatively strong demand for such an
initiative, robustness of the approach, innovative integration (especially
education, communication, research, networking, motivation and branding), cost
effectiveness, simple implementation, mutually beneficial stakeholder
engagement and proposer’s strengths.
Benefits
This
cost-effective project of simple implementation will enhance:
·
PU’s reputation by contributing to
the following:
o
Producing
sustainable graduates (Quality, Graduate employability, Interdisciplinarity)
o
Sustainable
campus programme (Operational sustainability, Carbon reduction, Efficiency)
o
Advancing
PU’s sustainability oriented research, including research into sustainability
in higher education (Research impact, Transdisciplinarity)
o
Outreach
as a provider of free-of-charge sustainability services to wider community in
terms of public education, networking and motivation (E-learning, Access, Social
responsibility)
o
Mutually
beneficial stakeholder engagement through sustainability, placing PU at the
forefront of the global endeavour for sustainability in higher education
(internationalisation, global citizenship)
·
PU’s financial
position
as follows:
o
Cost
savings through efficient use of resources as a result of enhanced
sustainability culture at PU (Efficiency, Culture)
o
Higher
productivity and retention of staff due to their enhanced job satisfaction
resulting from doing good to build a sustainable world (HR development,
Productivity)
o
Benefits
resulting from the sustainability brand value developed through reputation enhancement
mentioned above (Student recruitment, Grants, Consultancy, Financial
resilience)
Note: Relevant HE
agendas and areas are given in brackets above.
Legacy
Legacy
will mainly comprise:
·
The
Planetshire University One-stop Shop for a Sustainable World (along with its
satellite websites and PDFs)
·
The
book Integrating sustainability across an
institution: Lessons from Planetshire University
·
RCE
Planetshire (i.e. initiated as part of this project)
·
Sustainability/ESD
networks, local to global
Proposer’s
strengths
·
Knowledge: Education for
sustainability (MSc), Sustainability Environment and Change (MSc), Green
buildings (MPhil), Civil Engineering (BSc Eng)
·
Skills: Innovation, writing,
research, social media, science communication, arts (photography, painting,
poetry), layout design, web development, entrepreneurship
·
Experience: Online one-stop
shop development, research and academic, sustainability/ corporate
communications, journalism, social media, resource development, RCE development
·
Networks: Global RCE network,
EfS learning community of LSBU, LinkedIn (nearly 800 connections), Twitter (1150
followers), Klout score 50 (as in March 2014) http://klout.com/sustainableuni1
·
Passion: Sustainable
University, ESD, writing and Innovation
·
Achievements: innovation,
research, science communication and art
Note: LSBU is London
South Bank University
Contact
Is the situation at your university similar to the one at Planetshire
University (PU)? Would you like to use your university’s
sustainability-in-the-curriculum programme as an opportunity to enhance its
reputation and financial position? If your university hasn’t got such a
programme yet, would you like to put one in place? Then, please feel free to
contact the proposer:
References
Beringer,
A. and Adomssent, M. (2008) Sustainable university research and development:
inspecting sustainability in higher education research. Environmental
Education Research, 14(6),
pp.607-623.
Hopkinson,
P., Hughes, P. and Layer, G. (2008) Sustainable graduates: linking formal,
informal and campus curricula to embed education for sustainable development in
the student learning experience. Environmental Education Research, 14(4), pp.435-454.
Jones,
P., Selby, D. and Sterling, S. (2010) Sustainability
Education: Perspectives and Practice Across Higher Education. London:
Earthscan.
Wilkinson,
D. (2006) The Ambiguity Advantage: What Great Leaders are Great At. Palgrave Macmillan.
Note: Greening Universities Toolkit of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP)
______________________________________________________
APPENDIX
1:
An
outline of PU project’s deliverables
Types of deliverables
·
Online
One-stop Shop suite (websites, PDFs and social networking)
·
Offline
deliverables
·
RCE
Planetshire deliverables
Online One-stop Shop
suite (websites,
PDFs & social networking):
Websites (and their
main pages)
·
Planetshire
University One-stop Shop for ESD (central platform): Home | Curriculum |
Campus | Research | Wider world |
Perspectives | Green Ideas
·
Sustainable
Curriculum: Home
| ESD & Curriculum | Sciences | Social Sciences | Humanities | Industry
(i.e. world of work)
·
Sustainable Campus: Home | Sustainable
Campus | Carbon | Energy | Waste | Water | Procurement | Transport |
Biodiversity | Built environment
·
Sustainability Research: Home |
Sustainability in HE | ESD | Sciences | Social Sciences | Humanities
·
Sustainability in the
Wider World:
Home (‘live’ updates stream of news, features & blogs worldwide) | Africa |
Asia | Australasia | Europe | Latin America | North America
·
Sustainability Perspectives: Home | Quotes &
sayings | Poetry | Folktales | Anecdotes | Art
·
Green Ideas Bank: Home | Campus | Curriculum
| Research | Wider community
PDFs
·
PDF Flier
·
PDF Knowledge sheets:
Four
sets: Subjects, Interests, Continents and themes (those not covered under
Interests, e.g. poverty)
·
PDF Newsletter
·
PDF Annual review
Social networking
·
Project Blog
·
ESD Reflective Diary
Blog
·
Twitter
·
LinkedIn
·
FaceBook
·
YouTube
·
Flickr (photos)
·
Online Library (A store of PU
project publications for easy viewing/downloading)
Offline deliverables:
·
Help Desk: Provider of guidance, information and networking opportunities to
internal stakeholders on request, especially on how subjects relate to
sustainability
Publications
·
Academic papers: Dissemination of the
findings of the PU project
·
Press articles: On key sustainability
themes written with PU professionals (e.g. academics, researchers, managers) as
resource persons
·
Book: Integrating sustainability across an institution: Lessons
from Planetshire University, a book in simple language although based on the PU
research project
Exhibitions
·
Knowledge notice
boards: Three
sets of ongoing exhibitions on campus premises (Subjects, Interests and Continents)
·
World Days
exhibitions
(e.g. Water, Fairtrade)
·
Annual exhibition
·
Main website
·
News website
·
Twitter
APPENDIX
2:
Proposer’s
past work similar to PU project’s deliverables
Deliverables of PU project
|
Proposer’s past work similar to PU
project deliverables
|
Planetshire University One-stop Shop
for a Sustainable World
|
|
Sustainable Campus
|
|
Sustainability Research
|
|
Sustainability in the Wider World
|
|
Sustainability Perspectives
|
Published poetry:
|
PDF Flier
|
|
PDF Knowledge sheets
|
|
PDF Newsletter
|
Holcim
Voice
newsletter
|
PU Project blog
|
|
ESD Reflective Diary blog
|
|
Twitter
|
|
LinkedIn
|
|
Flickr
|
|
Online Library (issuu.com)
|
|
Academic papers
|
Two
papers on thermal comfort in passive buildings published in 2002 and 2003 in
the journal Energy for Sustainable
Development
|
Press articles
|
Three press articles (out of a total of
140) published in the national press in Sri Lanka (with Moratuwa University’s
academics as resource persons):
A column published in the national press in
Sri Lanka
|
RCE Planetshire’s logo, website, news
website and Twitter
|
|
The Sustainable University One-stop Shop:
